Clague Park is on deck for a major glow-up. At Thursday's City Council meeting, Westlake officials authorized Mayor Dennis Clough to sign a contract with Environmental Design Group to prepare enhancement plans for the popular community park. The council signed off on design work valued at up to $448,212.93, and the city estimates the full project could cost about $4.3 million.
The scope under study would add an outdoor amphitheater, renovate lighted baseball diamonds, expand walking trails, and bring in new maintenance and restroom facilities. City officials say they hope to finish design in time to put the work out to bid early next year and begin construction in 2027, with most work substantially complete by November 2027.
Firm Tapped And Park Context
Environmental Design Group, a multi-office Ohio planning and engineering firm, will lead the master planning and construction documents for the project, according to the firm. The company lists a long track record of parks, trails, and recreation projects across Ohio, so Clague Park is far from its first outing in the green space world.
Clague Park itself is one of Westlake's signature community spaces, with ballfields, a playground, a historic cabin, and a summer concert series, per the City of Westlake. The pending redesign is meant to build on that mix rather than replace it outright.
What's Proposed
The centerpiece concept is a new outdoor amphitheater with an elevated concrete stage, a commercial-grade roof, performance lighting, and a retractable roll-down projection screen, though planners have not yet decided how much permanent seating, if any, would be installed, as reported by Cleveland.com.
The redesign would also renovate two lighted baseball diamonds with new natural grass outfields and synthetic turf infields sized for base paths up to 80 feet, plus new dugouts and fencing. A nearby maintenance and storage building with restrooms is part of the plan, tying together day-to-day park operations with the refreshed athletic facilities.
Other possibilities the city is weighing include expanded walking trails and pickleball courts, along with smaller amenities such as shuffleboard courts and horseshoe pits. Those extra features are still in the “maybe” column as design work gets underway.
Budget And Planning Context
The Clague Park work has been on the city's multi-year capital improvement radar for a while. Earlier listings placed design activity in the FY 2024–2028 capital improvement program and funding in FY 2026, according to ConstructConnect.
Officials have said the amount the city actually pays Environmental Design Group will depend on whether leaders choose to move forward with every proposed element or break the project into phases. Those phasing decisions will help determine both the timeline and the final construction budget.
Council Reaction And Next Steps
The contract did not win instant, across-the-board enthusiasm. Councilman Duane Van Dyke said he wanted to see more detailed amphitheater plans and the exact appearance before deciding whether to support that portion of the project, and city officials stressed the design is still preliminary, Cleveland.com reports.
Recreation officials have said they hope the design phase will wrap up in time to bid on construction work early next year and start building sometime in 2027. The city will also weigh noise and neighborhood impacts when deciding where, if at all, to locate any new pickleball courts.
How To Follow Along
Design drawings and council agendas will be posted as the process moves forward, and residents can track updates through the city's agenda center and meeting webcasts. For background on the park and existing facilities, the City of Westlake and Environmental Design Group maintain pages with project history and portfolio examples.
