May/June 2005

Above: Preserving the lakefront and putting it to best possible use are the goals of planners Jason Boyd (left) and Darrell Webster of the Lake County Planning Commission and Harry Allen Jr., a boater and lakefront resident. They were involved in the Coastal Development Plan released in March. Photo by Marc Golub.

The Lake Erie Link:
Coastal Development, Tourism Take a Regional Tack
by Dee Logan and Laura Freeman

Business and government officials have wakened to the idea of regional tourism. After all, tourists don’t care whether they are in Lake, Ashtabula or Cuyahoga counties.
     All they know is that they came to see Lake Erie.
“Lake Erie is what’s unique about our region,” says Melinda Huntley, executive director of Lake Erie Coastal Ohio. “It’s what links us.”
     In fact, within 30 miles of the lakeshore are some 300 tourism sites between Conneaut and Toledo. This cornucopia of attractions in a seven-county region accounts for $7 billion in annual tourist spending and provides jobs for 130,800. The seven counties are Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Erie, Lake, Lorain, Lucas and Ottawa.
     Lake Erie Coastal Ohio is a nonprofit organization funded by tourist bureaus in these seven counties along the shoreline to promote regional tourism. Formed in 2003 with a $275,000, three-year grant from the Lake Erie Protection Fund, the organization receives additional funding from several sources.

Heads in beds

      “Our goal is to get heads in beds,” Huntley said. “We first conducted research into sites that are connected to Lake Erie and our ability to handle tourism. Cultural and resource-based tourism are among the fastest growing segments of the tourism industry.”
Huntley defines resource-based sites – sometimes called ecotourism – as based upon natural, cultural or heritage attractions.
     “Our research revealed a wealth of resources,” she said. “While we don’t have a Grand Canyon, we do have Lake Erie. We have a patchwork of historical and natural sites that tell its story.”
     The agency’s Web site, www.coastalohio.com, lists three main categories of tourist sites: landscapes, features of Lake Erie’s geological evolution, and its relationship to industrial and cultural history.
     A major natural area in Lake County is Mentor Marsh, ranked as a national natural landmark by the Department of the Interior. People flock to the habitat each year to enjoy the influx of migratory birds. A plan for the Mentor Marsh focuses on the concept of ecotourism.
     “We have to balance human traffic with how much areas can bear without causing harm to them,” said Darrell Webster, director of the Lake County Planning Commission. “It’s the only marsh of its type that’s left on the east end of the lake. The environs around it are being threatened all the time with development.”
     The marsh, the watershed and the coastline from the Grand River to the Eastlake Power Plant all fit into an even bigger picture.
     “It’s all part of a regional plan for preservation of unique natural areas along the lake,” Webster said. “We’re trying to realign people’s attitudes toward the lake and think of it more as our front door than our back door. A lot of work needs to be done, both in economics and preservation so no harm is caused to the lake that would be irreversible or that the lake couldn’t adapt to.”

Tourism has no boundaries

     “Regionalism makes sense when marketing to the heritage and nature-based traveler,” Huntley said. “Visitors are not interested in visiting ‘counties.’ They want experiences, and by working together, we can offer these potential travelers more attractions and a richer experience. This increases direct spending and tax revenues.”
     Bob Ulas, executive director of the Lake County Visitors Bureau, agrees that this cooperative effort helps to promote what the entire region has to offer. Ulas says visitors don’t know town boundaries either.
     “Their mission is to visit the various attractions,” Ulas said. “For example, fishing and bird watching are regional activities, as are hiking, historical site visits, wineries and lighthouse stops.”
So, if people travel to northeast Ohio for a day at Cedar Point, chances are good they may plan their visit to include a day browsing the museums in downtown Cleveland.
     They may further explore the region’s resources with a venture out to the Fairport Harbor Marine Museum and Lighthouse, a tour of local wineries, a drive past Ashtabula County’s covered bridges and a stay at the Polly Harper Inn in Geneva.
     Ulas said regionalism has gone on for some time, although it won’t replace county efforts. In 2002, visitors spent some $439 million in Lake County alone, he said.
     Many individual tourism sites generate considerable revenue in their own right. For example, the Mentor Marsh is visited by bus tours that generate $8 million a year for the Mentor-Fairport area, according to Kurt Kraus, director of Parks, Recreation and Public Lands for the city of Mentor.
Since few individual tourist sites can do their own advertising, regional promotion through Lake Erie Coastal Ohio is a welcome benefit.
     “Promoting is what we do,” Huntley said. “For example, we’ve hosted travel writers, worked with the Ohio Division of Travel and Tourism, and published a guide to area lighthouses that is available from various visitors bureaus.”

A key to region’s future

      Developing the Lake Erie coastal region can prove to be the number one economic driver for the county, said Harry Allen Jr., chairman of the Lake County Coastal Planning Committee.
“If it’s well done, it will be a masterpiece and benefit all communities,” he said. Allen, chief executive officer of Great Lakes Power, lives on the lake, loves boating and has long recognized the many benefits of this unique resource.
     “I saw what a few people in Racine, Wisc., accomplished through a private-public partnership and what a good lakefront can do to attract investment and people,” he said. “Before Racine developed its lakefront, only 15 percent of its residents went there, but now 70 percent do.”

Lake launches a plan

      Recognizing Lake Erie’s value as a major environmental, economic and recreational resource, the Lake County Planning Commission launched an effort in 2001 to develop a detailed understanding of shoreline issues.
     Planners made a study of the 27-mile shoreline from the Grand River to the Madison Township/Lake County line, aided by a grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Office of Coastal Management. Later, a coastal development study was conducted for western Lake County as well.
     “The Coastal Development Plan that resulted included the participation of representatives from several Lake County communities in the study area,” said Jason Boyd, senior planner and project leader. “Input also came from the ODNR, the Ohio EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.”
     The plan includes a record of current coastal conditions to serve as a benchmark for future improvements and identifies land-use patterns and potential opportunities. It also includes technical solutions for protecting beaches, bluffs and harbors. It addresses the feasibility of potential projects and discusses strategies for implementing and funding potential projects.
     Boyd reports that $90,000 in public and private funding was obtained, spearheaded by $25,000 from the Cleveland Foundation. The funds were used to hire a consulting firm that completed the Lake County Coastal Development and Engineering Feasibility Study. The planning commission officially adopted the plan in March.
     Several potential development projects are identified by the plan. Among them are:

• Improvements to the Chagrin River offshore breakwaters and safe harbor access
• Mentor-on-the-Lake shoreline protection and potential beach creation
• Improvements to Mentor Harbor and Fairport Harbor Marina
• Perry Township Park boat launch upgrade and bluff protection
• Shoreline improvements at Townline Park and Stanton Park in North Perry Village and Madison Township, including an improved boat launch, possible marina, beach protection and access.

      “The Coastal Development Plan gives our region a solid vision of what can be done to make our most precious natural resource into a valuable economic asset,” said planning commission director Webster. “Putting the plan into action should lead to better leverage for grants created by a regional effort. It also will serve as a catalyst for landside planning of projects and facilitate the selection of specific coastal projects for implementation.”
     Again, these ideas fit in with potential plans elsewhere along Lake Erie’s shores. For example, the proposed enhancement of Cleveland’s lakefront follows much of what was done in Chicago.
Chicago’s Lake Michigan shoreline is 33 miles long. Chicagoans can follow a 20-mile bike trail along the lakefront, passing sandy beaches, natural wildlife habitats, scenic harbors, abundant greenspace and sweeping views of the city’s skyline. They can visit scenic harbors, Lincoln Park Zoo, Navy Pier and Soldier Field. And the city, which had the advantage of planning development around preserved space at the lakefront from the beginning, has plans for more enhancement of its shoreline.

Mutually beneficial

     Lake County must deal with some of the same problems other Lake Erie communities face. For instance, the erosion problem on the high bluffs along the lakeshore affects all communities along the water’s edge.
     Webster says Lake County can pick up where other areas left off. Cuyahoga County has done a quantity of research on lakefront planning. Both Euclid and Wickliffe conducted studies. A project in Euclid involves putting in a new marina. Lake County planners can look to that experience for similar projects in Fairport and North Perry Village.
     “We’re aware of the regional impact we cause,” Webster said. “What we do works in concert with what other areas along the lakeshore are doing in preserving the lakefront. You don’t want to create new problems in pristine areas. You look for best practices so you’re not creating more ill effects to the lake. Everything we do doesn’t just impact Lake County; it effects all along the lake to the east and west.”
     Yetty Alley, local liaison with the ODNR’s Office of Coastal Management, knows firsthand that other areas can benefit from studies being done by Lake County and vice versa. Her office looks at coastal issues from a regional perspective to see what local areas are doing and see how that applies to the whole of Lake Erie.
     “We also interact with other Great Lakes states so we have an idea what is going on there,” Alley said.
     Alley says regional issues like pollution, storm water control and water quality know no boundaries and are best addressed at the watershed level.
     “When you’re looking at things at that level, you’re not just looking at one section of a river, you’re talking about the whole watershed. Organizations like watershed groups are growing because watersheds cross county or municipal boundaries,” she said. “Communities take a look at what is the best way to take advantage of the resources they have, yet be able to sustain themselves economically as well.”

Dee Logan is a Concord Township freelance writer. Laura Freeman is assistant editor of the Lake County Business Journal.