Lakewood Eyes Expansion of Waterfront Access at Lakewood Park, Looks For Funding

Scenic views from the Solstice Steps Credit: Photo by Aerial Agents

When the Solstice Steps opened up in Lakewood Park in October 2015, those five levels of concrete quickly became, by the following summer, one of the best places to catch dreamy views of Lake Erie sunlight. (See: Instagram.)

It felt long overdue: Just about 90 percent of the Cleveland suburb’s access to Lake Erie is off limits to the public.

“Chicago builds beaches and running trails and Ferris wheels along the lake,” a Lakewood resident told the Plain Dealer after Solstice’s opening. Cleveland “builds airports and factories and fences. So seeing Lakewood actually embrace the water in such a unique way really means a lot to me.”

After eight years of embracing that water—and drawing, one estimate from Placer suggests, 200,000 visitors a year—Lakewood Park is once again on the city’s mind. Late last month, after a year’s worth of drafting up a trio of potential designs, Lakewood’s development team came a notch closer to Solstice’s second stage.

On February 27, three dozen or so Lakewood residents gathered in an auditorium at City Hall to provide feedback on general design for the remaining three acres of land on Lakewood Park’s northern edge. That is, according to its architects at SmithGroup, foreseeing the careful additions of a pier, cobble beach and lakeside terrace.

The idea, as Jason Stangland, SmithGroup’s waterfront market director, told the crowd that day, is to give those hundreds of thousands of visitors what they really, really want. More lake.

A rendering, presented at Lakewood City Hall in late February, of what Lakewood Park’s northern edge could look like next year. Credit: SmithGroup

“This whole debate about access [to Lake Erie] is interesting to me,” Stangland said at the meeting. “Is it proximity? Is it getting over the water? Is it dipping my toes in the water? Or, is it all of those things?”

Stangland, who is also helping move along SmithGroup’s work on the Cuyahoga County lake access plan, cited survey data to back up those collective calls for more stuff. Eighty-six percent of Lakewooders labeled “more access” as an extension’s top priority. Sixty-five percent wanted the ability to kayak, boat or paddle-board.

A year’s worth of feedback led Stangland, along with architect Michelle Johnson, to select one of three proposed designs, a layout that calls for a lengthy pier jutting out to the Park’s northeast side, and a cobble beach hugging its south end. (“Not a lay out, sun tan beach,” Stangland said.) And before that beach, 20-inch terrace seating that would mimic the Solstice Steps leisurely lure. “I see yoga done on there,” he said.

The park could see the addition of a long pier, with a cobbled beach below it, for kayak and boat access. Credit: SmithGroup

“That is why the city’s investing along the lakefront: it’s about community,” Stangland said in a phone call with Scene Friday. “Providing amenities for the residents themselves. It’s acknowledging that there’s a demand to, first of all, get closer to the lake.”

And, on the park’s northernmost edge, a “Central Lakeside Terrace,” a tiered platform erected over where a former fishing desk used to stand, one which gives visitors the greatest chance to feel, and not just gander at, Lake Erie. Minding, Stangland warned, its waves.

Despite the potential for a sudden ice bath, Stangland said Lakewood should be seeking a fine balance between beauty and practicality. “Overwhelmingly, what we heard was that [the design] first of all had to be natural,” he said.

Lakewood will be seeking funds through its own Capital Improvement Plan, along with state and federal grants. Stangland said that SmithGroup will fine-tune the drawings teased in late February after the project goes through its permitting phase. A design report will be finalized by late this week.

An engineer could be hired for the buildout, he suggested, later this year or in early 2025.