Lake County Charrette Reveals Growth Potential
by Rachel Wenger, ’00

Though the scenery was different, Kent State University’s Urban Design Center team was faced with a task the group found quite familiar: Breathing new life into a community that was in need of a change of pace.

In September 2005, the center participated in a design planning process for the Lake County coastline, a 30-mile stretch of shoreline with 11 communities’ borders touching the water’s edge.

“We met with then-President Carol Cartwright and she suggested that we call upon the Urban Design Center to take some of the ideas that we already had and to put them on paper,” says Jason Boyd, senior planner for Lake County Planning Commission, and project leader.

The Lake County Coastal Plan Committee, a group of elected officials and private businesses, began work on a plan for the shoreline five years ago after realizing that it needed to take action against severe beach erosion. The beach region has high bluffs that are falling into the lake everyday, Boyd says, creating a “war zone as far as the shoreline is concerned.”

With a major company responsible for water pollution moving out of the area, and the county’s building of off-shore barriers to prevent further erosion, the front-end of the project was expensive, but necessary for beach preservation, Boyd says.

Today, with these issues being managed, the coastline requires new energy and activity that will make the region more pleasurable for residents and a greater draw for tourists.

“We have 30 miles of shoreline and we want to capitalize on the new private investment being made,” Boyd says.

Terry Schwarz, senior planner at the Urban Design Center, and six graduate students were brought to Lake County to tour the coastline as well as to talk with key community stakeholders to hear firsthand about area needs.

The Landside Communities Master Plan and Focus Area Plans fall in line with the kinds of projects the Urban Design Center enjoys taking on. The center, a community outreach arm of the School of Architecture and Environmental Design, provides technical assistance to community development organizations and public agencies throughout the region.

The Urban Design Center plans were meant to provide a framework for capitalizing on the development potential of the county’s coastal communities, with focused area plans for Eastlake, Mentor-on-the Lake, Fairport Harbor, Painesville Township, Perry Township and Madison Township. Each of the graduate students was assigned a community to investigate and redesign, with UDC staff and faculty acting as advisors and consultants on the project.

“The Lake County experience was ideal because students were able to see the project from start to finish,” Schwarz says. “They were able to gather the initial information and then organize into sensible, creative pieces of work.”

The students started the process with a community “wish list” of facilities and improvements for the region including marinas, bike trails, improved beaches and new retail. Each of the students had to understand how the smaller communities fit into the larger, coastline plan.

“We had six skilled brains and bodies working shoulder-to-shoulder with faculty and staff. The students really rose to the challenge and pushed the constraints,” she says.

Student goals for the project included providing waterfront access, connecting the communities and presenting sustainable design ideas. In addition, it was essential to strategically position the lakefront and landside amenities that were classified into the following categories: Amusement and sports centers, visitor and cultural centers, development, gathering places, nature linkages, water activities and education facilities, says Mirjana Siljanoska, a graduate student.

“The area has invaluable natural assets and a positive development trend that results in secure funding for its lakefront development,” Siljano says.

Lake County is expecting a significant growth in terms of population and development, and the area has invaluable natural assets and a positive development trend that resulted in a natural secured funding for the lake front development, she says.

“Designing for a growing urban area is different than designing for a shrinking area. The first (significant growth) puts a lot of attention on the potential building development while the second (natural assets) mainly deals with landscape design and a strategic location of possible new development,” she says.

It was refreshing to see the way students engaged with the communities on the projects, Schwarz says.

“The students look at situations with fresh eyes and add spark to the projects,” Schwarz says. “Their creativity is then balanced with input from professionals, who bring in the reality side of things.”

On November 10, 2005, students gathered with an audience of about 65 Lake County community leaders and residents to bring their project ideas to the public.

Boyd says that while it was difficult to get some of the residents on board with the suggested designs, the students helped convey that the plans could take shape with the right amount of effort and support.

Additionally, the mock-ups and photos of the coastline communities clearly supported the ideas and plans residents might not have understood without visuals, Boyd says.

“The students did what they thought was best. They were off-site and acted as a non-vested entity which really helped the community,” he says. “This was an invaluable experience. Students learning how to take the community criticism will no doubt benefit them in the future.”