Signs of Progress in Irondequoit?

This article was scraped from Rochester Subway. This is a blog about Rochester history and urbanism has not been published since 2017. The current owners are now publishing link spam which made me want to preserve this history.. The original article was published January 23, 2012 and can be found here.

   I dropped by the Irondequoit Planning Board meeting Monday night because there were two very interesting matters on the agenda. One of those was Irondequoit Square (or I-Square) which RocSubway     broke news of here    last August. The other involved an all-but-forgotten friend, Chase-Pitkin...

Video...

   If you did not attend this Planning Board Hearing but are interested in what transpired, you can now     watch the video

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     Case #1:     574 Empire Blvd.(starts at 00:03:25)
     Case #2:     Stepping Stones / Chase Pitkin re-use (starts at 00:09:15)
     Case #3:     i-Square (starts at 00:19:50)

I-Square...

Long time Irondequoit resident Mike Nolan said he and his wife always thought something needed to be done with the area around Titus and Cooper. Rather than wait for someone else to do "something" they drew up their own plan, sought input from the community, and are now investing their own money to redevelop the two-block section of Titus between the     House of Guitars

and     Cam's Pizzeria

into a new mixed-use, pedestrian oriented development. Pending the board's approval of the site plan, new road plans, and the phase 1 building, Mr. Nolan said at the meeting, "this project will be ready to roll."

According to Mr. Nolan, goals for this project were to:

• Create four "traditional" corners at the Titus/Cooper intersection. Instead of the odd, double intersection currently created by Cooper, Titus, and Union Park.
• Make all crosswalks in the vicinity safer
• Build something for all residents (young & old) to use and enjoy
• Design something architecturally appealing with modern amenities
• Provide a space to host public events. New plans include an amphitheater with seating for 400 (including a grassy seating area) and a movie screen (or jumbo-tron style T.V.)
• Focus on the education of young adults (specifically related to life-skills). The plans include space for an art gallery which would host painting or pottery classes. Plans for an after-school center would include homework assistance programs for teens. And a culinary store or bakery might host cooking classes.
• Incorporate green technologies into the design and set an example for future developments. Specificly, Mr. Nolan mentioned waste management & recycling, use of alternative energy, electric vehicle charging stations, and rain water run-off management.

As part of the plan, Cooper Road would be extended south of Titus and Union Park would be abandoned (to be voted on Tuesday). Mr. Nolan has proposed the new extension of Cooper be named Baker Street, in honor of his long time friend Randy Baker who past away at age 37 of Leukemia leaving behind four children (who were in attendance).

In the end, the Planning Board said there are still issues that need to be resolved with parking and landscaping before the project gets preliminary approval. The board did not vote at tonight's meeting, instead reserving a decision until a special meeting on February 13th.

Concerns over limited parking were raised by one adjacent business owner. A local resident expressed concern that additional rental apartments in the area would not be beneficial and only bring "problems". And an attorney for the House of Guitars asked the board to make sure his client wasn't left without vehicle access to the new Cooper Road extension. Nolan expressed confidence that "creative solutions" could be worked out for the landscaping and vehicle access to the House of Guitars. He did not seem willing to concede additional parking spaces.

Old Chase-Pitkin Store Provides
   'Room to Grow' for Stepping Stones...

The other item on the board's agenda focused on an old familiar name.     Chase-Pitkin

, of course, was a home and garden chain owned by Wegman's who shut the stores down in 2006 leaving 14 giant big box stores vacant across the Rochester region. A few of the empty stores have been re-occupied by party supply stores, or, in Pittsford's case, torn down and replaced with new retail development. Now, Irondequoit has finally found a unique reuse for their empty Chase-Pitkin space.

Stepping Stones Learning Center

, which primarily serves children with autism and learning disabilities, will be moving from their current location (which they say is bursting at the seams) to the now abandoned Chase-Pitkin in Irondequoit Plaza. They presented the board with modified plans to improved traffic patterns and add curbing, sidewalk extensions and new landscaping to the parking lot. The old lumber yard space would be turned into an enclosed play ground area.

The Board unanimously approved the plan (with 1 member absent). The Board stated simply after the quick vote, "An excellent reuse of the property."

No word yet on what will become of the former     St. Thomas the Apostle School

after Stepping Stones moves out of that building on Saint Paul Boulevard.