City of Macedonia Surface Water Infrastructure Fund (SWIF)

The City of Macedonia was awarded over $28,000 from a 2014 Surface SWIF grant to implement a demonstration project displaying stormwater practices. TCWP assisted the city with conceptual designs, budget, and narrative for the grant proposal. The city provided a match in the form of labor and materials. The stormwater practices included a pervious concrete sidewalk, pervious asphalt parking lot, a large rain garden, and turfed swales. These practices capture and treat stormwater from nearby impervious surfaces, allowing water runoff to infiltrate into the ground. The use of multiple stormwater practices serves as an example for the residents, businesses, and other communities of methods to reduce the harmful impacts of stormwater runoff.

The project is located in a highly visible location near City Hall at the intersection of Route 82 and Park Avenue. The site is owned by the city and drains into Indian Creek which is a tributary stream to Brandywine Creek. The location of the project also serves as a community park with benches and gardens for residents and visitors to enjoy. TCWP assisted by providing information for educational signage and promotion of the project throughout the watershed. The project preparations started winter of 2014 and began spring 2015.

Glenwillow Tinker’s Creek Preserve

The Village of Glenwillow was awarded a Clean Ohio Conservation Fund grant to acquire and protect a 17-acre parcel in the Village of Glenwillow. The Tinker’s Creek Preservation Project protects the south-bank, riparian area, and floodplain along Tinker’s Creek. The Project also provides valuable habitat for native species while providing a great outlet for access to the outdoors within the community. The parcel sits adjacent to the existing Cleveland Metroparks Bedford Reservation and secures another integral piece of greenspace corridor in urban Cuyahoga County. The property also has a small tributary stream that receives runoff from a nearby trailer park development. A structure on site was torn down in late 2014 to help create a more natural green space. TCWP provided soil and watershed information, a letter of support, and worked with the Village and Western Reserve Land Conservancy to investigate restoration possibilities.

Maple Heights Land Acquisition

The City of Maple Heights was awarded a Clean Ohio Conservation Fund grant to acquire the Wood Creek Preserve project located in the City of Maple Heights. The acquisition of the 24.21-acre parcel protects valuable woodland and stream habitat while adding to the network of greenspace in the county. The project protects old field habitat, upland forests, steep ravines, and natural riparian areas around streams. The property contains approximately 2,358 linear feet of streams, including a short section of the tributary stream, Wood Creek (also known as Hemlock Creek), and several of its tributaries. This Wood Creek sub-watershed has the highest impervious surfaces of any other sub-watershed of Tinker’s Creek watershed. Impervious surfaces like concrete and asphalt don’t allow infiltration of rain water. This can lead to higher rates of flooding compared to areas that have more green space.

St. Mary’s Stream Restoration

The City of Solon was awarded $148,556 from a Section 319(h) Nonpoint Source Project Grant to implement restoration of a stream on the property of St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Church. This section of stream on the property was impacted by severe streambank erosion that increased sedimentation to Hawthorne Creek, over-widened the channel, and also threatened a utility pole and wastewater infrastructure. This project restored 430 linear feet of stream through natural streambank stabilization and 0.25 acre of riparian corridor and vegetated floodplain on Hawthorne Creek, a tributary of Tinker’s Creek.

In 2015, toe rock material and erosion control matting were installed along with trees and shrubs to stabilize the stream and restore access to the floodplain. This helped reduce flooding and erosion downstream. Chagrin River Watershed Partners assisted the city with project reporting, plan review, construction oversight, and project outreach. TCWP provided watershed related information and outreach by providing updates about the project via our social media outlets, e-newsletter, and when applicable at meetings and events.

City of Bedford Columbus Road Land Acquisition

This project was an example of dedicated property owners (the Gries) and multiple agencies including the City of Bedford, Cuyahoga Land Bank, TCWP, and West Creek Conservancy (WCC) working toward a common goal of greenspace protection for a healthy community and watershed. In 2014, the Gries property consisted of 3.65 acres of land with Bear Creek, a tributary stream to Tinker’s Creek, bordering the property. The inherited property had four buildings on site, which were not up to code. Two of the buildings were also built within the floodplain of the stream, constricting the natural habitat and flow of the stream.

Deborah (Gries) Zawislan contacted TCWP about the property she and her brothers Joe, Ed, and Dennis had inherited. They had the vision of transforming the property into a protected greenspace and naming it Lorry’s Woods in honor of their mother. TCWP worked with WCC and the Land Bank to acquire the parcels. With the cooperation of the City of Bedford, the Cuyahoga Land Bank helped to bring the property back to its natural state by demolishing the structures at their cost in 2015. This helped the community and watershed by providing an area for the stream to flood its bank, reduce flooding, and create habitat.