On August 10th, the City will host an Open House event for the new David E. Anderson Senior Center. This much-anticipated facility will become the new home for our over 1500 members. Please stop by to take a tour, become a member or learn about all of the programs offered. The Center will open for our members on Monday, August 12th. The ribbon cutting will take place on September 14th.

Union Village is a collaboration between the City of Willoughby, the Willoughby-Eastlake School District, and the Lake County YMCA. This will represent the largest construction project in Willoughby’s history, and one of the most unique collaborations in the State of Ohio. In 2014, Superintendent Steve Thompson and Lake County YMCA Executive Director Dick Bennett began a conversation about combining and sharing resources. Given Willoughby South High School and the West End Y are neighbors, these leaders believed a partnership would increase services of both institutions. Shortly after this, Mayor David Anderson suggested it would be an excellent opportunity to build our long-anticipated senior center. Before the 2015 school district bond issue, the City, School District, and YMCA conceived a joint-use facility now called Union Village. The name truly represents the philosophy behind this project: a union of three entities to provide better services while reducing operational costs. It is also a nod to the former Union High School located in Wes Point Park.

Union Village includes an expansion and renovation of Willoughby South High School, the relocation of Willoughby Middle School to the current high school and the demolition of the existing Willoughby Middle School. The YMCA is investing in a new state-of-the-art facility and will relocate from its current building at the corner of Euclid Avenue and Shankland. Finally, the City is constructing a new senior center and will relocate from the current building on Brown Avenue.

The real story, however, is the value these separate but connected projects bring to our community. For the City, we will have a single-story facility with flexible and expandable spaces for programming. We also gain better parking and a more functional layout. Our proximity to the YMCA will offer more programming opportunities, and the new South High School field house will provide a larger gym as well as a walking track. We are also looking forward to a renewed relationship with our neighbors, Breckenridge Village, and their new Executive Director Dean Palombaro. The new YMCA facility will offer more program opportunities with an emphasis on family programming. Their building includes a warm water therapy pool, and the Y will manage the 8-lane competitive pool constructed by the school district. The pools are adjacent to each other, and they serve as an outstanding example of how the YMCA’s expertise in pool management can provide a direct benefit to the schools. The expanded Willoughby South High School/Middle School will offer more opportunities for student-centered learning and an opportunity for cross-generational learning experiences with its proximity to the Senior Center.

We look forward to seeing the community at Union Village soon!

Lake Erie’s water levels are at historic levels. In fact, the lake’s water level has raised 6″ since May 1st of this year, and we have already broken the historic highest water level of 1986.  This is 30″ above the average sea level of the lake.  May had the highest average monthly water level increase since 1918. Similar, but not as extreme high-water levels occurred in 1973-1974 and 1997-1998 when water levels receded until 2007. Historic patterns indicate we will continue to see elevated lake levels this spring and summer. Lake water level should begin to drop after this year.

Residents along our north shore and the city have been experiencing significant erosion damage due to these extreme conditions. In fact, the entire lakefront of Ohio has similar issues. Marinas with their docks underwater and lower lakefront areas experiencing flooding in many cities along the lakefront. In Lake County, Eastlake, Mentor, Fairport Harbor, and Perry Village are experiencing significant issues with lakefront erosion.

Over the past months, we have been investigating possible erosion control measures and funding for these.

We met with Paul Palgyi, Executive Director of Lake Metroparks, who offered to provide technical assistance in lakefront planning to help with temporary and short-term erosion control measures including landscape design. We also met with Peter Zahirsky of the Lake County Port Authority and Director of Coastal Management to review any funding sources for erosion control. Peter indicated that there are no funds specifically dedicated to lakefront erosion measures. However, he did state that if we combine erosion control improvements with lakefront master plan improvements, funding may be available. He referenced the work Euclid is doing as an example. Recently, Councilman Woodin joined the administration in a visit to Euclid to meet with Mayor Holzheimer Gail and her staff to better understand the scope, schedule, and funding of their project at Sims Park. We also participated in a meeting with mayors, managers, and state elected officials sponsored by the Lake County Port Authority, representatives from Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the law firm Bricker and Eckler, experts in Lakefront Special Improvement Districts. From this meeting, we learned:

• The ODNR, Office of Coastal Management is issuing Temporary Shore Structure Permits to allow homeowners to act faster than the standard permit process that can take three months or longer.
• The Technical Assistance phone number for ODNR is (419) 626-7980. Their website is http://coastal.ohiodnr.gov/.
• There is no financing assistance for landowners using the Temporary Shore Structure Permits.
• The temporary permits can be issued in 1 – 2 weeks and are good for two years.
• There are Coastal Assistance Planning Grants, for planning only, from ODNR. Willowick, Eastlake, and Willoughby are jointly pursuing these.
• Homeowners have the option to create a SID to help finance erosion control measures. Municipalities sponsor the SID, and it may contain both public and private properties, and the properties do not need to be contiguous.
• The SID would allow homeowners to amortize the cost of erosion control improvements over 30 years.

Summer will bring us outside to enjoy the weather, our homes, city parks and the many events planned in Willoughby. This month I thought I’d pass along a few reminders for the summer season.

Please note that we are requesting all pets be leashed on public properties. Also, remember to clean up after your pets. As we maintain our homes and yards, remember that all yard waste and grass clippings must stay on your property or can be removed by our refuse hauler, Waste Management. Grass clippings should be placed in lawn bags or containers provided by Waste Management. Please remember to sweep or blow your grass clippings away from sidewalks and streets. More information on Waste Management is below. Also, we have city ordinances that limit construction start times to 7:00 am on the weekdays and 8:30 am on the weekends.

For convenience, below is a list of the different service providers for Willoughby:

Waste Management: Our current trash removal contractor also picks up larger items such as furniture and appliances as well as grass clippings and yard waste. For any questions relating to trash pickup and recyclables, please call Waste Management at 1-866-797-9018. Also, more information on trash pickup can be found on the City’s website at https://willoughbyohio.com/service-department/refuse-collection/. Please remember that trash pick-up occurs one day later after Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year’s Day.

First Energy: Our electric and streetlight provider can be reached at 1-888-544-4877 and through the City website at https://willoughbyohio.com/service-department/. Please contact them for power outages as well as streetlight repairs. For streetlights, the pole number or the street address nearest the pole is required. Also, links to Ohio Dominion, NOPEC, AT&T, Spectrum and the Lake County Department of Utilities can be found on our website.

Lake County General Health District: The LCGHD can be reached at 440-350-2543 and their website is https://www.lcghd.org/. This organization provides many services for our residents, including restaurant kitchen inspections, reporting, and monitoring of infectious diseases in Lake County, animal bite reporting for rabies control, and mosquito spraying. Lake County’s birth and death records are archived at the LCGHD and they are actively involved in the opioid epidemic with Project Dawn (Deaths Avoided With Naloxone). This is a community-based overdose education and naloxone distribution program.

Finally, we ask that if you observe suspicious vehicles, people or activities, please report these to our Police Department at 440-953-4212. Our safety forces rely on resident involvement and we have a shared responsibility to look after our neighbors.

We wish everyone an enjoyable and safe summer!