The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
ANALYSTS DRAFT PLAN
Waterfront, Broadway, parks top priorities for city’s future
Lorain’s waterfront, Broadway, parks, vacant properties all should be part of the vision of the city’s future, according to analysts drafting a new comprehensive plan.
Last September, residents came out to the Lorain Palace Theatre to share their ideas about what Lorain should look like in the next 10 to 20 years.
On Jan. 25, about 50 people gathered at Lorain High School for a follow-up presentation on the results. Consultants Jason Sudy, a Lorain County native, and Justin Robbins of the planning firm OHM Advisors outlined 10 factors that resident said should be part of the future Lorain.
The results will shape the city’s comprehensive plan and updated zoning code, the document that will include regulations about actual buildings, homes and businesses that will be in the city.
Lorain residents wake up each day with an idea of what they will do, then must make decisions during the day, Robbins said. A city is no different, he said.
“A city really needs to know what it is they’re trying to do,” he said. “What are the big ideas? What are the big things that we’re trying to do to make sure that we’re really bringing this community forward in a way that everybody has bought into?
“That’s really the job of the comprehensive plan,” Robbins said. It will not solve every problem in Lorain, but it will become a framework for city elected officials and staff when they make decisions, he said.
The 10-point plan included details about current conditions, desired outcomes and action steps to take.
The 10 areas of emphasis were:
• Make downtown ready for development.
• Make Broadway ready for development.
• Strengthen connections for drivers, walkers and cyclists.
• Maintain, hold or sell city
parks.
• Stabilize vacant properties.
• Create gateways and improve signage.
• Grow through annexation of unincorporated land near highway exits. • Promote Lorain. • Update and improve Lorain’s zoning code, a process that will happen next.
• Offer development incentives.
Sudy and Robbins emphasized that new homes can be good for a city, but also may be a net drain on a city because it is expensive to pay for support infrastructure and services such as roads, pipes, police and firefighters. Manufacturers and office spaces can lead to gains for cities through employment of residents, they said.
The presentation included an aerial view rendering of how Lorain might look if the area around City Hall, 200 W. Erie Ave., might look with a mixed use development sitting near the shore. It was not a development proposals, but a vision, Sudy and Robbins said.
The proposals seemed to spark favorable reactions among the audience members.
“I think this could be really good,” said Melissa Gnizak, director of the Invest Lorain initiative to promote local merchants. “One day at a time and one step at a time. You have to crawl before you walk and right now we’re at the very crawling stage.”
Downtown would benefit from a pedestrian area, parking garage and a fountain, said city residents Kathy Callahan and Elaine D’Andrea.
They also suggested more restaurants with water views, which could draw boaters from communities such as Cleveland, Westlake and Rocky River. D’Andrea recounted the former McGarvey’s restaurant in Vermilion, which has been replaced with Quaker Steak & Lube on the Vermilion River.
“That sunset is gold, that is pure gold right there,” D’Andrea said. “People want to eat and watch the sunset.”
It is important to get the arts involved early in the planning process, said Joan
Perch, community arts liaison for the FireFish Festival.
FireFish, led by Executive Director James Levin, already has become a draw for downtown Lorain, Perch said. The city’s artists and creative people could join the planners to help with branding, website design and create place-making, she said.
“A very nice start, as it should be, and I think there are ways we can get even inclusive and more creative, by making sure that those people are included across the community,” Perch said.
Some of the proposals, such as a connecting walkway between Broadway and Black River Landing, have been suggested before, said Councilman-at-Large Mitch Fallis. Other ideas, such as improved signage, should not be that difficult or expensive, he said.
Along with results of the September meeting, the plan was based on online surveys with 178 started and 71 percent of those completed, largely by homeowners who lived in Lorain at least 20 years.