As Cuyahoga County works to create a unified zoning code aimed at making it easier to build housing, businesses and other projects in general across the county, a new regional effort is launching in tandem to concentrate that growth around public transit.

The Cuyahoga County Planning Commission, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, city of Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority on Thursday announced Cuyahoga TOD, a new partnership intended to coordinate planning, zoning, transportation and development efforts along key transit corridors and create more walkable communities.

The initiative also includes a new website, CuyahogaTOD.org, that brings together resources, financing tools, design guidance and potential projects in one place to make it easier for developers to find project opportunities across multiple communities. It will house transit-oriented development requests and show available sites in participating communities and agencies, according to the planning commission.

In a news release Thursday, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb and Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne touted the effort’s potential to make communities more connected and walkable, spur growth in new areas and expand the places where residents can live, work and play.

“Cleveland’s future depends on building neighborhoods where people can more easily connect to jobs, housing, businesses and opportunity,” Bibb said in the news release. “Cuyahoga TOD gives our region a stronger way to work together to make that vision a reality.

The effort grew out of a 2021 study led by County Planning and GCRTA, which examined zoning and development conditions along transit corridors. It found that only 5.5% of land positioned along bus or rail corridors is zoned for walkable, mixed-use development, meaning that projects would need to request variances just to start – adding cost and time.

The county is working now to update some of those zoning codes to eliminate some of those barriers, which officials hope will lead to more mixed-use neighborhoods and resources along frequent bus and rail lines.

“Strong transit corridors are at the heart of thriving communities,” GCRTA’s General Manager and CEO India Birdsong Terry said. “By coordinating our efforts and presenting TOD opportunities clearly and consistently, we are making it easier than ever for development to occur around transit.”

There are no active project requests yet listed on the website, but it did feature sites along transit corridors in Cleveland Heights, Fairview Park, South Euclid, Euclid and Shaker Heights where development is welcome.

Each community shared summaries about available property, site features, the type of development sought and some of the demographics of the surrounding market, the website shows. Officials said it will continue to be updated as new projects and opportunities are identified.

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