WWW.SHAKER.LIFE | FALL 2021 15
Regional Sewer District for a traffic calming
project in the Moreland neighborhood.
Also this year, the City, Shaker Historical
Society and Museum, and the Shaker
Library applied for and received a grant
from the Ohio History Connection,
which will be used to develop a Historic
Preservation Master Plan for the 200-yearold
Warrensville West Cemetery.
The City’s success is in large part due
to the doggedness of City planners in
applying for grants year-round.
“We are intentional about it,”
says Braverman. “We know the deadlines,
we keep up with the requirements,
and we meet monthly to go over
grant opportunities.”
She sums up: “If the money is
out there, you need to apply for it.
Sometimes you get it and sometimes
you don’t, but the grants are what allows
us to do all these enhancements in our
neighborhoods.”
Grants Aren’t Just
for Neighborhoods
In addition to grants for neighborhood
projects, the City’s Planning Department
keeps busy with grants for big projects
too. For example, the City was able to
use $19 million in grants to reconfigure
the Warrensville/Van Aken/Northfield/
Chagrin intersection, which helped pave
the way for the development of the Van
Aken District.
The City also clinched an additional
$3.5 million in grants for the two
multipurpose paths in the District (on
Farnsleigh and Warrensville Center
roads) and will use approximately $1.5
million in grants for improvements to
the public spaces at the District’s public
transportation stations.
“The significant investment in
City infrastructure spurred on the
private investment in the District,” says
Braverman. “This is the secret recipe
of development. The City has to spend
some money in the public realm before
a developer is going to see there is an
opportunity.”
Next up, the Lee Road corridor, where
the City has applied for more than $8
million in grants to improve the roadway
and other infrastructure of this vital
commercial corridor. SL
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