Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Weblog

The Ohio EPA awarded 10 grants through its Section 319 program to help communities address nonpoint source pollution. The $2.8 million in grants included a $184,429 grant (PDF) to Mayfield Village for the Chagrin River watershed, a $478,075 grant (PDF) to the City of Aurora for the Upper Aurora Branch of the Chagrin River, a $169,000 grant (PDF) to the Medina County Park District for the Chippewa Lake watershed, and a $57,078 grant (PDF) to Bath Township for the Yellow Creek watershed.

The agency also declared that brownfield remediation has been completed (PDF) at the Steel Slitting site on Aetna Road in Slavic Village, and issued a covenant not to sue.

Update: the Sun Messenger has more details about the grant received by Mayfield Village.

Fairlawn leaders are concerned about plans to build new Wal-Mart and Sam's Club stores in neighboring Copley Township, and may close two roads in an effort to keep the stores in Fairlawn. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart recently completed a 46,000-square-foot expansion of its Macedonia store, and Giant Eagle hopes to build a 14,184-square-foot expansion of its Brunswick store.

Cuyahoga Community College's new Center for Creative Arts in Cleveland is the first of the college's seven building projects currently underway. The work includes new campuses in Westlake and Brunswick, both scheduled to open in January.

Brunswick leaders attended an International Council of Shopping Centers convention in Las Vegas, and repeated that a "major outdoor retailer" has plans to build in the city by 2011.

Officials in Brunswick and Brunswick Hills Township hope to encourage commercial development along the Pearl Road corridor in Medina County. They remain interested in creating a joint economic development district.

ODOT District 3 has proposed installing rumble stripes along the edge lines of some state highways (PDF) in the eight-county district that includes Lorain and Medina counties. Bicyclists object to the rumble stripes, saying they would make the roads more dangerous for bicycles.

The City of Brunswick will use $16 million in federal Recovery Zone bonds for a $114 million, 83-acre retail development at I-71 and State Route 303. It will include "the only Northeast Ohio store for a renowned national outdoor retailer." City officials did not identify the company, but previously had been in negotiations with Cabela's.

Update: the Brunswick Sun has more details.

Seven of the nine Medina County cities and townships in the Rocky River Upper West Branch watershed have adopted a balanced growth plan.

While the developer of Mayfield Heights Town Center is happy with the performance of the shopping center, Brunswick Town Center in Medina County has not lived up to expectations.

The Medina County Commissioners renewed their call for providing outlying counties a larger share of the funds intended to alleviate the public transit funding shortfall. A public forum will be held on September 12 at the Medina County University Center in Lafayette Township.

RTA may cancel routes to Brunswick and Avon Lake because of budget shortfalls. Most of RTA's revenue comes from a Cuyahoga County sales tax, and surrounding counties do not contribute. RTA's Joe Calabrese and Gale Fisk discussed the agency's fiscal challenges on this morning's Sound of Ideas show.

The poor national retail climate has led many large retailers to scale back their expansion plans. Cabela's recently announced that it would join them, which means that the company's plans for a Brunswick store have been delayed.

Brunswick officials say that Cabela's still plans to build a store at Center Road and I-71, although there have been rumors to the contrary.

A group of developers purchased the former Chippewa Lake amusement park in Lafayette and Westfield Townships and plan to redevelop it as a master plan resort community. The Lafayette Township Zoning Commission approved a zoning overlay district for the site.

Akron-based Summa Health System and a group of Medina-based doctors yesterday announced plans to build a 75,000 square foot outpatient medical complex on Route 18 in Medina and Montville Township. The plans follow the local trend of medical facility construction in exurban areas.

Officials from the City of Brunswick and Hinckley Township are discussing the possibility of forming a joint economic development district.

Brunswick officials say that negotiations to bring a Cabela's store to the City are nearly finished.

Officials with Cabela's and the City of Brunswick are negotiating details about the company's proposed 125,000-150,000 square foot store at Center Road and I-71.

The Medina County Commissioners joined the Lorain County Commissioners in asking NOACA to consider eliminating weighted voting.

Election recap

Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority
Issue 14 (renewal levy): passed

Tri-City Joint Recreation District
Issue 19 (Berea): passed
Issue 27 (Brook Park): passed

Broadview Heights
Issue 26 (retail rezoning): passed

Highland Heights
Issue 61 (rezoning): passed

Seven Hills
Issue 76 (Rockside Terrace rezoning): passed

Westlake
Issue 80 (Lutheran Home rezoning): passed
Issue 81 (Crocker Park rezoning): passed

Avon
Issue 35 (rec center/stadium tax): passed

Brunswick
Charter Amendment 1 (eliminate planning director): passed

Streetsboro
Issue 23 (establish planning department): passed
Issue 25 (establish Master Plan Review Commission): passed

Boston Heights
Issue 51 (retail rezoning): failed
Issue 52 (permit big box retail): failed

Twinsburg
Issue 50 (zoning code changes): failed

For complete Cuyahoga County results, visit the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections or Cleveland.com.

John Debo, Superintendent of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, says that the biggest problems the park faces are "flooding, flooding, and flooding." Increased runoff from recent exurban development in communities surrounding the Park has worsened the problem. In response, the Park has begun working with the communities to improve their stormwater management techniques.

County commissioners from Cuyahoga, Lorain, and Medina Counties were guests on this morning's Sound of Ideas show on WCPN, where they discussed regionalism and the fallout over the Avon I-90 interchange agreement.

While reactions to the Avon I-90 interchange revenue sharing agreement differ, county commissioners in Lorain and Medina Counties are pressing for the elimination of the weighted vote at NOACA, and continue to investigate the possibility of withdrawing from the MPO. The Cuyahoga County Commissioners have indicated that they're willing to talk about reforms.

Brad Whitehead urges local leaders to "use this as a moment to spur the real conversation about how we want to involve and what steps we might take to focus on growing the resources of the region rather than moving them from one place to another."

The compromise agreement on the planned new I-90 interchange in Avon prompted Medina County leaders to talk about withdrawing from NOACA. Lorain County commissioners threatened to withdraw from the MPO last week.

In addition to considering a site in Brunswick, outdoors retailer Cabela's is rumored to be considering a proposed development in Twinsburg or Twinsburg Township for its first Northeast Ohio store.

The City of Brunswick continues to see rapid commercial, industrial, and residential development.

Brunswick officials are waiting to hear if I-71 at Center Road has been selected as the site of a Ohio's first Cabela's store.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency awarded grants to the Western Reserve Land Conservancy for the acquisition of conservation easements for 132 acres of riparian buffers along the East Branch of the Rocky River in Summit and Medina Counties, and to Grand River Partners for the restoration and protection of 300 acres of riparian buffers and wetlands in the lower Grand River watershed in Lake County.

The Brunswick Area Chamber of Commerce wants to establish a special improvement district along the Pearl Road corridor in Brunswick and Brunswick Township. They hope to revitalize the area by attracting new businesses and residents, and making it more pedestrian friendly.

Cabela's officials want to build at I-71 and Route 303 in Brunswick, calling it the company's "preferred site". If the 130,000 to 150,000 square foot store opens in 2009, Brunswick leaders expect it would draw at least three million visitors per year and stimulate additional nearby retail, restaurant, and hotel construction.

Although Summit County Council recently approved incentives to attract Bass Pro Shops to Akron, Summit and Medina County leaders continue to pursue a Cabela's store. Summit County hopes to link a Cabela's to the proposed domed soccer stadium, and the Medina County Commissioners approved a sales tax break if the company builds a store near I-71 and Route 303 in Brunswick.

Target has expressed an interest in building a store on an 11.23 acre property at the southwest corner of the Brunswick Town Square development. Plans for the project earlier called for the construction of 141 townhouses on the site.

Today's Plain Dealer includes a look at the growth of Brunswick and the efforts of municipal officials to encourage development.

The growing problem of suburban poverty continues to attract attention, and several Cleveland suburbs served as examples in a recent Newsweek article. Meanwhile, the Plain Dealer examined how the problem is affecting Medina County.

The Medina County Park District secured a $1.2 million loan that will enable them to purchase the 360 acre Chippewa Lake. The acquisition does not include the former amusement park, which remains up for sale.

(via Urban Ohio)