Community Engagement
The Innerbelt Master Plan puts the community at the heart of the process. Unlike the top-down planning approach that led to the highway’s construction, this planning effort will rely on collaborative decision-making with the community. No decisions about the future of the Innerbelt have been made yet, and the plan will be shaped through dialogue, engagement, and shared ideas over the next nine months.
As we embark on the engagement process, we understand there are several areas of importance including:
- Centering those who were most harmed by the actions of the past in conversations about what's next
- Creating opportunities for the broader Akron community to have an awareness of the history
- Using the past as a baseline for discussing the future
- Enabling everyone to physically experience the Innerbelt to provide better context for future aspirations
Redevelopment
As part of the Reconnecting Our Community initiative, we will identify community preferences for the short-, medium-, and long-term transformation of the portion of the Innerbelt which has been vacated.
Redevelopment Timeline
A multi-year redevelopment process will transform the Innerbelt from what it is today to a place of opportunity that brings communities together and provide space for equitable visions for the future.