Akron planning department details Inner Belt master plan, pedestrian safety and housing priorities

Kyle Julian, director of planning, told Akron council members at a budget meeting that the Department of Planning and Urban Development will focus in 2025 on finalizing the Inner Belt master plan, finishing a Summit Lake pedestrian safety plan and updating the city’s land-use regulations.

Julian said AMATS (the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study) and the department’s long-range planning and zoning divisions will lead the work that supports federal funding and neighborhood-level projects. “AMATS ensures that the Akron area has a continuing cooperative and comprehensive transportation planning process which is necessary in order to receive federal funds for transportation infrastructure projects in the region,” Julian said.

The department is administering a pedestrian safety master plan in the Summit Lake neighborhood that Julian described as near finalization and noted a second public meeting on the Inner Belt process is scheduled “on the eighteenth, Tuesday evening.” He said the Sasaki-led consultant team and city staff are trying to engage displaced and adjacent residents as the city considers repurposing land where the freeway currently sits.

Julian listed other 2025 priorities: modernizing the 1987 land-use and development guide; extending form-based code to additional neighborhoods; simplifying land sales to promote infill housing; creating a HUD consolidated plan and the 2025 annual action plan; and designing a down-payment assistance program for low- and moderate-income first-time homebuyers.

On community engagement and displacement associated with the Inner Belt, Julian said the Sasaki team hired “two individuals who are Akron people” with local roots and that the effort will include roundtable discussions and an advisory group with residents who experienced past displacement. Councilman Hanna pressed for intentional outreach to people displaced by the Inner Belt, especially around Worcester Avenue; Julian described targeted outreach and a multi-year advisory process tied to earlier work by Studio O and Liz Agbu.

Council members also raised zoning enforcement as a recurring constituent issue. Planning staff and the zoning/enforcement representative explained that many complaints overlap zoning and nuisance rules and thus require coordination across departments including neighborhood assistance, plans and permits, fire and police. City staff said enforcement tools include progressive fines, appeal rights (for example to the board of zoning appeals) and, in some cases, prosecution. Staff told council they plan a post-budget review of the code and interdepartmental processes to identify faster, more effective enforcement steps.

Julian said the department is exploring small-scale housing innovations and partnerships to address homelessness: “we are in conversations with an organization Family and community services,” he said, adding staff want to observe a nearby Family & Community Services project before replicating it in Akron.

The presentation included funding clarifications during council questions: staff said the Sasaki Inner Belt contract is primarily grant-funded (roughly $800,000 allocated in the budget), with an 80% federal grant and a local match funded with ARPA. Julian and staff emphasized that HUD program allocations for 2025 remain contingent until federal notices are final and the city is budgeting conservatively to spend only currently awarded funds.

The planning presentation tied neighborhood restoration and addressing barriers to investment in core neighborhoods (Summit Lake, North Hill, West Hill) to equity and fiscal objectives, and staff said they will continue collaboration with the Summit County Land Bank and the continuum of care on affordable and supportive housing.