Update and Sun Press Media Coverage

Continued thanks to all supporting the saving of our garden city.  This is the first of more articles to come. We need to continue making the community aware!  Please continue to share the petition and email city staff and the mayor to let them know your position.

Good news, the Environmental Enforcement Specialist from the Cleveland Division of air Quality, Audrey Plants, will help us monitor the exhaust from any diesel powered equipment the contractors try to use. In the past year, the fumes from two dewatering machines were intense and harmful especially during heat domes.  Here is the article: 

Sun Press - June 30, 2026 

SHAKER HEIGHTS, Ohio -- With nine legacy oak trees now on the chopping block, residents at ground zero of the Lynnfield-Lomond sewer overhaul want the city to pause the final phase of the $8.3 million undertaking.

City officials announced June 25 that beginning this week, Lomond Boulevard will be closed to through traffic between Latimore and Lynnfield roads as crews prepare to install the last 800 feet of new 30-inch sewer line.

Before that work begins, contractors will spend about four weeks lowering groundwater levels by installing de-watering wells along the south side of Lomond.

Concerned residents hope the previously unsuccessful de-watering strategy will buy some time for the city to look at other options that could save the majestic red oaks.

And they hope it’s not all hindsight at this juncture -- an online petition was posted over the weekend seeking a lower-cost, less disruptive method.

“If this was going to be the ‘pinch point,’ they should have taken care of it first,” Lynnfield Road resident Jackie Green said Sunday (June 28).

Green, an engineer, arrived at a recent session of “Chat with Mayor David Weiss,” handing him a 70-page case-specific study of alternatives to installing the new sewer line in the tree lawn of Lomond.

“If the uncertainty of what was under Lomond Boulevard was going to be the most difficult part of the project, then they should have addressed it and examined options right up front,” Green said.

“They should have confirmed the highest-risk portions could be executed before tackling other sections.” 

It’s not that the city didn’t try -- along with project engineer DLZ Ohio, construction manager Wade Trim and contractor Fabrizi Trucking & Paving.

That piece was supposed to be the second overall phase of the project.

In late 2025, after the first attempt to use the trenchless auger-boring method -- intended to save the trees -- failed near Sherrington Road, crews unsuccessfully attempted to “de-water” on Lomond, Green said.

Then they moved on to other sections, with the intention of circling back to “Sanitary Sewer Overflow-11 (SSO-11)” near the Gridley Triangle.

“So they left all their mess there in front of Betsie Norris’ house and moved on to my street instead,” Green said.

(Then there's another photo of the "front four" trees...with a very short caption it's not letting me copy)

The neighbors also put a call in to the Cleveland Division of Air Quality this week to check the de-watering pumps they say ran “24/7” on Lynnfield.

Previous complaints focused as much on the constant noise as the possible pollution.

‘Win-win’

The city’s primary goal has always been to eliminate the town’s largest SSO, connected to 1,200 Shaker households -- some that have dealt with basement flooding for years.

During heavy storms, the antiquated sewers can discharge a mix of rainwater and raw sewage in violation of the Clean Water Act.

In early 2021, DLZ came up a design proposal that offered sustainable features, as well as the prospect of saving the at-risk red oaks on the south side of Lomond.

While the project received $5.6 million in various grants, with the city covering the rest, it wound up delayed from going out to bid in late 2022.

The city awarded the contract to Fabrizi in 2024, with construction beginning the following spring. The completion date has now been pushed back from this month to late fall.

Some residents said they wanted more transparency from the city regarding a project that, as expected, has been trying for the neighborhood.

Last July, neighbors received a flyer explaining “What is auger boring?” and the fact that it was not working on the Gridley Triangle.

As a result, the small park has had one large white pine and four cherry trees cut down.

Change in plans

On June 10, residents received a hand-delivered public meeting notice, in which “they finally state nine trees are targeted,” Lomond resident Sheela Das said.

“This was not listed under public meetings on the city website, but rather with ‘community events,’ like pool parties,” the former urban planner added.

Nevertheless, about 60 people turned out for the June 18 meeting at the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Community Building.

"Public Works stated there would be no auger boring because there is too much groundwater," Das said.

The city presentation noted that the contractor began the de-watering process in November 2025 in preparation for the auger boring along Lomond.

After six weeks of attempting to de-water, it became clear that auger boring was not a viable option, city officials said.

“We were notified last December that they were ‘reviewing options,’” Das recalled.

As for installing the sewer under the roadway, officials added that existing underground utilities and other risks could result in cost overruns of $2.4 million, bringing the total contract to $10.7 million.

Sustainable options

In a city that takes pride in its tree canopy and sustainability efforts in the face of climate change, Green notes in her study that a single oak tree can absorb 50 to 150 gallons of rainwater on its own.

With nine trees, that works out to another 450 to 1,350 gallons of stormwater that the new infrastructure has to handle.

“The trees are part of the stormwater solution,” Green said.

Lomond resident Betsie Norris remains concerned about how the de-watering process, coupled with the removal of the trees, could destabilize the soil and subsequently house foundations.

“I have a waterproof basement at the moment,” Norris said. “But that might not be for long.”

Residents have also discussed the possibility that the headwaters for Kingsbury Run lie under the roadway, raising the water table.

The neighbors are asking the city to look at green infrastructure, noting that if de-watering didn’t work on a smaller scale there, it probably won’t in a much larger space.

David Lowe still lives in the family house he grew up in at the corner of Winchell Road and Lomond, the block where four of the red oaks are now targeted.

The other five oaks are on the next block toward the Gridley Triangle.

Lowe attended both the public meeting, then the Shaker Heights City Council meeting June 22, asking who made the decision about the trees and when.

City Law Director William Ondrey Gruber said council approved the contract and “the administration is now working with the contractors to get the project completed in the best way possible.”

Lowe said later that he did not realize homeowners paid a tree assessment to the city.

He also had city staff over to the house the next day to discuss a number of issues about the project, including the effect on his family’s property values.

Lomond resident Evan Parent noted that property values of the neighbors across the street will also be substantially impacted.

“And they have not signed any easements with the city,” Parent said.

Meanwhile, the administration thanked Green for the detailed study she gave Weiss over the weekend.

Officials also plan to update the Lynnfield-Lomond frequently asked questions (“FAQ”) section of the city website.

By: Thomas Jewell

Photo by Sheela Das: Note, sewer is clogged by contractor's construction rubble - the city hired them to fix the sewers and keep foreign matter out of them.