Lake County's Coastal Plan Taking Shape

Launched in 2001 and seeded by $25,000 from the Cleveland Foundation with $65,000 additional funds contributed by both public and private entities, the Lake County Coastal Development and Engineering Feasibility Study has been developed through a cohesive team effort between many local enterprises representing the public, private and nonprofit sectors of our community. Input also came from the ODNR, the Ohio EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Planning Commission officially adopted the plan in March.

The Coastal Development Plan recognizes Lake Erie’s value as a major environmental, economic and recreational resource and seeks to build on and improve the lakefront, for both recreational and economic purposes. Planners studied the entire Lake Erie shoreline along Lake County and took into consideration current land use patterns before developing recommendations that they believe will contribute to better access to lakefront views and ambience in an effort to increase tourism and improve shoreline and bluff protection.

Projects proposed for development are:

Chagrin River offshore breakwater. Proposed are improvements providing a protected harbor and safe entrance to the lake. The sedimentation issue also would be addressed. Estimated cost: $9.5 million.

Mentor-on-the-Lake and Mentor Beach Park. A high percentage of erosion controls for private property and the placement of a stone revetment. Estimated cost: $125,000.

Mentor Harbor. The goal for this site is to protect the harbor and allow for safe navigation through the channel into the lagoons and effectively redirect, reduce or remove the deposits of sand at the entrance to the channel. Estimated cost: Up to $2.7 million.

Fairport Harbor. Envisioned are a protected calm water marina with 400 to 500 slips for seasonal and transient use; a harbormaster building, parking, improved boat launch and utilities; improved access to the lake and river waterfront including handicapped accessible piers; and capitalizing on the mixed-use and recreation potential of the Grand River corridor. Estimated cost: $27.3 million.

Perry Township Park. Goals for this site include protecting and stabilizing the bluff west of the concrete revetment, creating a more usable beach at the base of the bluff, making the lake accessible to the handicapped as part of a new senior citizens center, protecting the harbor and improving the boat launch facility. Estimated cost: $4.1 million.

North Perry and Madison Township. The initial intent for the Townline and Stanton Parks was to locate a harbor of refuge basin between Geneva State Park and Fairport Harbor. This included the repair and replacement of the existing boat launch at Townline Park and stabilization of the failing slope at Stanton Park. More recent strategies included the idea of placing offshore barrier structures to protect the shoreline and create substantial recreational boating and swimming beaches in the area between the two parks as part of an integrated safe harbor and passive recreation waterfront design. Estimated costs: $6.1 million for Townline Park; $4.6 million for private property in Madison Township; $2.9 million for Stanton Park.

Madison Township Boat Launch. Near-term goals for this site are to provide a protected and usable boat launch facility with improved signage, access and parking. Long-term goals include the enlargement and enhancement of the beach on the west side of the park. Estimated cost: $1.3 million to $2.4 million.

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The glory days of manufacturing and steel making in Northeast Ohio are now part of the history book, but companies that adapt can find a place in the new business climate. Dr. Stephen Gage, president and CEO of CAMP, says manufacturing in this region still offers many opportunities.

The thing that people don’t really appreciate about our manufacturing base here is how incredibly diversified it is, how complicated it is. We have over 8,000 manufacturing companies here in the Northeast Ohio area, the majority of them being quite small. But that gives those companies an opportunity to find a niche where they can sell into a certain market and do quite well.

Manufacturing isn’t going away tomorrow. There are going to be markets that must be served by local manufacturers that can produce something at such a price and in such a way that it satisfies a need that cannot be served by a manufacturing plant in China.

Between 2000 and 2003, electrical equipment manufacturing added more than 300 jobs, and pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing added more than 250.

There is an upside and a downside to the status of manufacturing not only in Northeast Ohio, but across the country. “The national trend in manufacturing is declining employment, and part of it is because of increased productivity,” says Dr. Ziona Austrian, director of the Center for Economic Development at Cleveland State University. “Part of it is going overseas, but some of it is because we have more productive employees. Less employees are needed for the same output.”

Small business
The Small Business Administration’s flagship 7(a) loan has registered significant increases in loans to women and minority businesses during the first three quarters of 2005, the SBA reports. Loan to minorities have increased by 27 percent compared to the same period last year. Loans to women are up almost 50 percent, while loans to African-American business owners have increased by 46 percent. SBA loans to start-up companies have increased by 76 percent over last year.

Construction
Employment of laborers in the Northern Ohio-Economic Development Region 8 is projected to rise to 5,480 workers by 2012, an increase of 610 workers from 2002. Projections are for an average of 126 annual openings.

The short-term projection across the state is for employment to rise to 34,210 from a total of 33,750 in 2004, an increase of 0.7 percent.

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