Day at the beach

Decades after heyday, Euclid prepares to make itself desirable lakefront locale again.

by J V Triton

Between 1876 and 1938, Cleveland had filled in 75 percent of its coastline with pilings, bulkheads and loose rock, according to a 2003 study done by Cleveland State University’s urban planning department.

Euclid then became a hotspot for Clevelanders looking to spend a day at the beach.

By the 1970s, erosion had forced Euclid to bolster its shoreline and tarnished the city’s sheen as a waterfront destination. Now the city would like to reclaim those days at beach.

In 2008, the city appointed JJR, LLC, a Madison, Wisconsin-based design and engineering firm, to survey Euclid’s lakefront, as well as its business and residential communities, and propose a redesign of the city’s valuable waterfront.

City council passed the Euclid Waterfront Improvements Plan in 2009, and the city began phase-one land acquisitions with the purchase of St. Robert’s Church the same year. City officials will also begin negotiations in 2010 for plots north of the Harbortown apartment complexes and land west of Sims Park.

Activity for the waterfront plan, however, isn’t just happening on shore. Euclid is looking at its beaches and how to make our coastline more accessible and useful to residents. The city hopes to spur development by recreating the beaches of the 1940s.

To create beaches and subdue erosion, the cliffs along Euclid’s piece of the Lake Erie shoreline need to be gently graded. It’s an expensive process, which the city has offered to publicly fund in exchange for beach ownership.

Mayor Bill Cervenik says that area homeowners are open to the idea. No official agreements, however, have been established. Regardless of outcome, residents along the shore will retain private access to the beaches.

The complete waterfront plan includes widening and elongating the pier at Sims Park, as well as improving hiking trails. The project will expand public access to three-quarters of a mile along Euclid’s shoreline—quadruple the beach currently accessible at Sims Park.

Beach development will require the city to build break walls and slope the cliffs to battle shoreline loss. The break walls—called beach cells—are also intended to attract wildlife, making the improved pier at Sims Park ideal for fishing.

City officials are working with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Army Corps of Engineers to create an environmentally sound shoreline. In addition, the city hopes to bolster its business district by building a marina.

“The marina would be a regional draw, much like Edgewater,” says Frank Pietravoia, director of economic development in Euclid.

Building the marina would be the most expensive part of the waterfront project, but JJR’s findings show that an accessible waterfront would strengthen the city’s businesses. Euclid has already benefited from over $15 million in private investment over the last three years.

The State of Ohio has provided four grants totaling $1.1 million for the first phase of the Euclid Waterfront Improvements Plan. Funds are also being sought from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program offering $475 million for lake restoration projects.

“People are comfortable when they see growth,” says Mayor Cervenik. “They are more likely to invest.”

Development along the lake would attract even more opportunity and confidence among investors. Water-ski and boat rentals, sailing instruction, educational classes and lakefront restaurants are all possibilities that Cervenik sees on the horizon.

As the long-awaited lakefront development takes place, more Euclid residents will be able to see the horizon over Lake Erie as well.