Leveraging Coastal Management for Improved Resilience, Environmental Enhancement, and Equitable Access to Lake Erie in Euclid, Ohio

In the late 2000s, Euclid, Ohio’s government set an ambitious plan to improve the city’s image and livability though enhancement of public park spaces and inclusion of green projects. The opportunity to marry these initiatives with coastal management presented itself along a one kilometer stretch of waterfront, actively eroding and threatening privately held lands. Through seven years of public meetings, negotiations, and inclusive design charrettes, the city and 98 waterfront property owners developed agreements to donate or provide public easements to the city along their failing bluffs to develop a linear public walkway and park in exchange for stabilization; a first within the state of Ohio, this approach has also established a new benchmark for the entire Great Lakes watershed.

Through state, federal, and local funding and extensive collaboration and negotiations, the City of Euclid with the assistance of SmithGroup were given permission to create a linear recreational waterfront park using both hard and soft engineering techniques designed to dynamically adapt to Lake Erie forces, provide ecological benefits, and not impede natural littoral transport. A series of numerical and physical modeling studies were undertaken to optimize a nature-based design approach that will remain stable throughout extreme events. This design married revetments, headland habitat beaches, nearshore breakwaters, vertical structures, submerged structures, tee-groin breakwaters, cobble and sand beaches, and native bluff plantings to achieve a stable, resilient waterfront park and trail that supports equitable access for the community and its visitors.

The new park space will serve as an economic catalyst to help revitalize Euclid and encourage further public/private management and development along Lake Erie’s increasingly challenged shorelines.