COUNTY PLANNING NEWSLETTER

November 2025 🦃

Gateways and Wayfinding in Cleveland Heights

Developed in partnership with the City of Cleveland Heights, the Gateway & Wayfinding Signage Plan identifies existing signage typologies, conditions, and locations within Cleveland Heights. It offers best practices for wayfinding signs, gateway signs, mobile wayfinding, and includes case studies of signage in other cities.

County Planning undertook a robust process to inventory the signage in Cleveland Heights. This city-wide signage inventory was assembled with data collected from both walking and driving audits of the community's main corridors, 11 business districts, and at city facilities. The plan includes information on design, fabrication, installation, and maintenance of new signage and recommends locations, typologies, and style considerations that Cleveland Heights can apply to its future signs.

Explore the New Data Commons Site

The Data Commons platform is a collection of nearly 200 county, state, and federal data sets used by County Planning's Research & Information Services staff in their project work. County Planning developed the Data Commons platform to share this considerable resource publicly. Researchers and members of the public now have access to GIS location data for various points of interest, maps, applications, etc. for their research needs.   

First Suburbs Award Presented to County Planning

photo courtesy of the First Suburbs Consortium

On October 30, County Planning was awarded the 2025 Visionary Project Award from the First Suburbs Consortium of Northeast Ohio for the Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Zoning Study. Led by County Planning in partnership with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, the TOD Zoning Study is a comprehensive, four-part initiative designed to improve zoning regulations and governmental policies that foster walkable, connected, and transit-supportive communities in Cuyahoga County. In collaboration with the Cities of Cleveland, Shaker Heights, Fairview Park, Cleveland Heights and numerous local agencies, the TOD Zoning Study has created valuable tools and resources. These include a Model TOD Zoning Overlay, annual Development Trends reports, and the TOD Navigator which establish the framework for rezoning and provide ongoing data and insights to guide future development. 

The Visionary Project Award, given in memory of First Suburbs founder Ken Montlack, was awarded to County Planning in 2024 for the Single-Family Zoning Analysis. 

Public Input Informs Our Plans for Communities

Engaging the public is a central component of our planning process and County Planning has made it a priority to expand how we reach out to residents and stakeholders for our plans. For the Brooklyn Master Plan Update, planners took part in the Recreation Center's annual Trunk or Treat event to hand out candy and advertise a community survey. Planning staff also attended the Lakewood Public Arts Fest to kick off the Lakewood Public Arts Master Plan process and gather ideas. The Bedford Master Plan team attended the Children's Fall Fest event in Historic Downtown Bedford. These outreach efforts allowed children of all ages to consider the future of their community; for some, with the help of parents. For many of the participants, it was the first time they had an opportunity to be engaged in a planning process.

2025 Bike-with-a-Mayor Recap

photos courtesy of the City of Pepper Pike and County Planning staff

2025 marked the third year of Bike-with-a-Mayor events. Held throughout Cuyahoga County during the warm weather months in collaboration with mayors and other elected leaders, these bicycle rides have proved very popular. Additionally, they promote the possible expansion of the on- and off-road trails network highlighted in the Cuyahoga Greenways Plan, one of the major projects and advocacy efforts of County Planning. Here is a look at a few of the events held in 2025.    

Thank You!

In the year since County Planning began publication of the newsletter, we have had the opportunity to work with communities and organizations across Cuyahoga County to help them plan for their future growth and development. Our work wouldn't be possible without these strong regional partnerships. Thank you to our board for their dedication and support in advancing our mission. Thank you also to all of our readers. We appreciate you taking the time to read these newsletters.

Thanks for taking the time to read our newsletter! If you found the information valuable, please consider forwarding it to a friend or colleague. Please let us know if there are opportunities for us to collaborate with you.

Cuyahoga County Planning Commission

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