Day three of the week-long Industrial Heartland & Cleveland Trails Summit featured an in-person tour of the Euclid Waterfront Improvement Project led by:

Kirsten Holzheimer Gail, Mayor of Euclid
Allison Lukacsy-Love, Director, Department of Planning and Development, City of Euclid
Jason Stangland, Waterfront Practice Director, SmithGroup

“I think it’s important because there was disinvestment, and we really do see this as a transformational project because it has showed renewed investment, it can show how an older community can reinvent itself and revitalize itself, and I really think a big part of that is what we’re doing on the lakefront.”

— Mayor Kirsten Holzheimer Gail

From the Summit website: Attendees learned how the City of Euclid over a period of 12 years took from concept to completion a precedent-setting public-private partnership to create a three-quarter mile public access trail along the historically privatized property. The project is hailed as the model for opening up Lake Erie to public access across the region as well as leading the innovative Shoreline Special Improvement District. The project will be substantially complete by the end of 2021 and part of the walkshop was a behind-the-scenes construction tour that took a deep dive into current contexts, opportunities and challenges, strategies, and best practices.

Mayor Gail, who has lived in Euclid most of her life, gave some context to the waterfront improvement project and its impact on the City of Euclid. “I think it’s important because there was disinvestment, and we really do see this as a transformational project because it has showed renewed investment, It can show how an older community can reinvent itself and revitalize itself, and I really think a big part of that is what we’re doing on the lakefront.”

When the topic of community concensus building was brought up, Allison Lukacsy-Love shared “We asked the community what do you want. Yes people want to kayak, they want to fish, but a lot of people also just want to come and be by the water. That’s not something they can do in their backyard unless you’re fortunate enough to live here on the lake. A place to be by the water was really what the community wanted.”

At Monday’s Industrial Heartland and Cleveland Trails Summit Showcase, the City of Euclid received a gold medal for their waterfront development public access multi-modal trail, and the City also received a Platinum Award for being selected as an overall most notable entry having a transformative impact which will help drive even more high-quality trails, bikeways or programming in northeast Ohio’s future.

Now that you’ve read about the Euclid Waterfront Project, go experience it for yourself at Kenneth J. Simms Park! (Get map)