Willowick continues infrastructure improvements for residents
Feb. 23—EDITOR'S NOTE — The Willoughby Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce hosted officials from its communities on Feb. 14 to discuss the "State of the Cities." This is one in a series of articles detailing the speeches that were given.
Willowick Mayor Michael Vanni credits Richard Regovich, former mayor and now Lake County commissioner, as well as the city's employees for his easy transition from being councilman to taking on the mayoral position.
"I've been a councilman since 2005, but have been mayor for two and a half months, so there's something to be said about that," Vanni said. "I can't say enough about the directors, the chiefs, my administrative assistant, the staff at Willowick, the mayors and Regovich, who made my transition so easy. The people who work for Willowick are unbelievable. It's different seeing it on the other side now."
Financially, Willowick is in good shape and is going into 2023 with a $3.2 million carry over, the largest carry over since Vanni has been with the city. Revenues and income taxes, both individual and business, are up, which has enabled the city to continue to make infrastructure improvements.
"We are working on a number of different projects right now, one of which is a storm sewer project that we're working on with Joe Sakacs from Wickliffe," Vanni said. "It's a joint project that's needed and it's nice to see the mayors working together, which is also impressive. We've got a new water line that was put in on Vine Street last year, which is also going out of Eastlake and Willoughby this year, so another joint city project that was done by the county."
Willowick also has hands in getting Vine Street redone and is working alongside Willoughby Mayor Robert Fiala and Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley on the project.
"The study just got finished up," Vanni said. "We want to make it a destination from historic Downtown Willoughby all the way to our greatest asset Lake Erie."
When both Vanni and Regovich were councilman, they always had discussions on getting more businesses to open in the city.
"Regovich took it upon himself and started networking, and we started to get some momentum," Vannni said. "Pasha Turkish Kitchen came in spring of last year, a little more upscale restaurant that Willowick needed. They're doing well.
'In 2021, we put this new strip mall in front of Shoregate," he continued. "We started to get some national chains in. Chipotle went in 2021, but this year, Starbucks and Be Smoothie Cafe has gone in and we've got something exciting coming in — Creative Space. I think it's going to be something unique to Lake County. They're going to be offering private offices, podcast stations, a restaurant and an event center."
Creative Space is slated for a grand opening in April. In addition, Cleveland Pizza has plans to build a full restaurant and bar on Vine Street, which is scheduled to open in early 2024.
The lakefront is also a focal point for Willowick and something that Regovich had started. A plan to redevelop the lakefront has be put in place and is now in the implementation stage. Vanni also has a goal to find a new spot for City Hall, the police and fire station.
"We also want to get going on a trail that is going to be part of this development," Vanni said. "It's going to be a mixed use project with residential and commercial, and we're going to expand our public access, important to our residents and everyone."
