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Mayor urges council support as regional agency advances six‑unit project; updates Blue Abyss, Kennedy Park and stadium planning
Summary
Mayor Orcutt said NOWACA’s executive committee moved the city’s six‑buildable‑unit project to the March 13 board meeting for possible approval and asked council members to show support; he also updated the council on the Blue Abyss project, Kennedy Park planning and related development work.
Mayor Orcutt told the Brook Park council on Feb. 17 that Northeast Ohio’s regional review body has advanced the city’s application for a project of six buildable units to its board of directors on March 13 and asked members of the council to support the application at that meeting.
"This is a very important portion of this project," Mayor Orcutt said, arguing that regional endorsement is needed to make the project eligible for state and federal grant funding. He said the administration is seeking grants and that the city needs to "educate people" and keep pushing the application through the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, which he referred to by the acronym NOWACA.
The mayor also updated the council on what he called the "316 consolidation and lot split" that is on the agenda for first reading; he described that item as routine housekeeping tied to the city's redevelopment work over the past four years and said the administration will provide more details individually to council members.
On the Blue Abyss/Blue Lubes project, Mayor Orcutt said the effort suffered setbacks after the deaths in 2025 of two people who had been working on the capital stack, identified in remarks as Michael Gibbons and Tom Chema. He said he has had recent meetings with the project's principal, whom he named as Mr. Vickers, and that Vickers "is speaking with people" to keep the project alive. The mayor said he believes congressional and senatorial engagement for the region — including work by Rep. Max Miller, as he referenced — has helped the effort.
"We are getting approval" from multiple review steps, Mayor Orcutt said, noting that the project is under review by ODOT and NOWACA and has passed NOWACA's PPR review process, according to his remarks.
Council members raised local concerns tied to the broader development conversation. Several asked about traffic and impacts at Kennedy Park, a roughly 33‑acre city parcel; the mayor said the city must be "accurate" in planning that property and that any major project would require appropriate funding and planning approvals. The council also discussed nondevelopment safety steps such as e‑bike education and enforcement, which the mayor and others supported as a public‑safety outreach measure.
Next steps: Mayor Orcutt asked council members to consider attending or otherwise supporting the March 13 NOWACA board meeting and said the administration would continue to brief council members as these review processes advance.
