The City of Akron is inviting community members to a workshop Jan. 8 where they can help shape the future of the decommissioned Akron Innerbelt. 

The theme for the event is “Level Setting,” according to a news release from the city — it will focus on bringing everyone up to speed on the master plan process, share progress so far and help the city gather residents’ “insights, experiences, and aspirations” to guide the next steps. 

The meeting will be held at the Ed Davis Community Center, 730 Perkins Park Dr., from 5 to 8 p.m. 

Anyone planning to attend should RSVP for the free event at the Eventbrite link here. 

Earl Holmes, right, from the Akron Rites of Passage Institute, talks with Siqi Zhu from Sasaki.
Earl Holmes, right, from the Akron Rites of Passage Institute, talks with Siqi Zhu from Sasaki, an urban planning firm that was selected as one of four finalists for the Akron Innerbelt project. The two men were chatting during an event at House Three Thirty held by the CIty of Akron for residents to get acquainted with and see presentations from the firms. Holmes said he wants to explore the possibility of locating the institute on the Innerbelt site as part of the project. (Susan Zake / Signal Akron)

In August, Akron selected a team led by Sasaki, a nationally recognized planning and design firm, to help create the Innerbelt master plan. Since then, they’ve applied for $10 million in federal funding and recruited Akron-based community coordinators to ensure local voices guide the process.

“Each step has been taken hand in hand with those who were most impacted by the building of the Innerbelt,” said Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, “and it will continue to center their voices and experiences as we get closer to laying out a path for the Innerbelt’s future.”

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The Innerbelt master plan builds on the city’s 2021-2023 “Reconnecting Our Community” Initiative, which focused on conversations about the Innerbelt site’s past and the community’s vision for its future. By fall 2025, the master plan will deliver actionable recommendations for developing the Innerbelt site in ways that reflect the community’s needs and aspirations.

No decisions about the future of the Innerbelt project have been made yet, the release stated, and the plan will be shaped “through dialogue, engagement, and shared ideas over the next nine months.” More information about the workshop and the Innerbelt master plan process is available at www.akroninnerbelt.com.

Editor-in-Chief (she/her)
Zake has deep roots in Northeast Ohio journalism. She was the managing editor for multimedia and special projects at the Akron Beacon Journal, where she began work as a staff photographer in 1986. Over a 20-year career, Zake worked in a variety of roles across departments that all help inform her current role as Signal Akron's editor in chief. Most recently, she was a journalism professor and student media adviser at Kent State University, where she worked with the next generation of journalists to understand public policy, environmental reporting, data and solutions reporting. Among her accomplishments was the launch of the Kent State NewsLab, an experiential and collaborative news commons that connects student reporters with outside professional partners.