Mayor's Corner: Keeping Lakewood’s Population Strong with Strategic Housing Infill
One of the things that makes Lakewood special is the vitality of our city. Even in the middle of winter, you can find residents out and about patronizing local Lakewood shops and restaurants and staying active on city streets and parks. The dynamic nature of our city is no surprise given Lakewood’s large population and our rare level of density in Ohio. Maintaining Lakewood’s population is an important goal for our city, and one important way to do so is through strategic housing development.
Lakewood remains one of the most dense cities between New York and Chicago, with over 50,000 residents in less than 7 square miles, and we are also one of Ohio’s 20 most populous municipalities. That 50,000 number is important for Lakewood’s bottom line because key federal dollars become more readily available at this threshold through community development block grants (CDBG). That federal funding is used for essential services, like keeping our streets in shape. In 2020, Lakewood had a major win by keeping our census population above that key 50,000 threshold which ensured our greater access to CDBG funds. Beyond CDBG, our city departments consistently seek outside dollars from other federal, state and local grants and Lakewood’s total population and density are key factors that make us competitive.
There are many factors that go into maintaining our population, but one important one has always been housing. As a built-out city, Lakewood must be strategic in positioning and partnering on sites to add and diversify housing. This effort has been ongoing for at least 70 years, dating back to the development of the Gold Coast, which introduced multiple high-rises with thousands of units in place of what were previously large lakefront estates. A few examples of more recent infill housing (over the past 10+ years) have taken the place at a former gas station (XYZ Townhomes), a former car dealership (Rockport Development), and former school site (McKinley Place Townhomes). What some may not know is that new single-family homes are also still being built in Lakewood – over the past 5 years alone, we have seen over 20 new homes built – mostly single family, but also attached cluster, and even a new two-family. All of these infill opportunities are more challenging than in greenfield suburban development – Lakewood must take advantage of adaptive changes in land use or on lots where homes have been lost to fire, condemnation, or other mishaps.
Currently, there are several additional housing developments planned and in the pipeline. The biggest of these is the downtown development on the former Lakewood Hospital site, which will bring 300 new units to the heart of Lakewood. But other projects are moving ahead as well – for example, you may have seen recent demolition work happening at the former Steve Barry Buick site on Detroit, where over 150 new units are planned to rise soon. And opportunistic single family home infill will always continue outside of these larger developments.
Maintaining Lakewood’s population numbers with strategic housing infill is always on our mind in City Hall. Multiple City of Lakewood departments – from Building and Housing to Law, Planning, and Finance – are all involved in working creatively with builders and developers to bring their projects to market. By continuing the tradition of strategically introducing new housing for Lakewood, we can maintain our population and provide diverse housing in ways that keep our city's vitality, density, and quality of life strong.
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