Cuyahoga County’s 2022 Lakefront Public Access Plan established a vision for transforming the County’s 32 miles of Lake Erie shoreline into a more connected, equitable, resilient, and publicly accessible shoreline. The plan identified that only approximately 15% of the county shoreline is publicly accessible today. Through a Communitywide survey of 4,000 lakefront property owners, the County identified 5 focus areas experiencing severe erosion, and where there was interest in exploring the granting of private easements in exchange for publicly-funded shoreline protection and public lakefront access. In Q2 2026, the County broke ground on its’ first in-water project. The Euclid Beach Connector emerged as the County’s first major implementation project. This session will highlight how the project advanced from concept to construction through the public-private partnership based on the “Euclid model.” Partnerships with the Cleveland Metroparks, NEORSD, and the City of Cleveland along with cooperation from private landowners proved critical. In total, easements from 18 individual property owners and were secured to create public access along the lakefront. This prove-it project created a model the County will follow and use to influence the County’s Fresh Water Institute initiatives. Attendees will gain insight into the planning framework, partnership strategies, and implementation lessons that moved a complex, multi-jurisdictional lakefront access project into reality.
