LMHA, partners showcase Southside Gateway Community Plan draft

LORAIN — After months of discussions and workshops, the plan for Southside Gardens and the surrounding neighborhood is starting to take shape. The Lorain Metropolitan Housing Authority received a $500,000 Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant in late 2022, one of only nine in the country. The Choice Neighborhood Planning Grant allows LMHA, the city and other partner agencies to target not only Southside Gardens — an aging public housing complex near East 30th Street and Vine Avenue — but a swath of the city's 5th and 6th wards to enhance affordable and market-rate housing options and bring investment into the community. On Tuesday, staff from the housing authority, architects LRK, Lorain's Building, Housing and Planning Department and partnering nonprofits hosted a community information session to discuss the draft grant proposal — the Southside Gateway Community Plan — thus far. Housing authority CEO Judith Carlin said the goal is to spark development throughout South Lorain. "The goal is to build a dense community, a mixed-income community that will support the amenities," Carlin said. "This is a step … this community engagement event is exposure for the community to know where we are, where we're going." LMHA and the city plan to submit a proposal to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in the hopes of receiving a $35 to $50 million implementation grant. The plan will outline what LMHA and its partners plan to do to revitalize the area of South Lorain between Broadway, East 28th Street, Grove Avenue and East 36th Street. Currently, that includes building about 330 housing units — including 110 units as part of the Southside Gardens complex and its scattered units throughout the area. Other clusters of townhomes or duplexes are proposed on sites not currently owned by LMHA. Alongside new duplexes and other smaller developments, the plan proposes small parks and playgrounds mixed into the neighborhoods, LRK's Choice Neighborhood Planning Coordinator Danielle Lake said. It also proposes a social service hub with El Centro and a business corridor along Pearl Avenue and East 28th Street. The total timeline to implement the Choice Neighborhood Plan will depend on whether the proposal is awarded federal implementation funds, Lake said. It ranges from next spring for a community park at East 29th Street and Vine Avenue; to a decade out for larger housing proposals. But if the city and LMHA are awarded federal money to kick-start development, that timeline could shrink, she said. LMHA and its partners have until the end of the year to finalize the plan and submit it to HUD for potential funding. To view the plan or comment on the ongoing project, visit southsidegateway.com. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.