Summary
- Phase 1 construction of the Scottish Cultural Garden is moving forward.
- If Phase 1 construction on an approved garden has not started within 10 years of approval, the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation can recommend that the city redesignate that land.
- Officials from RTA, Slavic Village Community Development Corp. and City Architecture spoke about a plan to restore and rehabilitate a Broadway Avenue corridor.
Follow-up questions
- Why is it prohibited to acknowledge a country’s military personnel in the Cultural Gardens?
- While the Slavic Village Community Development team and RTA are trying to improve the Broadway Avenue corridor, who will improve the financial standing of said community members? Will project leaders allow outside investors to raise housing costs in the area?
Scene setting
The meeting started at about 9:23 a.m. Here is the agenda.
Members of the commission:
- Michele Anderson
- Mark Duluk
- Chris Loeser
- Calley Mersmann, director of Cleveland City Planning
- Robert Strickland, vice chair
- Raymond Tarasuck Jr.
- Julie Trott, chair
- Deborah Gray, Ward 3 representative of Cleveland City Council
- Michael Sanbury
- Regennia Williams
Commission Member Brook Sabin was absent.
CERTIFICATES OF APPROPRIATENESS
Murals at Cleveland Public Library branches
CASE 26-024 Lorain Variety Historic District
Cleveland Public Library Eastman Branch – 11602 Lorain Ave.
“PRISM” Mural
Ward 12 Council Member Tanmay Shah
Project representatives: Ahlon Gonzalez, LAND Studio
Gonzalez spoke on behalf of the library mural project. LAND Studio is working with Shooting without Bullets, a nonprofit arts organization. The project goals are education, inclusion, advocacy, activation, connection, exploration and challenge within this community. The PRISM initiative includes eight projects at these library branches: MLK Jr. (two), Rice, Hough, Union, Eastman (the one being reviewed), Lorain, and Main. The initiative also includes additional programming. (Find pictures of the artist and proposal here).
The artist for this mural is Victor “Marka27” Quiñonez. Artists engaged with the community before they are chosen and paired with library branches, Gonzalez said.
The mural is named “My Pride is not a Crime” (“Mi Orgullo no es Crimen”). This neighborhood has a high population of Latino and Arabic people, Gonzalez added. The mural is a portrait of real people, highlighting migrant motherhood. It is expected to last 10 years.
The artist will use latex paint and spray paint from Spain that is made for exterior murals. It will receive a UV protection coat.
Some commission members did not like the proposed black border on the sides of the mural. Loeser and Trott asked about the top and bottom black borders wrapping around the sides of the wall to get pedestrians intrigued to walk around the corner to see the mural.
This case was approved with the requirement that the left and right vertical black borders be eliminated and a recommendation that the artist consider wrapping the top and bottom horizontal borders around the wall. Other design details must get sign-off from Landmarks staff.
Scottish Cultural Garden
CASE 26-025 Cultural Gardens ( Previous Case 23-047)
Scottish Cultural Garden- East Boulevard
Phase One Construction
Ward-9 Council Member Kevin Conwell
Project representative: James McKnight, landscape architect
McKnight and Bob Crawford, chair of the garden committee, presented. McKnight said they came to the commission for schematic feedback in 2022 or 2023. Now, they’re ready to seek final approval to build the garden.
The first phase of the garden will feature a blue stone recognition walkway, McKnight said. The materials will include blue stone, sandstone and clay brick. There will also be space for Scottish heritage recognition plaques and a sculpture of a Scottish bagpiper as part of phase two. They plan for boxwood hedging around a Scottish tartan plaza.
Recommendations came from:
- Tom Turkaly, executive director of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation. He said he appreciates natural products along the walkway with blue stone, sandstone and clay brick.
- Loeser said he would like to see the patterns and products in the tartan plaza be uniquely Scottish.
- Sanbury expressed concern about how they will protect the cairn.
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McKnight spoke of a cairn in the median on Euclid Avenue in University Circle. He said it has held up well, adding that it would also be up to the quality of the stonemason to uphold the integrity of the cairn. Crawford mentioned that they have a contact in Scotland who is willing to assist them.
This case was approved by the commission, with the requirement that the team send the paving pattern and products to Landmarks staff.
Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation report
Design & Preservation Guidelines
Turkaly reviewed the Cultural Gardens’ constitution and by-laws, which the federation adopted in March.
Turkaly highlighted a “long-standing policy of the gardens” that prohibits any sort of military recognition.
He said that now, for a garden to be eligible for a sign and flag, Phase 1 has to be complete. Phase 1 of any garden should be able to stand on its own, he said, noting that flowers and walkways are not enough.
Turklay said that, noting challenges with fundraising, the gardens have extended the timeline for phase one construction to start from five years after approval to eight years. There are also going to be check-ins for documentation and progress within two years and every year after that.
After 10 years of failure to implement Phase 1, the gardens can recommend to the city a redesignation of that land. For a monument to depict a person in a garden, the person has to have been deceased for a minimum of 20 years.
The Cultural Gardens also strengthened its guidelines on materials for walkways. Turkaly said there was concern that some gardens have used too much concrete for walkways; they have recommendations for materials.
There was also an acknowledgement of the groundbreaking for the African American Cultural Garden today.
RTA report on Broadway corridor
RTA BROADWAY AVENUE TRANSIT-ORIENTED DEVELOPMENT PLAN
Krystal Sierra, from Slavic Village Development Corp., was in attendance. So was Mandy Metcalf, RTA senior planner, as were City Architecture staff members Michelle Bandy-Zalatoris and Krysta Pesarchick. They were there to discuss a transit development plan that includes bus-only lanes along the Broadway Avenue corridor in Slavic Village and Broadway. The goal with this project is to enhance the future of Broadway Avenue from Finn Avenue in the north to Miles Avenue in the south.
This planning should run through to the year 2030, when construction is slated to begin.
Transit improvements will include bumpouts for buses near East 55th Street and Broadway, according to Bandy-Zalatoris. Enhancing the waiting experiences for riders is also a priority.
Holding onto the historic fabric of this community is also a goal, Bandy-Zalatoris said.
They also have plans to reactivate some of the storefront buildings and create financial growth within the area.
Meeting minute approval
MINUTES
Minutes from the Oct, 23, 2025, meeting. No comments on these minutes. They were approved. accept the grant, which covers work from March 1, 2026 through Feb. 28, 2027. Approved.
These notes are by Documenter Marcy Clark.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at documenters@signalcleveland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.
