Council Meeting Highlights

Dec 01, 2025

City Council convened its regular in-person meeting in Council Chambers, which was also live-streamed. Council email addresses are now .gov. Don’t forget to update your contacts. This is the final Council meeting of the year. Meetings resume Jan. 5, 2026. Below are the highlights from today's meeting:

Council Approves of Mayor's Agreement with the Haslams on Browns Future: Council approved the terms and conditions in the Settlement Term Sheet the administration negotiated regarding the relocation of the Cleveland Browns to the City of Brook Park and the demolition of Huntington Bank Field.
The deal includes the Haslam Sport Group donating $25 million to the City by December 1, 2025 (or a later date once all approvals are secured) to advance lakefront development. HSG will raze the current Huntington Bank Field in downtown Cleveland to a pad ready state at the Browns’ expense, beginning promptly upon termination of the Parties’ lease agreement. HSG will cover the cost of demolition and site work if it exceeds the estimated $30M cost. Work is subject to community benefits ordinance. HSG will invest $50M, plus cover stadium demolition costs (~$30M) and $20M in community benefits for projects throughout the City. $70M funding commitment does not change, even if demolition and pad-prep costs change. Ord. No. 1325-2025

Two Main Arteries to Get Renovated: Council authorized the city to apply for and accept Issue 1 Funds as well as fund from other entities for the renovation of E. 55th from Superior to St. Clair and St. Clair from E. 55th to E. 72nd, approximately 1.10 miles. The improvements include pavement rehabilitation, new sidewalks, curbs, ADA compliant curb ramps and landings, new driveway aprons, roadway drainage, new water main, traffic signals and streetscape. This will be an ODOT administered construction project. The project cost is $8.5 million. The funding sources include: $680,000 from ODOT Urban Paving Funds; $4.42 million from Issue 1 grants;  $600,000 from Public Utilities, and $2.8 million from Cleveland Road and Bridge Bonds. Construction is to begin in 2026. Ord. No. 1082-2025

Creating a Department of Development: Council approved the renaming the Department of Economic Development to the Department of Development  and the establishment of the Office of Land Strategy and Asset Redevelopment (LSAR). The Department of Development will serve as the City's single front door for development, bringing together commercial and residential development, incentives, land management, business retention and attraction, small business support, and neighborhood corridor revitalization efforts under one coordinated structure. A number of positions from Community Development are moving over to the newly named department. This reorganization is designed to make it easier to do business in Cleveland while fostering catalytic growth across the city. Ord. No. 1226-2025

Helping Northeast Ohio Land Movies: Council approved providing a $350,000 grant to help fund the general operating expenses associated with the Greater Cleveland Media Development Corporation dba Greater Cleveland Film Commission. The organization's mission and programming is directed at attracting movie production and production-related businesses, jobs, and capital to Cleveland and Northeast Ohio.

GCFC has consistently drawn motion picture investment to nurture and enhance Northeast Ohio's film industry, year after year. In 2024-2025, productions with a total budget of $256 million were approved for the Ohio Motion Picture Tax Credit to film in NE Ohio. Additionally in 2025, GCFC led the state in the number of productions booked and production budget in comparison to Central and Southwest Ohio. Recent job creation data from 2024 shows 2,926 crew and 2,570 background actors hired across six productions. Ord. No. 1454-2025

Metroparks to Manage North Coast Inner Harbor and Marina: Council authorized the city to amend the existing 99-year lease with the Cleveland Metrparks to add City-owned North Coast Inner Harbor and Marina for operations, management and maintenance. In 2013, City and Metroparks entered into a Lease for City-owned lakefront lands under which Metroparks is responsible for all operations, management, maintenance and programming. Metroparks wishes to take over operations, management and maintenance of the North Coast Inner Harbor and Marina, which has been leased to Oasis, a private marina operator. Oasis does not wish to continue leasing the property. The Seventh Amendment to the Lakefront Lease will add the North Coast Inner Harbor and Marina, with the the Metroparks assuming operations, management and maintenance of the property. Ord. No. 1512-2025