Mayfield Heights Supports Northeast Ohio Parks Project

Editor's note: This article was updated on June 25.

Mayfield Heights officials are willing to pay to find out if and how they would fit into a massive, regional green space project.

The city has agreed to pay $2,000 to Cleveland-based Land Studio, a non-profit organization managing a project that would connect trails and green spaces across 14 Northeast Ohio communities. The money would help to cover the cost of planning studies for the Eastside Greenway Project.

The organization has approached several other cities to gauge their desire to connect trails. Mayfield Village, Pepper Pike, Euclid and Shaker Heights have also committed to contribute to planning costs, project manager Anna Swanberg said. 

"It's just in the very beginning stages," Mayor Anthony DiCicco said. "They've looked at a few cities they'd like to connect ... the initial plan was to come down Gates Mills Boulevard and maybe connect on SOM (Center Road) to the Mayfield Village park, the Metroparks. That is their grand scheme."

Officials said early plans would connect Beachwood to Pepper Pike to Mayfield Heights.

Patty Stevens, Cleveland Metroparks’ Chief of Park Planning, told the Cleveland Natural History Museum's GreenCityBlueLake Institute that the final project's cost could be in the hundred-millions. However, Land Studio projects an increase in property values totaling $110 million from the Eastside Greenway project.

"Whether it will come to fruition or not, I think ($2,000) is a worthwhile contribution to see if we can make it happen or not," DiCicco said.