A swath of land along a curve of the Cuyahoga River is on track to become a public space linking Cleveland with the waterfront.
Irishtown Bend is an unstable forested hillside sitting just below Detroit Avenue and West 25 th Street in Ohio City. A recent $1.4 million grant through “Clean Ohio” will allow public and private groups to work together to take possession of the land.
Tom McNair with Ohio City Incorporated – a community development corporation -- explained the plan on WVIZ/PBS’s public affair show “ideas.”
“What this does is this enables us to acquire CMHA’s properties which is 6.9 acres which is roughly 50% of the land on Irishtown Bend,” said McNair. “And it will deed it greenspace into perpetuity. So we’re now no longer talking about trying to stabilize a hillside for potential private development. We’re talking about creating a civic asset.”
McNair expects the empty Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority properties to be demolished early next year creating a vista from the top of the hill to the Cuyahoga River. He says the Port is working to stabilize the hillside. And starting in the spring, the public will be invited to provide input on designing the green space, with the goal of connecting the top of the hill with trails in the area.
