AKRON, Ohio – Area residents interested in development around the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and preservation of the area’s environmental assets, are encouraged to attend a public input charette this week.

The charette is hosted by Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, with assistance from Farr Associates, a Chicago-based firm specializing in sustainable urban design and architecture.

All sessions will be held at Todaro’s Party Center, 1820 Akron Peninsula Road in Akron. Masks are required.

During the sessions, Farr designers will work with residents, incorporating various ideas into the plan. The charette includes:

• First public workshop held Tuesday
• Open studio times Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to noon and 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m.
• Second public workshop Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The Cuyahoga Valley National Park stretches across 50-square miles between Akron and Cleveland, and features a portion of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail and about 20 miles of the Cuyahoga River. A number of communities border the park.

Recent residential development near the park has sparked public discussions about what kind of construction is appropriate — environmentally and aesthetically — close to the national park.

The first public input session for a master plan was held in mid-July.The events this week are expected to build upon information gathered then, organizers said.

With more than 1,100 members, citizen group Preserve the Valley has championed for a plan to shape development in Akron’s Merriman Valley neighborhood and Cuyahoga Falls' Schumacher neighborhood, which together form the park’s northern boundry.

Preserve the Valley wants to protect the area’s environmental assets, which draw 2.5 million people each year and generate more than $87 million in economic activity, the National Park Service reports.

The group also wants Merriman Valley-Schumacher to be deemed a National Park Gateway Community, an idea that is rolling out at parks and recreational areas across the country.

A gateway-community designation would bring residents, developers, businesses, park and local officials together through shared responsibility for the social, economic and environmental aspects of the area, the group said.

Forming a gateway community would help ensure development complements the surrounding area using form-based code, the group said. A gateway community could work with the National Park Service to conserve the area and develop additional recreational opportunities.

Preserve the Valley detailed many of the region’s challenges and needs in a spreadsheet.

Following the July input session, Preserve the Valley issued a statement saying the session focused on development, but didn’t take into account environmental challenges the region already faces.

Increased rainfall causing flooding, landslides and stress to roads and bridges should be taken into consideration in all decision-making, the group said.  

"We need a master planning process that recognizes, amplifies and protects the fundamental assets that keep residents here and bring visitors here – assets that make this the seventh most-visited national park area in the U.S.,” said Drew Holland, a Preserve the Valley founder. “A big box retailer isn't a tourist draw. It's what the people who live here are trying to get away from.”

Discussions about environmental challenges are planned, as well as talks about traffic flow, walkability and other mobility issues, said Diana Colavecchio, community development director for Cuyahoga Falls.

In additon to public input sessions, meetings take place over the next few days with many stakeholder groups, she said, such as Ohio & Erie Canalway Coaltion, Summit Metro Parks and Summit RTA. 

"We also need to know what's on their five-year capital plan and how that's going to impact what we do," she said. 

Development in the national park area should be a showpiece for sustainable building, said Shelley Pearsall, a Preserve the Valley co-founder. 

“We have the ideas here. We have the innovators. We have people in northeast Ohio, who could do some unique and interesting and environmentally sound things,” she said. “Even the flood plain could be an asset. You could use this part of the valley as an incubator for some amazing ideas about how you live in a world where water is increasing.”

Preserve the Valley has members at all the sessions this week, contributing ideas, she said.

“This place means a lot to a lot of people,” Pearsall said. “People have a history here, families here. This is something that people feel strongly about.”

The Farr Group is expected to present two potential plans for the valley during Thursday's workshop, Colavecchio said. The final plan is due in January 2022.