Euclid City Council’s Business Development and City Planning and Housing Committee recently went over the current state of plans that were started last year, projects in the current year, and gave an update to their plans on possibly expanding corporate subsidies. Planning and Development Coordinator Christine McIntosh noted at the May 1 meeting that the Top of the Tank project is one plan that has been the focus for many residents. The project located at 22201 Lakeshore Blvd., will be installing a 2-acre park with retail spaces, walking paths, food trucks, and parking — all three feet above Euclid’s underground 15-million-gallon water tank. Councilperson and chair of the Business Development, City Planning and Housing Committee Kristian Jarosz waits for the meeting to start. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) The project has been in consideration since 2021, but has seen little on-the-ground progress, which according to McIntosh has caused some concern for residents. “I’ve heard a lot of folks in the community wondering what’s happened to ‘Top of the Tank,’” McIntosh said. “What’s happening is it takes time to piece together funding but we are moving forward, and we will be doing phase two later this year.” Director of Planning and Development Patrick Grogan-Myers said the city conducted a full windshield survey of the city to determine how many businesses are currently being used. Signs for ongoing projects are shown inside Euclid City Hall. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) He said that the survey gave his team a roadmap of where problem areas might be, and now that the data is in, they can start working on developing those properties with the current, or possibly new owners. “We didn’t go into commercial multi-tenant office buildings, we were focused primarily on when you are going down the street and are looking for a place to go to grab a bite, go shop, whatever the case may be, what’s the vacancy you’re seeing along the way as you go to those businesses,” Grogan-Myers said. “And not looking at those multi-tenant buildings although those are important and need to be addressed, those are just addressed separately.” Site plans for Upland Sims Park are shown outside of council chambers. (Frank Mecham- The News-Herald.) Grogan-Myers said that among the 467 businesses that were surveyed 105 were believed, by their metrics, to be vacant. Broken down into percentages, the 22% of street visible commercial spaces that Euclid observed to be vacant would, according to Grogan-Myers match the trend seen across the country. “Based on the statistics I just shared a moment ago that hits right in line with what we are seeing nationwide,” Grogan-Myers said. “I don’t like that. So, we need to be honest with how we address this.” He said that the city is considering raising the amount of funding available in its Storefront Renovation Program, which currently matches half of certain renovation projects up to $25,000, and will be proposed to extend the amount of funding for a project to $50,000. There was insinuation during the discussion of raising the amount of funding for the storefront renovations that businesses have been claiming they won’t be able to make as much of a profit if they put money into renovations. The higher cost means less incentives to do so without Euclid providing more funding to offset their business costs. Grogan-Myers said they can address this hesitancy in several ways, one being extra funding. The subject of Euclid Avenue also was brought up by committee members. According to Grogan-Myers that specific part of the city is suffering from a bad perception, but in reality, the avenue has a higher occupancy rate compared to most parts of the city. He said that one challenge going forward will be finding ways to change the negative perception with residents. “One important item to note — Euclid Avenue has the second lowest vacancy rate in the city, which I think is a positive,” Grogan-Myers said. “There is a perception issue, not a reality issue, which is a good starting point for Euclid Avenue. “Maybe we need to address some business-tenant mix issues, and we need to work with property owners but that is a very positive thing, when we look at Euclid Avenue, which is where this problem started,” he added. “There was a lot of complaints around vacancy on Euclid Avenue and needing to address them, it’s also important to note that every business space within the city has vacant spaces.”