"Pursue shoreline stabilization, beach nourishment and bluff erosion control." That is the first instruction for Huntington Beach and Bluff in Cleveland Metroparks' December 2018 master plan for Huntington Reservation. The September 2026 draft plan opens with the same sentence, nearly word for word.
The goal is older than either document. In 2010, cleveland.com reported that Metroparks' then-chief of planning, Patty SteVens, described Huntington's bluffs as consistently crumbling. Planning director Dick Kerber said restoring the jetties to hold the beach between them was a priority. That planning round started in 2009 with a $68,250 matching grant from Ohio's coastal-management program.
Putting the two plans side by side shows a pattern. Over the last eight years, Metroparks finished the projects at the top of the bluff. The work at the water's edge, the creek crossing and the old rail trestle has carried over unbuilt. What's new in the 2026 draft is mostly repair work on structures that are aging. Metroparks will present the draft at an open house on October 15 at BAYarts Playhouse, 28795 Lake Road.
What the 2018 Plan Delivered
The 2018 plan called for removing the old restroom and concession building and putting a replacement somewhere else. That happened through the Huntington Reservation Enhancement Project, which opened May 27, 2021. The project added the Noshery concession building at 1,980 square feet, the 4,200-square-foot Sunset Picnic Plaza along the lake, and a 1,276-square-foot restroom and changing facility. Metroparks reported the total cost at $1.6 million. Engelke Construction Solutions and Groundworks Land Design were the contracting partners.
The 2018 plan also asked for "play equipment or nature play." Karen's Way Play Space opened in October 2023. It is a donor-funded, accessible play area of nearly one acre, linked to the Noshery, the plaza and the restrooms by an accessible path. West Life reported its cost at $1.1 million and called it the last of three years of Huntington improvements.
Together those projects cost about $2.7 million, and all of them sit on solid ground above the lake. A building on a bluff top is a project you can scope, bid and finish on one schedule. Bluff erosion control and beach nourishment are open-ended work that depends on Lake Erie, and that is the work still waiting.
The Items That Carried Over Unbuilt
These are the 2018 ideas that appear again in the 2026 draft, in the plans' own wording:
Item | December 2018 plan | September 2026 draft |
|---|---|---|
Beach and bluff | Pursue shoreline stabilization, beach nourishment and bluff erosion control | Same language |
Lower beach access road | Convert to a one-way vehicular loop; designate other lane as all-purpose trail | Reconfigure to a one-way loop; use remaining pavement for all-purpose trail |
Kayak area | Sign one spot for kayak drop-off, add kayak lockers, promote Lake Erie Water Trail | Signage for kayak drop-off, several kayak lockers with Lake Erie Water Trail signage, a bike rack |
Porter Creek crossing | Add trail bridge for bikes and pedestrians | Explore options for a bike and pedestrian bridge |
Interurban trestles | Study condition for bridge, overlook, interpretive feature or trail connection | Study condition for bridge, overlook or interpretive feature |
West lot and east lot | New intersection and four-way stop | New intersection and four-way stop, with crosswalks and trail connections |
Wolf Picnic Area | Replace canopy with permanent reserve shelter | Same |
Two of the wording changes matter. The Porter Creek bridge went from "add" in 2018 to "explore options" in 2026, so the bridge is now less firmly planned than before. The trestle study also dropped "trail connection" from its list of possible outcomes. As drafted, the old rail structure is now being considered only as something to look at or learn from, not as a path to walk across.
The trestle has the longest history of anything on the map. It is a concrete remnant of the Lake Shore Electric Railway, an interurban line that ran along the Lake Erie shore to Detroit. Metroparks says it carried more than five million passengers a year at its peak. Metroparks lists the Huntington span at 432 feet over Porter Creek and calls it the second-longest trestle on the Cleveland–Detroit route. The Bay Village Historical Society also records a 544-foot trestle at Cahoon and says the last car left Cleveland's Public Square on May 15, 1938. A structure that has stood unused for nearly nine decades needs a condition study before anyone can plan to build on it, and both plans list that study as the first step.
What the 2026 Draft Adds
The new items have something in common. Most of them deal with keeping existing structures standing and working, not with adding new attractions.
- Lake Picnic Shelter. The draft calls for renovating the "historic shelter," including a new roof, structural repairs and accessibility work. The 2026 Parkitecture program from AIA Cleveland and Ohio ASLA lists the shelter and its stone walls as surviving 1930s WPA construction. Metroparks rents it as an open shelter with electricity, tables and grills, and lists its capacity at 160 seats.
- Porter Creek retaining walls. In 2018 the creek section focused on upstream water quality and a possible conservation buffer. The 2026 draft opens that section with "Coordinate approach to ongoing failure of retaining walls," and adds monitoring of the existing bridge. The draft gives no cause, extent or repair timeline.
- A second feature at Karen's Way. The draft says to design and install an additional play feature.
- A trail link from Lake Erie Nature & Science Center to the Wolf Picnic Area parking lot.
- Transit. Metroparks would work with Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority on possibly moving the bus stops at the reservation.
- An existing structure would be evaluated and renovated for police or park operations.
Anyone who has owned an older house will recognize this list. A roof on a shelter from the 1930s, walls holding back a creek bank, and a bridge that needs watching are the kinds of projects that rarely make the brochure. They are also the projects that cost the most the longer they wait.
The Road Idea That Became a Trail
The clearest change is around Lake Erie Nature & Science Center. The 2018 plan proposed a new drive from the Wolf Picnic Area to Wolf Road. Through traffic would have been rerouted onto it, and the intersection near the nature center would have been closed with a cul-de-sac. The plan also called for relocating Porter Creek Drive to connect with Wolf Road.
The 2026 draft has none of that. In its place are a walking trail from the nature center to the Wolf Picnic lot, plus instructions to monitor the Porter Creek Drive bridge and "consider separate bike/pedestrian trail bridge." Both plans turn half of the lower beach road into trail. Throughout the 2026 draft, people on foot and on bikes get space that the earlier plan would have given to cars.
The Open House and Comment Form
Huntington is a 103-acre reservation. It began as John Huntington's summer estate, which Metroparks bought in 1925 for $500,000. Huntington is one of six reservations under review this year, along with Big Creek, Bradley Woods, Lakefront, Mill Stream Run and Rocky River.
Here are the ways to weigh in, as listed on Metroparks' Reservation Plan Updates page:
- October 15, Huntington and Bradley Woods open house. BAYarts Playhouse, 28795 Lake Road, 5:30 to 7 p.m., with a short presentation at 6 p.m.
- October 22, virtual open house for all reservations. Registration is required to get the link.
- October 27, Rocky River Reservation open house. Rocky River Nature Center Auditorium, 24000 Valley Parkway, North Olmsted.
- The online Planning & Design Comment Form. It asks for your name, email, ZIP code and an area of interest. The choices are trails and access, park facilities, natural areas and habitat, reservation plans, or other.
The page doesn't give a comment deadline. Questions go to Kelly Coffman, Principal Planner, at [email protected]. Every item above is still a draft recommendation, and the draft does not attach funding or dates to any of them. The same page posts the final plans from last year's cycle for five other reservations.
The comment form's categories line up with the questions this comparison raises. Comments on the one-way beach road, the Porter Creek bridge or the trestle overlook fit under trails and access. Comments on the Lake Picnic Shelter and the Wolf Picnic shelter fit under park facilities. The bluff and the creek walls fit under natural areas and habitat.
The way old walls fail and the order in which an aging structure should be repaired are questions Robin Weidner deals with every day, from two decades of construction and remodeling work before real estate. If you live near Huntington and want to talk through what a 1930s roof or a failing retaining wall means for a house of your own, Let's Connect.
