North Royalton a Hidden Gem

By Ken McEntee

North Royalton, said Mayor Larry Antoskiewicz, is a “hidden jewel.” “A lot of people still look at us as a farming community, but we’re a city with more than 31,000 people,” Antoskiewicz said. “We’re on the rise in new amenities like new restaurants and other businesses, but along with our neighborhoods and commercial areas, we still have a lot of rural areas. With our diverse housing, you can live in a nice development, and if you want to have a little more land our southern end has people with horses and apple farms. North Royalton can offer pretty much anything people would want.”

That, Antoskiewicz said, is one reason why people stay in — or move to — North Royalton. Other draws include low taxes relative to other Cuyahoga County communities and responsive safety forces.“We have the fifth or sixth lowest property tax rate in the county,” the mayor noted.

Royalton Township was founded in 1818 and named after Royalton, Vermont, the native town of settler Knight Sprague, according to the North Royalton Historical Society. The township’s name was later changed to North Royalton before it became a village in 1927 and a city in 1961.

Today, North Royalton’s strategic location provides convenient transportation for businesses, and also makes it easy for residents to do their shopping, visit the country, and access interstate highways all within minutes of home, Antoskiewicz said. “North Royalton is truly a bustling suburb that has managed to maintain its quaint rural feel over the years, and that’s something we all want to preserve as we move forward,” he said. “It’s vital that our business community expand, but we also want our charming picturesque qualities to remain intact.”

The mayor noted that North Royalton is a desirable place to live, work, and raise a family. It also is a “great place to play. One of my top priorities has been to beautify and expand our recreational amenities and the overall image of our city. It’s important, too, that we not only have a growing business base and a variety of housing options, but residents also want to have ways to make memories with their families and neighbors right here in our own backyard without having to look outside our borders.”

Among the most notable recreational areas are the Cleveland Metroparks’ Mill Stream Run reservation on the city’s western border and the city’s Memorial Park on Route 82, east of Route 3. “The green spaces are a big reason why people move here,” Antoskiewicz said. “Nine percent of North Royalton’s area consists of parkland.”

The city is in the beginning stages of implementing a newly adopted master plan for the parks. “As part of the master plan, we’ve added a new pavilion and a splash pad for the kids at Memorial Park,” Antoskiewicz said. “We fixed up the bridge, planted 50 new shade trees and we’re in the process of putting in a new walking trail. New tennis and pickleball courts are expected to be among the next projects.”

With the improvements, Memorial Park has become a venue for an increase in community activities, like outdoor movie nights. “We replaced the upper pavilion and all the pavilion furniture in the park,” the mayor said. Future park plans include the completion of an all-purpose walking trail that will include 1,100 feet of new trail around the pond area and the resurfacing of 630 feet of existing trail. The goal is to create a complete walking loop for the park.

Meanwhile, the commercial areas of the city continue to grow. “Many of our businesses are small businesses owned by people who also are residents of the city,” Antoskiewicz said. “Running a business in your own city shows a real commitment to the community.”

North Royalton, Antoskiewicz said, is a business-friendly city. “We work to support our businesses,” he said. “When business owners look for a community to operate in, they want to feel like it’s a good investment. The housing market

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A Hidden Gem

in North Royalton is very good, so when you make that investment, you’re making an investment in a community that is very solid and stable. Nobody wants to invest a lot of money in a community where things aren’t being properly run.”

Celebrating 12 Ye s

Antoskiewicz notes that seniors are a growing part of the city’s population. That’s why the local government is expanding its senior services. “We’re leasing around 9,000 square feet of the former Royal View Elementary School building to repurpose into our new senior center,” he said. “We want to create a space where seniors can truly feel at home. For years, I’ve heard seniors say that they have no real place to go within the city limits to be comfortable and enjoy some time with friends. That’s what we’re trying to achieve with this new project.”

In April 2023, Antoskiewicz kicked off Muffins with the Mayor, a monthly event for seniors. “It gives the seniors a chance to sit down and talk informally,” he said. “I can listen to what they have to say, good or bad, and see what else we can do to help them and try to take some of their ideas and see what we can do.”

Along with the new senior center, the city also has embarked on a variety of street and infrastructure projects, including the installation of a sewer line down Abbey Road.

“We have well over 100 acres of commercially zoned property that has never been developed because there’s never been any infrastructure there,” he said. “The new sewer line will open it up for commercial development, which will be a huge boost to the city’s tax revenue and will allow us to keep taxes down.”

Existing businesses can take advantage of the Storefront Renovation Rebate Program. “The program has assisted several commercial properties to make a dramatic improvement to the exterior of their buildings, thereby improving the appearance of our entire commercial district,” Antoskiewicz said. “As of the end of 2022, the city has approved $64,706 in storefront program funding.”

Through the program, the local government is offering a 50% rebate for exterior renovations with a limit of $10,000 rebate per building.

Solid finances, the mayor said, “are the foundation that enables us to accomplish everything we do. It’s a testament to sound practices in guarding our taxpayer dollars over the years. Just like any household, we strive to live within our means, accomplishing what needs to be done while also saving for the future.”

In 2022, he said, income tax receipts were more than 16 percent greater than in 2021, increasing from $17.4 million to $20.2 million.