A report card for Cleveland Heights properties

Grades—whether applied to schoolwork, job performance or real property—are inevitably somewhat subjective. Evaluating a grade entails knowing not only the criteria applied, but the frame of reference and qualifications of the individual who assigned it.

Recently, Cleveland Heights participated with Euclid and South Euclid in a Western Reserve Land Conservancy (WRLC) project to comprehensively survey all properties in each city. The end product, First-Ring Property Inventory (https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3b0f978b6d63493c8e11fd56d92385b5), is a voluminous data set, potentially a tool to help shape future housing policies and programs. Cleveland Heights was surveyed between December 2023 and April 2024, by six to eight WRLC-trained temporary employees. On foot and in pairs, they evaluated, graded and photographed every structure and parcel of land in the city, using a 50-step checklist.

Presenting the results to Cleveland Heights City Council on Nov. 18, Isaac Robb, WRLC vice president of planning, research and urban projects, explained the grading system: A, excellent, “pristine”; B, good, possibly with a "tired" roof or paint job; C, fair, "needs watching," but (if a rental property) still eligible for a certificate of occupancy; D, poor, “something needs to be done before anyone should be legally able to inhabit it;” and F, “hazard and danger . . . to be addressed immediately.”

Robb effusively praised the condition of the city’s housing stock. Noting that almost 90 percent of all structures were graded good or excellent, he complimented CH Director of Housing Programs Allan Butler and his staff on “a great job” of code enforcement. Of 14,854 Cleveland Heights parcels with structures, only 356 were found to be vacant. Of all the structures in the city, vacant or occupied, just 168 received D’s, while 32 were rated F—together less than 1.5 percent.

After Robb’s report, Grandview Avenue homeowner Mike Bier made a public comment regarding conditions on Bellfield and Grandview avenues, noting, “There are five vacant structures in my neighborhood. The survey identifies only two, one of which is actually occupied. [Another] . . . assessed as occupied . . . has actually been vacant for the more than 25 years that I have lived in the neighborhood . . . 2243 Grandview was reported as . . . a grade A house ‘with very good components,’ [although it] was demolished 10 years ago and [the property] is now a vacant lot.”

Like Bier, we are longtime residents of our respective neighborhoods. Looking up nearby homes, we expected to disagree with an occasional grade, but were dismayed that some simply make no sense. One house graded B really is, by WRLC’s own criteria, a very low C or a D. An impeccably maintained single-family home is rated C and reported to be a double, while a down-at-the-heels adjacent double is identified as a single-family residence meriting an A. Did the surveyor accidentally switch the two addresses?

Naturally, mistakes happen. Any one error or questionable grade may not affect the overall value of the data; however, if several such errors are quickly identified in three neighborhoods (Bier’s and each of ours) it strains credulity to think they are isolated examples. Given anecdotal evidence of problem properties on many streets, and the overwhelming percentage of high grades, we have questions. How many errors would diminish the usefulness of the survey? Is the preponderance of A and B grades consistent with Cleveland Heights standards and expectations—or do they reflect those of another community?

WRLC recommends repeating the survey every 3–5 years. (Euclid and South Euclid were first surveyed in 2017.) Meanwhile, the cities have, in Robb's words, a "living data set," to maintain and update; but does Cleveland Heights have capacity for such an ongoing process?

Maintaining historic housing stock in an aging city is like running on a treadmill. In addition to normal wear and tear and the effects of nature, our housing officials and court have to keep ahead of external threats, including the growing number of exploitative absentee landlords and a realty industry playing into their hands with a campaign to eliminate point-of-sale inspections.

We appreciate the work of WRLC, and Mayor Kahlil Seren's decision to bring Cleveland Heights into this project. We'll wait to see if the city can use the data to actually improve our neighborhoods. Otherwise it’s just a bunch of numbers.