Parma And Cuyahoga County Hosting Public Meeting To Seek Input On Town Center Master Plan

Parma and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission are hosting a public meeting later this month to solicit residential ideas surrounding the city’s developing Town Center. The meeting – which will be one of three to seek public feedback – will be held 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 12 in Large Meeting Room B of the Cuyahoga County Public Library’s (CCPL) Powers Boulevard Branch. This event will kick-off the effort to create a Parma Town Center Strategic Master Plan to harness the on-going development around the Ridge Road-West Ridgewood Drive intersection – spurred on by millions of dollars in investments into The Shoppes at Parma, the University Hospitals Parma Medical Center, and the CCPL’s Parma Branch. “This area is about as close to a downtown as we have in Parma,” Mayor Tim DeGeeter said. “All of the pieces are in place to make this a real focal point by incorporating all that is offered in this vital part of our community – the Shoppes, the hospital, the library, Parma City Hall, Byers Field, Ridgewood Golf Course, Stearns Farm and Homestead, and the Day Drive Corridor.” 

Creating a master plan for the area, now rebranded as The Crossroads of Parma, was one of the recommendations of the Parma Mayor’s Town Center Task Force – formed by DeGeeter to help shape a vision for the burgeoning development already occurring there. In putting the plan together, the city applied for a county grant and ultimately received it in the form of assistance from the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. Along with the county’s work on the project as well as city staff support, a 10-member steering committee has been formed to gather input.   

The committee is comprised of individuals from, among other entities, the Shoppes at Parma, the Chamber of Commerce, West Creek Conservancy, UH Parma Medical Center, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, the CCPL, and the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Committee.  Also on the committee is Councilman Dennis Kish. The city, the county planning commission, and the steering committing will create the master plan based on public input as well as on economic, demographic, and other data relevant to the area – while also relying heavily on the recommendations from the Mayor’s Town Center Task Force.  Those include, among other things, the following ideas: 

• Creating a unique, overall look for the Town Center – rebranded as The Crossroads of Parma by the task force.  That could include signage marking the entrances to the area, developing design standards, and attractive visuals, such as decorative streetscape lighting.

• Developing increased pedestrian and bicycle paths connectivity through the entire area.

• Adding and improving the area’s green space to increase recreational use.

Already, the Town Center area has seen increased development along Ridge Road and Day Drive. The city has made major investments there, from building a new splash pad at Anthony Zielinksi Park to improving, rehabbing, and repaving Day Drive.  

A draft master plan is expected to be completed by early July.

“This is an exciting time, and I can’t wait to read the master plan’s recommendations to help us move the Town Center concept forward even more,” DeGeeter said.  “It’s critical we grasp the full potential of this vital area of our city.”