8 minutes ago, surfohio said:

 

Potentially a lot actually. Depending how the pedestrian and bike traffic patterns turn out. 

When is this image from? Because it seems like the proposed park area keeps changing. I believe most of the southern riverbank is now (sadly) excluded from the plan. 

7 minutes ago, Ethan said:

When is this image from? Because it seems like the proposed park area keeps changing. I believe most of the southern riverbank is now (sadly) excluded from the plan. 

 

Right. I can't keep up with the timeline or boundaries, but I do believe that whatever the result is there's going to be a dramatic increase in people using the Towpath Trail and hitting up worthwhile points of interest in the vicinity. That's short term. In the long term this whole stretch could very well be the recreational center of the city. 

 

From Sunday 

 

 

(6-15-22)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Canal Basin from Settler's Landing

Orange barrels have come down around the green, though this heat wave hasn't been kind to the new grass.

 

^ It perplexes me how a city bordering the largest freshwater resource on earth could have dead looking grass like that. 

1 hour ago, surfohio said:

^ It perplexes me how a city bordering the largest freshwater resource on earth could have dead looking grass like that. 

One has nothing to do with the other.  They aren’t running a pump from the lake to water the grass, lol.  And I doubt many places in a rain heavy city like Cleveland have lawn sprinklers. 

1 hour ago, jeremyck01 said:

One has nothing to do with the other.  They aren’t running a pump from the lake to water the grass, lol.  And I doubt many places in a rain heavy city like Cleveland have lawn sprinklers. 

 

You think that would be a solvable issue lol. It doesn't need to be processed like drinking water.

 

And I'd posit that most small parks, the ones meant to look nice, do have sprinkler systems. Same for athletic fields. 

9 hours ago, surfohio said:

 

You think that would be a solvable issue lol. It doesn't need to be processed like drinking water.

 

And I'd posit that most small parks, the ones meant to look nice, do have sprinkler systems. Same for athletic fields. 

It's not necessarily dead.  Grass does turn brown here in the heat, and bounces back quickly when it rains.  The city has other priorities than putting energy (money) into watering this space, and I agree with that decision.

It'd be a looooot cooler if it were native grasses and flowers and all that, also it'd look better in the current heatwave we're in..

Seconded with native plants and grasses. They’re able to withstand droughts because they are adapted to this area. 

9 minutes ago, JB said:

Seconded with native plants and grasses. They’re able to withstand droughts because they are adapted to this area. 

Isn't the design idea here to create a event/activity lawn?  Obviously more difficult to maintain.

Does anyone know what the final design/layout will be for this park?  I ask because there are many plans that contradict each other online.   My wish for the future that the bridges are refreshed with new coat of paint.   The graffiti removal would be a nice start

New paint is one thing but my hope would be for LED lighting of the bridges. As for the graffiti, that's an ongoing issue and will never go away. Whack a mole for sure.

33 minutes ago, Htsguy said:

Isn't the design idea here to create a event/activity lawn?  Obviously more difficult to maintain.

They can’t have borders of natives at least? Cuts down on the grass that needs maintained.

14 minutes ago, dave2017 said:

Does anyone know what the final design/layout will be for this park?  I ask because there are many plans that contradict each other online.   My wish for the future that the bridges are refreshed with new coat of paint.   The graffiti removal would be a nice start

Final is a bit of a funny word. Here is as far as the detailed plans go. They don't quite fill out the whole framework space, but they get most of it.

 

https://canalwaypartners.com/towpath-trail/canal-basin-park/

 

https://canalwaypartners.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Towpath-Trailhead-Greening_11.16.20.pdf

 

Edited July 1, 20222 yr by Ethan

3 hours ago, Htsguy said:

Isn't the design idea here to create a event/activity lawn?  Obviously more difficult to maintain.

 

What I thought. It appears they've used native plants along the towpath, which is awesome. I thought the plan in this particular space was more of a traditional urban park space, something more akin to the the Malls or Public Square. 

Edited July 1, 20222 yr by surfohio

 

any ideas when this phase will be done? I've searched high and low for any sort of timeline and the best I could get was Heritage Park 1 to be completed in 2022. And that is from a slideshow on their website that is dated 2020 so it is probably out dated. 

 

https://canalwaypartners.com/towpath-trail/canal-basin-park/

 

I'm surprised there isn't more information on this project with it being such a central location to the city. You'd think more people would be about it. 

Edited July 14, 20222 yr by dwolfi01

Slow day for the CPC meeting today, only real significant update was heritage park II. Which received approval but left a question of who was going to maintain the park

4 minutes ago, BoomerangCleRes said:

Slow day for the CPC meeting today, only real significant update was heritage park II. Which received approval but left a question of who was going to maintain the park

Thanks for the update! I don't really see how this really changes Heritage Park II, outside of cutting down existing mature trees to replace them with younger trees. This might be a significant improvement in twenty years after the newly planted trees grow in, but I'm not sure it will be much of an immediate improvement. Here's hoping I'm wrong! 

21 minutes ago, Ethan said:

Thanks for the update! I don't really see how this really changes Heritage Park II, outside of cutting down existing mature trees to replace them with younger trees. This might be a significant improvement in twenty years after the newly planted trees grow in, but I'm not sure it will be much of an immediate improvement. Here's hoping I'm wrong! 

 

I was really bored last night and looked through the presentation and there will be a pretty stark difference in the look. They're doing a lot like replacing the dilapidated boardwalk with new wood that is more water resistant. Also replacing the fencing (or lack thereof) with new ones essentially matching the rest of the new boardwalks on the river (Like at Merwin's Warf as an example).

 

Plus they are adding more benches and a new shelter as well as increasing the walking path areas so its not just a boardwalk with grass next to it. 

 

Also added bike racks which will be nice and lining the back of the park with bollards which not sure if it's necessary because it's on a dead-end street but still nice for safety.

 

Full diagrams and examples of furniture are in the presentation here: https://assets.adobe.com/public/789a7810-3df8-4495-461c-7a72e20bd54e/03_Design Review Cases/DF2022-042_Heritage Park_July14thDFDRAC.pdf

1 hour ago, dwolfi01 said:

 

I was really bored last night and looked through the presentation and there will be a pretty stark difference in the look. They're doing a lot like replacing the dilapidated boardwalk with new wood that is more water resistant. Also replacing the fencing (or lack thereof) with new ones essentially matching the rest of the new boardwalks on the river (Like at Merwin's Warf as an example).

 

Plus they are adding more benches and a new shelter as well as increasing the walking path areas so its not just a boardwalk with grass next to it. 

 

Also added bike racks which will be nice and lining the back of the park with bollards which not sure if it's necessary because it's on a dead-end street but still nice for safety.

 

Full diagrams and examples of furniture are in the presentation here: https://assets.adobe.com/public/789a7810-3df8-4495-461c-7a72e20bd54e/03_Design Review Cases/DF2022-042_Heritage Park_July14thDFDRAC.pdf

Thanks for the presentation! I'm all for replacing the somewhat dilapidated boardwalk. And more seating is always a good idea! I also appreciate the bump outs and the bike racks. 

 

That said, I'm still not sure if this is really much of an improvement. All the tall trees will be biased towards the street, and we are replacing the current soft surface with a good amount of hard surface. 

 

I guess it seems like a wash at best. I'd rather the city had replaced the walking surface on the boardwalk, added a few benches and bike racks, kept the current trees, and called it a day. I think the end result would have been almost as good, and saved the city some money. 

 

Just my opinion though, as I said, I'm hoping to be wrong. 

1 hour ago, Ethan said:

I guess it seems like a wash at best. I'd rather the city had replaced the walking surface on the boardwalk, added a few benches and bike racks, kept the current trees, and called it a day. I think the end result would have been almost as good, and saved the city some money. 

 

I think the saving grace is that this is only a part of the bigger Canal Basin project. Directly across the bridge is a bigger park with (when it's done) much more greenspace. But again I haven't heard much about what's going on with the rest of the project. The renderings of the plans look good but I'm not sure where they're at in the process. 

 

But you're right, I would consider this more of a refresher for Heritage Park II. No improvements other than updating some amenities. 

9 minutes ago, dwolfi01 said:

 

I think the saving grace is that this is only a part of the bigger Canal Basin project. Directly across the bridge is a bigger park with (when it's done) much more greenspace. But again I haven't heard much about what's going on with the rest of the project. The renderings of the plans look good but I'm not sure where they're at in the process. 

 

But you're right, I would consider this more of a refresher for Heritage Park II. No improvements other than updating some amenities. 

One benefit to the updated Heritage Parks and Canal Basin is that the different entities behind the projects (City, Metroparks, Canalway Partners, etc.) have collaborated to come up with a unified design palette for the materials, lighting, seating, etc. for these parks. It would look rather unfortunate to have different benches, light poles, pathway/boardwalk materials when you walk from Canal Basin into Heritage I. Most people wouldn't realize that they are different parks because they are immediately adjacent to each other. 

Work continues on the canal and docks.

It seemed like they were also working on the far side of the river too in the pic (I think they call that Heritage Park?) because I was nearby the other day and saw crews there and now the one gazebo is now broken down (you can see that in the pic)

2 hours ago, ragarcia said:

Work continues on the canal and docks.

 

If the entirety of the Flats looked like that, this would be an even more amazing city.

There is really so much going on in that photo. Love the smoke coming out of the tug. Just a great pic.

12 hours ago, freethink said:

There is really so much going on in that photo. Love the smoke coming out of the tug. Just a great pic.

I also love the smoke coming out of the tug, I specifically timed the photo to make sure that was included. Here are is an updated photo taken this morning of a zoomed in view of Heritage Park II which was blocked by the smoke in the original photo.

2 minutes ago, ragarcia said:

I also love the smoke coming out of the tug, I specifically timed the photo to make sure that was included. Here are is an updated photo taken this morning of a zoomed in view of Heritage Park II which was blocked by the smoke in the original photo.

Sad to see the trees go. Hopefully their update to this space is enough to justify the loss of several mature trees. 

As I understand it, although I hope I am wrong, they still don't have the funding to complete Phase 2.  Does anybody know where this funding may come from (hopefully and realistically) and where they are at securing it.  It is amazing that planning has been in the works since 2015 and the park is only half way done and it is nearly 2023 with no firm completion date.

Today they put up these banners on the lampposts.

Video of ground breaking a couple days ago

They say the park (which sounds like both sides of the river) will be open next summer.

Some closer up photos from yesterday

I really hope there is a plan to utilize the brick building with terracotta roof tiles. It’s really gorgeous with the ivy growing up the side.

 

Could be a great boathouse, maybe a place to sell refreshments. 

20 hours ago, Enginerd said:

I really hope there is a plan to utilize the brick building with terracotta roof tiles. It’s really gorgeous with the ivy growing up the side.

 

Could be a great boathouse, maybe a place to sell refreshments. 

 

That was built as an old fire station in the early 20th century and became the offices of the Flats Oxbow Association in the late 20th century.

 

FYI -- keep an eye on 1250 Riverbed across the river (at right in the first picture). I've been seeing building permit applications going through in the city's web portal in recent days.

Where does that bridge structure in all three photos lead?  Is it for fishing or boat docking?  Great photos, by the way.

 

Can we rename the Center Street Bridge: "Bridge Over the River Cuy?"  😉

 

Edited October 7, 20222 yr by urb-a-saurus

2 hours ago, urb-a-saurus said:

Where does that bridge structure in all three photos lead?  Is it for fishing or boat docking?  Great photos, by the way

I believe the whole area is going to be for boat slips.

 

3 hours ago, KJP said:

 

FYI -- keep an eye on 1250 Riverbed across the river (at right in the first picture). I've been seeing building permit applications going through in the city's web portal in recent days.

I have heard there are plans to convert that to housing. I know they are going to apply for a parking requirements waiver. I’ve also been told they want try and connect the top floor of the building with the viaduct and potentially build a park underneath the arch.

4 hours ago, KJP said:

FYI -- keep an eye on 1250 Riverbed across the river (at right in the first picture). I've been seeing building permit applications going through in the city's web portal in recent days.

 

 

Here's the Ken article on the project in case anyone needs a refresher since it's been awhile since it was first announced: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/03/01/flats-apartment-project-wins-bza-nod/

10 minutes ago, dwolfi01 said:

 

 

Here's the Ken article on the project in case anyone needs a refresher since it's been awhile since it was first announced: https://neo-trans.blog/2022/03/01/flats-apartment-project-wins-bza-nod/

Should’ve known there’s always a scoop!

On 10/6/2022 at 11:36 AM, Enginerd said:

I really hope there is a plan to utilize the brick building with terracotta roof tiles. It’s really gorgeous with the ivy growing up the side.

 

Could be a great boathouse, maybe a place to sell refreshments. 

It is an awesome building, I would love to buy it and live in it or as you said, convert it to a publicly accessible/usable facility.

First time I’ve noticed the barges on the Canal Basin II part of the project.

 

that's really going to pretty up that dead-end street especially after that renovation project for that building gets done. I think they're supposed to start soon?

 

Either way I'm really hoping after all this activity over there they finish it up by repaving the streets because they need it bad

 

Lots of work being done today on II.

 

Also, the barges on I have been gone for a few days now.

 

When the weather clears up later this week I’ll try to make my way there for updated pics.

Friend just sent me this photo that he’s uncle has in his house and we are trying to guess the exact year.

 

I’m sure someone here will know the exact year, maybe even the day as this looks to be some sort of special event.

I’d say 1987 or 1988 Riverfest. The buildings on the Public Square Ameritrust site are still there and Key Tower isn’t visible yet.