Release Date: March 3,2025
City of Akron Kicks Off Next Phase of Akron Innerbelt Planning with an Open House on March 18
Akron, Ohio, Feb. 28, 2025 — The City of Akron is inviting community members to join the next phase of the Innerbelt Master Planning Process with an open house on March 18 from 5pm to 7:30pm at the Akron Urban League (440 Vernon Odom Blvd.). The theme of this open house is “Goals & Ideas.” This open house will build on what the development team heard from the community during the first workshop in January and will mark a shift toward physical and spatial ideas as well as economic empowerment strategies for Akron residents. All those planning to attend should RSVP for free at the Eventbrite link here.
“Unlike the top-down planning approach that led to the highway's construction in the 1960s, the Innerbelt Master Plan relies on collaborative decision-making with residents through deep listening and dialogue,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik. “We’re looking forward to our next open house to get further input on our shared goals and ideas for the future of the Innerbelt.”
The open house is the next opportunity to engage in conversation around the future of the Innerbelt. At this point, no decisions have been made on what the future of the site looks like. The conversations and feedback from this open house and other subsequent community engagements will allow the City and residents to make these decisions together. The upcoming open house will validate community-generated project principles and goals and make these tangible through a suite of creative planning ideas. Crucially, the development team is not coming with a fully-realized plan, but will work with the community to develop and prioritize these ideas together.
In August 2024, the City selected a team led by Sasaki, a nationally recognized planning and design firm, as a partner on the Innerbelt Master Plan. At the previous community meeting in January, Mayor Malik announced that the City has been awarded a $10 million federal grant from the US Department of Transportation to support the repurposing of the decommissioned Innerbelt. The Consultant Team will now focus on translating community vision into actionable spatial plans while continuing to honor the foundational work done by the Innerbelt Advisory Group and Studio O to document the history and harms of the Innerbelt.
Everyone is welcome, and your voice matters. For more information about the workshop and the Innerbelt master plan process, visit www.akroninnerbelt.com.