AKRON, Ohio — A community-led plan to restore vibrancy to Akron’s Summit Lake neighborhood has reached another milestone.
Area officials will break ground for the Akron Civic Commons 2.0, Ohio & Erie Canal Summit Lake Trail at 11 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25 at Summit Lake Park. Parking for the event, which is open to the public, will be at the Summit Lake Community Center, 380 Crosier St.
The 2.75-mile multi-purpose Ohio & Erie Canal Summit Lake Trail — accessible for hikers, walkers and bicyclists around Summit Lake — represents the first project of the resident-led Akron Civic Commons 2.0 work at Summit Lake.
The trail will link the eastern and western neighborhoods surrounding Summit Lake and connect to the 101-mile Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, officials said.
Summit Lake, located on the south side of Akron, is the largest lake within city limits, and was once considered a waterfront playground.
In the 1970s, the lake area was cut off from the city by the ill-conceived Innerbelt Highway. As a result, the Summit Lake neighborhood is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in Summit County.
For the past several years, work has been underway at the lake to restore the area’s vibrancy through an array of initiatives led by the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition.
In 2016, the Canalway Coalition, led by President and CEO Dan Rice, was awarded a $5 million Reimagining the Civic Commons grant to revitalize and connect three Akron neighborhoods along the Towpath Trail, including Summit Lake.
Since then, Rice's group has worked hand-in-hand with Summit Lake residents, the Knight Foundation, Summit Metro Parks, the city of Akron and other groups, to secure additional funding to create and bring to fruition the multi-phase Summit Lake Vision Plan.
Early in that process, the coalition and its partners learned that what Summit Lake residents wanted most was a complete trail that would loop around Summit Lake. That loop would include a floating section of trail to connect land to the west side of the lake along Summit Lake Boulevard.
In addition to the trail, the vision plan includes a pavilion, shaded seating, swings, a canoe and kayak share, a boat launch ramp and a concession stand. Some of the ideas, tested before they became permanent, have been installed or implemented.
The Summit Lake Nature Center, opened last July in the lake’s old pump house, started as a pop-up center. It was so well-received by Summit Lake families that Summit Metro Parks made it permanent.
The two-story recreational and educational facility, with a million-dollar view of Summit Lake, is designed to bring residents the programming and services the neighborhood has long been denied and to connect residents to the lake as an amenity.
Another vital early initiative at Summit Lake was an environmental assessment of the lake itself, commissioned in 2017 by the Knight Foundation. Knight’s Akron Program Director Kyle Kutuchief secured a grant to launch the study, which was planned to be managed by the Trust for Public Land.
The Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization heard about the work and applied for Brownfield grants from the U.S. EPA to study the lake.
During an event in 2018, Rice announced Summit Lake is as clean as any other urban lake in Ohio, and its health continues to improve. The study determined that contact with the water would not pose a health concern, which meant the lake was appropriate for many recreational activities, from canoeing and kayaking, to fishing and bird-watching.
Since then, the coalition and its many partners have continued to work at Summit Lake to restore the economic health of the area and transform the lake into an amenity local families can enjoy.