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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Lakewood Committee of the Whole Reviews Public Art Master Plan - September 29, 2026

Council Meetings — Tuesday, September 29, 2026

BodyLakewood, Ohio

SessionCouncil Meetings

DateTuesday, September 29, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:06:36

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

All right.

0:01

We will call to order the committee of the whole.

0:05

First move to approve the minutes of the September 28th meeting without the necessity of a reading.

Speaker 2

0:11

Second.

Speaker 1

0:12

Motion's been made and seconded.

0:13

Any discussion?

0:15

Hearing none.

0:16

All those in favor?

0:17

Aye.

0:18

And that motion passes.

0:19

All right.

0:20

We have one item on the agenda tonight.

0:23

We have the Lakewood Public Art Master Plan proposal that's been worked on for good part of a year, I think.

0:31

Great.

0:32

And we have folks from the planning team here to talk about us.

0:36

And of course, leading the charge is Amanda Kramer from Planning Department.

0:40

So I'll turn it over to you guys.

Speaker 3

0:44

Hello, everybody.

0:45

Good evening.

0:46

Thank you for being here to talk about public art again.

0:49

I'm gonna keep my comments pretty brief here.

0:52

We have the team from Coyoga County Planning Commission who were the consultants on the job here to give a little background, some updates, and moving forward what we're looking at.

1:01

So I'll introduce Meg, uh Meg Megan Cheney from the county and Jimsoner Alter.

1:09

Sonalter, okay, great, thanks.

Unassigned speaker

1:11

I

Speaker 3

1:11

don't know how I've never known how to pronounce your name.

1:14

Um Meg is a little bit sick, but she is toughing it out.

1:17

So if she sounds a little she's but she's

Unassigned speaker

1:21

here.

Speaker 1

1:23

Thank you for being

Unassigned speaker

1:24

here.

Unassigned speaker

1:26

Yeah,

Speaker 1

1:26

if you push that, it should turn green for

Unassigned speaker

1:28

you.

Speaker 4

1:29

There we go.

1:30

And do you have a clicker or should I just oh that's so yes, good evening, everyone.

1:45

Um very pleased to be talking about the 2026 Lakewood Public Art Master Plan.

1:51

Um I know introductions, you guys are familiar with um the planning and development staff, but um, of course, I wanted to highlight Angie Byington, uh, the director of planning development, and of course, Amanda Kramer, our point of contact and the the uh the leader of of this great effort.

2:09

Um for Kayoga County, we are led by Mary Servey, our executive director.

2:14

Here with me is Jim Sonhalter, the manager of uh design and implementation.

2:19

I'm Megan Cheney, and as Amanda said, I if my voice gives out at any point, Jim can uh fly in and save the day.

2:28

And I have uh I if I have any sneezes, I'll just kind of exit for a moment and be right back.

2:34

Um I was greatly helped by um our team at County Planning along with um Nicole Laird, a fellow senior planner, and we had some great interns who helped with the the uh the program as well.

2:47

We also have been aided by um a great information team led by Dan Meany, and they have helped really gather and synthesize a lot of information, and you'll see their efforts in some of the maps as I go through the presentation.

2:59

Um this uh this program was um part of the community planning services program.

3:07

Um the city of Lakewood applied for and received uh an award for professional planning services to develop the public art master plan through the community planning services program in 2025.

3:18

Lakewood was one of ten applications received and won a Ford awarded, so it was it's always a competitive round.

3:26

Um and Lakewood always does a great job in preparing the applications.

3:31

Um I know we've always been happy to work here.

3:34

The last time we did that was for the Madison Park Master Plan.

3:38

Um the City of Lakewood and um County Planning entered into a contract in July of 2025, and work began very shortly thereafter.

3:47

Um from the outset, Lakewood identified several goals uh that they would like to achieve with this progress project project, um, including um identify opportunities to grow Lakewood's public art in an innovative, strategic, and equitable way, understand how demographics inform accessibility, increase efficacy of the PAAB, and identify art installation maintenance challenges and potential solutions.

4:12

So this is our standard planning process.

4:16

We weren't sure because this is a little bit of a departure for us.

4:20

Um we have incorporated public art recommendations in many of our other plans, but we this was the first that we've done a planning process solely based on public art.

4:30

We were happy to see that this this tried and true um process really worked for these purposes as well.

4:38

So we start with the current conditions, which which documented uh existing public art in the city, the theme, the types, um, and we looked at certain sets of data to understand how those impact accessibility and equity in public art.

4:54

From there, um we turn to vision and recommendations.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

The vision statement is a broad statement regarding future desired state of public art in Lakewood.

Speaker 4

5:04

And then the recommendations are a series of goals and strategies to help achieve that stated vision.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Public Art█████████████████████████████████████████████71%

Budget Equity Analysis████7%

Procedural███5%

Youth Programs███5%

Community Engagement███4%

Environmental Protection█2%

Active Transportation█2%

Tree Preservation█2%

Equity in Transportation█1%

Summary of Proceedings

Lakewood Committee of the Whole Reviews Public Art Master Plan - September 29, 2026

The Lakewood Committee of the Whole met to review the 2026 Lakewood Public Art Master Plan and Resolution 2026-40, which would adopt the plan. The planning team from the City of Lakewood and the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission presented the plan's background, community engagement results, recommendations, and implementation framework. Council members spoke in support, and the committee voted unanimously to refer Resolution 2026-40 to full council with a recommendation for approval.

Note on date: The posted agenda notice is for the October 5, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting; the date used here (September 29, 2026) follows the source-file date provided for this meeting.

Consent Calendar

Motion to approve the minutes of the September 28, 2026 Committee of the Whole meeting passed by voice vote without discussion.

Discussion Items

Presentation of the Public Art Master Plan: Amanda Kramer (Lakewood Planning Department) introduced the consultant team; Meg Chaney and Jim Sonnhalter of the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission presented. Lakewood was one of 10 applicants for the County's 2025 Community Planning Services Program and one of four selected; the City-County agreement was signed July 31, 2025.
Planning process: Four phases - current conditions, vision and recommendations, implementation, and final plan; a steering committee met monthly; stakeholder interviews were conducted; community engagement included tabling at the August 2025 Lakewood Arts Festival and a survey open August 3-September 30, 2025.
Survey results: 800 respondents and approximately 2,038 written comments; more than 90% rated current public art good or very good (69% rated it "Very Good"); 79% were unaware of the Public Art Advisory Board (PAAB); 63% said current art reflects community identity and values; 52% said their interests, culture, and heritage were represented; 79% supported requiring public art in new development; 77% supported increasing the public art budget.
Youth engagement: Approximately 120 students from Lakewood High School and St. Edward High School participated; the Solstice Steps was the favored existing piece; nature-based art and city parks ranked highly.
Plan goals: Four goals cover diversifying public art forms (murals, asphalt art, sculpture, illuminated/projected, interactive, infrastructural/functional, performance/temporary); strategic placement in commercial corridors, gateways, parks, community institutions, and residential areas; embedding equity (racial, cultural, gender, age, accessibility); and sustaining PAAB processes for funding, planning, outreach, and maintenance.
Implementation matrix: Includes priorities (high/medium/low), timeframes (0-2, 2-5, 5-10 years, ongoing), cost estimates (up to $50,000 to $500,000+), and lead agencies and partners. The current annual public art allocation is $50,000 from the capital budget.
Council discussion:
- Council President Sarah Kepple noted the plan's alignment with the ADA transition plan, active transportation plan, Safe Streets for All, and Safe Routes to School efforts.
- Councilman Bryan Evans expressed strong support, called the plan a "dream" realized, and emphasized that artists deserve fair compensation.
- Vice President Kyle Baker observed that Ward 1 has relatively little public art, suggested gateway and arrival art near I-90 exits and the Winterhurst Ice Arena, raised maintenance coordination questions for Public Works, and supported asphalt art on the Detroit Avenue Extension.
- Councilwoman Cindy Strebig asked about youth involvement in creating art, engagement with places of worship, and maintenance and removal; presenters cited a Lakewood High School student mural at the Public Library as a model and described maintenance plans and deaccession policies.
- Councilwoman Angelina Hamilton Steiner praised the plan's attention to the diversity index and equity, flagged the 52% representation figure as a gap, and asked who will own implementation; Amanda Kramer confirmed she is the point person.
- Councilman Matt Bixenstine praised the walkability analysis, diversity index, and pedestrian-safety benefits of asphalt art, and called the 52% representation figure an "opportunity for growth."
- Councilman Tom Bullock urged quick action on at least one new art category as a visible example, asked about the "percent for art" funding concept, and questioned whether the $50,000 budget baseline constrained the plan; Meg Chaney responded that the plan is not cost-constrained and that adoption opens funding opportunities.
Resolution 2026-40: Declared an emergency measure; adoption requires the affirmative vote of at least five members (two-thirds) of Council.

Key Outcomes

The Committee voted unanimously (voice vote) to refer Resolution 2026-40 to full council with a recommendation for approval.
Next step: Full council consideration of Resolution 2026-40.

Meeting Transcript

All right. We will call to order the committee of the whole. First move to approve the minutes of the September 28th meeting without the necessity of a reading. Second. Motion's been made and seconded. Any discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? Aye. And that motion passes. All right. We have one item on the agenda tonight. We have the Lakewood Public Art Master Plan proposal that's been worked on for good part of a year, I think. Great. And we have folks from the planning team here to talk about us. And of course, leading the charge is Amanda Kramer from Planning Department. So I'll turn it over to you guys. Hello, everybody. Good evening. Thank you for being here to talk about public art again. I'm gonna keep my comments pretty brief here. We have the team from Coyoga County Planning Commission who were the consultants on the job here to give a little background, some updates, and moving forward what we're looking at. So I'll introduce Meg, uh Meg Megan Cheney from the county and Jimsoner Alter. Sonalter, okay, great, thanks. I don't know how I've never known how to pronounce your name. Um Meg is a little bit sick, but she is toughing it out. So if she sounds a little she's but she's here. Thank you for being here. Yeah, if you push that, it should turn green for you. There we go. And do you have a clicker or should I just oh that's so yes, good evening, everyone. Um very pleased to be talking about the 2026 Lakewood Public Art Master Plan. Um I know introductions, you guys are familiar with um the planning and development staff, but um, of course, I wanted to highlight Angie Byington, uh, the director of planning development, and of course, Amanda Kramer, our point of contact and the the uh the leader of of this great effort. Um for Kayoga County, we are led by Mary Servey, our executive director. Here with me is Jim Sonhalter, the manager of uh design and implementation. I'm Megan Cheney, and as Amanda said, I if my voice gives out at any point, Jim can uh fly in and save the day. And I have uh I if I have any sneezes, I'll just kind of exit for a moment and be right back. Um I was greatly helped by um our team at County Planning along with um Nicole Laird, a fellow senior planner, and we had some great interns who helped with the the uh the program as well. We also have been aided by um a great information team led by Dan Meany, and they have helped really gather and synthesize a lot of information, and you'll see their efforts in some of the maps as I go through the presentation. Um this uh this program was um part of the community planning services program. Um the city of Lakewood applied for and received uh an award for professional planning services to develop the public art master plan through the community planning services program in 2025. Lakewood was one of ten applications received and won a Ford awarded, so it was it's always a competitive round. Um and Lakewood always does a great job in preparing the applications. Um I know we've always been happy to work here. The last time we did that was for the Madison Park Master Plan.

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