Doan Brook Restoration at Horseshoe Park
Cleveland, OH

The movement of water throughout Northeast Ohio remains a primary force in shaping the landscape and creating place identity. The removal of the failing Horseshoe Lake dam will enable the Doan Brook to shape the landscape once again and will be the centerpiece to this 21st-century nature park celebrating urban hydrology and ecology. By engaging in robust discussions with the community, STIMSON is sharpening the future identity of the park, weaving together a thorough understanding of the natural and human forces shaping this urban landscape to recover and restore eroded natural features, venerating cultural influences, regenerating local ecological function, and strengthening overall community health. The essence of our approach is that the park vision will drive the process, with our engineering partners supporting the technical design & implementation of the dam removal, floodplain & stream rehabilitation, and extensive sediment management.

This comprehensive plan fully integrates the site and its context, capitalizing on existing natural and built features and creating intuitive and accessible meandering pathways and connect distinct, purpose-driven outdoor spaces for reflection, education, interpretation, retreat, and recreation. Through a robust community conversation, we have developed a plan to repair and enhance the connections through the site, creating comfortable, safe, and relaxing paths that will enable the flow of life in all directions – an opportunity for visitors to connect to the Doan Brook and the dynamic effects of urban hydrology and ecology. We anticipate the phased implementation of landscape amenities to include an assemblage of meaningful gestures, relics, and moments that reference the distinct history of Horseshoe Lake and the collective memory of its inhabitants and visitors, grounding this riparian corridor within its natural, cultural, and historical regional context.

Collaborators
AECOM
Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District
GPD Group
EnviroScience
Bluestone
KS Associates