Cleveland Metroparks recently held a community open house to update residents, community members, and stakeholders on the CHEERS (Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy) project, which aims to transform the east side lakefront so it’s more natural, accessible, and attractive. Some of the changes include designated fishing areas, a multipurpose lawn or picnic area at the E. 55th St. marina, and improved water safety features for boaters.
At the meeting, employees of the Metroparks and other project partners were on hand to discuss the changes coming in the next few years to the lakefront. If the project gets funded and underway, it will dramatically affect the city’s lakefront between E. 55th St. and MLK Dr., an area that has been disconnected from the lake for generations.
How the CHEERS plan came to be
According to the Metroparks website, “The Cleveland Harbor Eastern Embayment Resilience Strategy (CHEERS) project is a concept that emerged from a yearlong study to determine how to transform Cleveland’s lakeshore through reconnecting communities to the lake, improving public health, bolstering the economy, and benefiting the environment and natural habitat. CHEERS will utilize beneficial use of dredge material to improve shoreline resilience, build habitat, expand parks, and work to heal damage done by past unjust development practices and industrial use.”
In layman’s terms, the CHEERS project aims to replace Cleveland’s current east side lakefront with a more natural shoreline where visitors can touch and feel the water. The concrete shoreline that exists now would be replaced by more natural features, including a new island off the lakefront, adding a calm bay where visitors could recreate, fish, boat and swim.
Roscoe Morgan, assistant director for real estate and placemaking at St. Clair Superior Development Corporation, said from a personal perspective he looks forward to the coming improvements. “We’re a lakeside community and haven’t had opportunities to enjoy the lake, so I think where Metroparks is leading will eventually be a beautiful improvement to the parks,” he said.
The project got started a few years ago. Between June 2020 and April 2021, Metroparks planners held a series of community meetings to discuss the CHEERS project and asked people to fill out an online survey. Based on feedback, a draft plan was presented at a community town hall in April 2021. Before arriving at a final plan in 2023, CHEERS came up with cost estimates, got feedback from stakeholders, and completed geographical research like a wave study to determine the feasibility and safety of the plan. Floating wetlands were recently installed as part of the efforts to make the shoreline more natural.
What changes were made to the new plan
The wave study revealed some changes that needed to be made for everyone’s safety. The original isle, which would be created using dredge material, was determined to be unsafe for boating. The new, longer isle shape will allow boaters to pass through the area more safely.
Josiah Denson, a planner with Cleveland Metroparks, explained why the shape of the isle needed to be changed. “We want to make sure that we aren’t going to, by the way that this is built, somehow funnel debris into the channel by Intercity Yacht Club,” he said. “The way it was designed before, with the [island] curved downward, may have created a path for that to happen.”
Another change is that recreation and play spaces have been moved from the island to the E. 55th St. Marina. This change is a win-win decision benefiting everyone, metroparks planners said at the community open house, because it responds to feedback that people want to see more amenities at the marina where people congregate.
The metroparks also received feedback from fishers who use the lake for subsistence fishing, meaning they eat what they catch. The fishing community will have designated fishing areas within the new CHEERS plan, which they may find to be something they truly cheer about.
One of the project’s unique drawing points is a protected cove for kayaking, paddleboarding, and other watersports. There will be a way out of the cove if kayakers are brave and want to go paddling out into the larger lake to connect with the Lake Erie water trail, which can take you from the Rocky River east along the lakefront to Sims Park in Euclid.
In theory, area residents can access the Cleveland Metroparks Lakefront Reservation (containing the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve, which was built on the former Dike 14, a peninsula created from dredged materials, and is managed by the Port of Cleveland) using a variety of modes of transportation. In reality, however, people who arrive by bicycle or on foot have a disadvantage. They must cross a bridge over I-90. Unlike the west side’s Edgewater Park, where the Shoreway has been slowed to a boulevard and there are bike and pedestrian paths, the area isn’t easily accessible.
CHEERS will be looking at ways to better connect residents to the new east side lakefront, as well, including adding more bike and pedestrian paths and improving and adding more access points. The plan does not include changing I-90, but the breakwall being built as part of the project will help protect the highway from flooding. Over the years, there have been many discussions and plans for straightening Dead Man’s Curve and making it safer, but that is not currently part of the CHEERS plan, according to Metroparks plans posted on their website.
Looking toward next steps
According to updates from Metroparks officials at the community open house, the additions coming to the E. 55th St. Marina are slated for the first phase of the CHEERS project, and construction could begin as early as Fall 2025 if everything goes according to plan.
South Gordon Park, the area of the park on the south side of the freeway, will be another early project. This is a piece of the puzzle central to the overall CHEERS project. Earlier this year, the city of Cleveland leased the southern part of the park to the metroparks. Like with CHEERS, the planning for various improvements to South Gordon Park will be guided by a community engagement process. Denson described it as an interesting spot at a higher elevation, with good views of the lake.
The overall project will be completed in phases, with permits in hand by fall 2025, according to the metroparks. On the funding side, the project team is also awaiting the results of three federal grant applications (PROTECT, NOAA Transformational Habitat, and NOAA Climate Resilience Regional Challenge). If those grant applications – asking for $133 million in total – are approved, construction could commence as soon as all permits are in hand. The federal money being requested would fund about one-third of the planned in-water elements, metroparks said.
It will take six or seven years of construction before the first phase is functional and ready to host eager Clevelanders. After that, the rest will be filled in piece by piece, Metroparks officials told The Land. The island will probably be the final portion, because it will be shaped by natural resources dredged from the bottom of the Cuyahoga River, and that will take time to complete.
For more information on the CHEERS project, visit the CHEERS Metroparks website, email CHEERS@Clevelandmetroparks.com or call 440-331-8593.
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