January 2017

Cooperation and Coordination in Development Planning

among the Units of Government in Portage, Stark, Summit and Wayne Counties

Urban legends about Summit Lake and its past activities abound. Is a ferris wheel buried in the lake banks? Can the fish caught there be consumed? How safe is it to swim in Summit Lake’s waters? This natural lake, which played an important role in Akron’s industrial past, is an ideal location for recreation, offering a nearby respite for inner city residents and Akron workers. A glittering beacon for morning commuters heading into downtown Akron, the lake is also located in one of the city’s most distressed neighborhoods. NEFCO has begun a partnership with Northeast Ohio stakeholders seeking to expand recreational possibilities in and around Summit Lake. In January, the NEFCO General Policy Board approved funding for an environmental assessment of Summit Lake and selected properties adjacent to the lake. With this approval, the Summit Brownfields Revitalization Program, administered by NEFCO, will use professional consultants to complete several environmental activities. A Phase I assessment, an ecological data evaluation, and a Phase II Lake assessment will be funded by NEFCO with $110,460 from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) brownfields assessment coalition grant. The intent of the work is to determine the types of recreation that would be safe and suitable around this urban lake. Although the lake has been the subject of extensive environmental testing, our project will be a comprehensive study that considers new possibilities for recreation. NEFCO’s efforts will evaluate and supplement existing data, and will look at historical uses and how these might affect the re-use of properties surrounding the lake. Stakeholders will consider recommendations of uses that are protective of public health. Many properties surrounding the lake are vacant, and there is hope for jumpstarting economic development to bring much-needed establishments and jobs to the Summit Lake neighborhood.

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What’s Ins ide? Portage Lakes Management Study ................ 2 Cuyahoga River AOC Developing a Management Action Plan .............................. 3 NEFCO submits application for continued funding of the Summit Brownfields Revitalization Program .................................. 3 2017 GPB meeting dates ............................... 3 Portage County Failing HSTS Prioritization Analysis ......................................................... 4 Triad Communications .................................. 5 2017 General Policy Board Officers .............. 6

NEFCO to Fund Environmental Investigation of Summit Lake

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Portage Lakes Management Study NEFCO has been working with the Portage Lakes Advisory Council (PLAC) to study water quality, nutrient reduction, stormwater runoff, failing septic systems, plastic smog, and aquatic plant protection as part of a Portage Lakes Management Study. In 1999, NEFCO had conducted an Upper Tuscarawas River Watershed Action Plan. Data from this plan are being updated and data gaps filled in to address current concerns. A shoreline inventory, riparian habitat quality update, and identification of ecologically valuable aquatic plants and fisheries are part of the study’s initial phase. Initial discussions have identified aquatic nuisance species, areas in need of protection and restoration, the need to educate the public on lake ecology; the problem of implementing best management practices on private lands, and concerns about harmful algal blooms. Property

values, recreational tourism, and aquatic resources could all be threatened by excess nutrients from point and nonpoint pollutants due to poor management practices surrounding the lakes and their tributaries. An inventory of recreational uses and facilities, tourism, and property values will be part of this balanced growth approach to protecting the natural assets and the recreational potential of the Portage Lakes. The study comes at a time when planning has begun for the Portage Lakes Water Trail, a future water trail connecting via Long Lake to the Ohio & Erie Canal and the Cuyahoga River Water Trail.

The Portage Lakes Management Study will balance the ecological preservation and active recreation in the lakes, identify areas of concern and areas suitable for restoration projects, provide for aquatic vegetation management, and develop water quality educational programming. As work on the study progresses, the PLAC is looking to enhance information and educational efforts, and to secure funding for implementation of watershed best management practices. NEFCO’s study is funded by a USEPA Section 604b grant, administered by the Ohio EPA, and by NEFCO member dues. For further information please contact Laura Minnig at NEFCO (LDYMinnig@nefcoplanning.org).

Photo courtesy of the PLAC.

Photo courtesy of the PLAC.

Photo courtesy of the PLAC.

The roles that NEFCO and the U.S. EPA will play support a larger project funded by a $5 million Reimagining the Civic Commons grant from private foundations, including the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Besides NEFCO and the U.S. EPA, a number of stakeholders are involved in this significant project. Cleveland-based Trust for Public Land will guide the larger effort to involve community input in improving this public space. The Ohio and Erie Canalway, which manages the Towpath Trail that runs along the lake, is interested in recommendations for additional recreational opportunities. The Summit Lake Neighborhood Association has also participated in this community effort to improve their backyard. NEFCO is pleased to be a part of this important study and community project. A community meeting to kick off the project will be held on January 25th at 5:30 p.m. at the Summit Lake Community Center, 380 W. Crosier Street, Akron.

(Summit Lake Environmental Investigation Continued from page 1)

2017 NEFCO Board

Meeting Dates

January 18 July 19

February 15 August 16

March 15 September 20

April 19 October 18

May 17 November 15

June 21 December 20 These meetings are held at the Summa Health Center in Green at 8:30 a.m.

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Cuyahoga River Area of Concern (AOC) Developing a Management Action Plan The Cuyahoga River, as an Area of Concern (AOC), fails to meet the objectives of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) and is considered impaired in its ability to support aquatic life or beneficial uses. The GLWQA required AOCs to develop a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) to identify the Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) and develop criteria for restoration. The Cuyahoga River AOC has been making progress in acknowledging on the ground projects to bring the river and its 21 subwatersheds (12 of which fall in NEFCO’s boundaries), and 10 miles of Lake Erie shoreline back to health. NEFCO staff have been serving on Committees of the AOC and have worked on prioritizing management actions. There are more than 100 projects proposed in the watershed to help with delisting (removing the river impairments). The Cuyahoga AOC Advisory Committee and its Strategic Implementation Subcommittee are currently reviewing a draft Management Actions report.

NEFCO has had a long history of work toward restoring the Cuyahoga River. In 1988, NEFCO’s

Executive Director was named by the Director of the Ohio EPA to the Cuyahoga Coordinating Committee, the principle planning body of the

Cuyahoga River Remedial Action Plan (RAP). A few years later, NEFCO’s Director agreed to be a member of the RAP’s nonprofit, the Cuyahoga River Community Planning Organization

(CRCPO). In 2014, the CRCPO changed its name to Cuyahoga River Restoration (CRR), to better reflect that its mission is to restore, revitalize, and

protect the environmental quality of the Cuyahoga River watershed. NEFCO staff today serves on the CRR board as well as the AOC Advisory

Committee. 2019 will be the 50th anniversary of the famous fire on the Cuyahoga River that sparked the Clean Water Act and resulted in the

creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

NEFCO submits application for continued funding of the Summit Brownfields Revitalization Program Since 2013, NEFCO has provided funds for environmental investigations of Summit County properties that have suspected or actual contamination from past industrial or commercial activities. NEFCO is in the third year of its second three-year grant award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. In order to continue our program, NEFCO applied for funding in December 2016. The U.S. EPA anticipates announcing awardees in late Spring 2017. Besides, NEFCO, coalition members for this program are Summit County Public Health and the Development Finance Authority of Summit County. NEFCO occasionally prepares profiles on the outcomes of the brownfield properties it assesses. See page 5 for a summary of 1701 South Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls.

In 2016, NEFCO completed a study for the Stark County Health Department (SCHD) and the Stark County Metropolitan Sewer District (SCMSD) to determine a priority for extending sewers to areas that the Health Department had determined to have above average failure rates for home sewage treatment systems (HSTSs). This year, NEFCO is working with the Portage County Health Department (PCHD) and Portage County Water Resources Department to conduct a similar study. Criteria for these studies include looking at HSTS age-weighted risks, housing density risks, soil suitability, surface water potential pollution, and proximity to a drinking water supply source. Other qualifying indicators to be considered include estimated flow of sewage, and groundwater pollution potential. E-coli qualifiers levels and percent E-coli and odor scores are also included when/if E-coli sampling takes place.

High failure rates of HSTS are common in areas with dense housing stock, small lot sizes, and poor soils for a properly functioning HSTS. These areas are a concern due to the potential threat to public health and local water quality. For further information please contact Laura Minnig at NEFCO

(LDYMinnig@nefcoplanning.org).

Sylvia Chinn-Levy, Program Manager for Economic Development Planning, has recently resigned from NEFCO after 25 years of part and full time service. Sylvia began with NEFCO as a water quality planner and grants reviewer. Soon thereafter she assumed economic development planning responsibilities for the agency. Largely through Sylvia’s expertise, NEFCO maintained its status as an Economic Development District with the Economic Development Administration (EDA) U.S. Department of Commerce, therefore enabling NEFCO’s members to be eligible for EDA funding for infrastructure and other projects which preserved employment or increased it. More recently, Sylvia managed the two

brownfield coalition grants (totaling $1.2 million) awarded to NEFCO as part of the Summit (County) Brownfields Revitalization Program. Sylvia has taken a position with the Ohio EPA at its Northeast District Office in Twinsburg. We will miss her and wish her continued success.

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Portage County Failing Home Sewage Treatment Systems (HSTS) Prioritization Analysis

TRIAD COMMUNICATIONS/NEXT LEVEL RESTORES HISTORIC FOUNDRY

Project Background The nearly century-old building opened in the 1920’s as Falls Stamping and Welding Foundry. Located along the Cuyahoga River Gorge in a former industrial district known as the City of Cuyahoga Falls’ “brownfields corridor,” the Foundry is one of several revitalization efforts quickly changing the face of this neighborhood. As the first structure in Cuyahoga Falls’ historic overlay district, the Foundry received a state historic preservation tax credit. Perched on a ravine overlooking the rugged Cuyahoga River Gorge, this building’s brick and glass construction provides natural lighting and scenic vistas for the marketing and advertising firm that now occupies the Foundry. The environmental assessment of the property found concentrations of Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons above Voluntary Action Program (VAP) standards and Tricholoroethylene in soil samples in the cavity of a former 550-gallon heating oil underground storage tank. Tetrachloroethylene was detected in a monitoring well east of the building at a concentration slightly above the VAP Unrestricted Potable Use Standards but is not a concern since city water is provided. Soil vapor analytical results led to a recommendation by the contractor to repair and seal cracks and breaches in the concrete slab main and basement floors of the machine shop. Contaminated soil was removed and new concrete floors were poured to address these potential problems. Asbestos found in insulation, roofing, caulking, and floor tile mastic was removed. Various stages of the restoration can be viewed at www.fallsfoundry.com Key Developments

The City of Cuyahoga Falls provided $35,000 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to remove contaminated soil. The CDBG program also funded a loan and certified local government status/local landmark designation

Triad/Next Level received a $241,261 Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit from the Ohio Development Services Agency for rehabilitation costs

JobsOhio, the State’s nonprofit corporation awarded the project with a $65,000 revitalization grant Outcomes After carefully restoring the machine shop, Triad Communications/Next Level relocated its office in January 2016. This redevelopment project is an excellent example of a public-private partnership involving local, state and federal levels of government. Public/Private sector investment: $1,329,000 Jobs retained: 15 For more information, visit www.nefcoplanning.org/brownfields or call NEFCO at 330.643.8514 October 2016

Address: 1701 South Front Street, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio Property Size: 0.43 acres Former Uses: Machine shop, auto parts warehouse Pre-development Use:

Vacant building in a brownfields corridor

EPA Funding Source: Project Partners:

The Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning & Development Organization (NEFCO) used funds from a U.S. EPA Brownfields Assessment Coalition grant for Summit County, Ohio.

NEFCO, City of Cuyahoga Falls, Triad/Next Level, Ohio Development Services Agency, JobsOhio

2017 General Pol icy Board Off icer s

Chairman: Dr. Peter D. Ferguson, Stark County Appointee

First Vice-Chairman: Dan Morganti, Grants and Neighborhood Programs Coordinator,

City of Kent Second Vice-Chairman: Dan Moeglin, City Engineer, City of Canton Secretary: Bob Breneman, Mayor, City of Wooster Treasurer: Craig Stanley, Director of Administrative Services, Summit County

Congratulations, 2017 officers!

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N E F C O F o r u m The NEFCO Forum is published by the

Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization

175 South Main Street, Room 211 Akron, OH 44308

Phone:330/643-8514 FAX:330/643-5046 www.nefcoplanning.org

NEFCO is a regional council serving Portage, Stark, Summit and Wayne Counties and the city, village and township governments and citizens within the four-county area. The NEFCO Forum was prepared using Federal funds under award ED16CHI3020014 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, Economic Development Administration, the Ohio EPA and NEFCO’s dues-paying members. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Economic Development Administration or the U.S. Department of Commerce. We welcome comments, ideas and editorial contributions for future issues from our readers. Please submit these to the address shown above.

Dr. Peter D. Ferguson NEFCO General Policy Board Chairman

Joseph Hadley Jr., Executive Director

Sylvia R. Chinn-Levy, Editor Production - Rebecca L. Morgan

2016 First Vice-Chairman, Dan Morganti (right) presents an award to the 2016 outgoing Chairman Todd Peetz (left).