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Mayor Warren Shares Concerns About Proposed Apartment Building In Cobb's Hill Park

cityofrochester.gov

People in Rochester's Upper Monroe Avenue neighborhood who are unhappy with a proposal to build apartment buildings in Cobb's Hill Park are getting backing from city hall.

Mayor Lovely Warren sent a letter to Chris Stevens, president of the Upper Monroe Neighborhood Association, saying that she also has concerns about the scale and scope of the project.

Stevens is opposed to an idea proposed by the non-profit housing organization Rochester Management which wants to replace the aging one-story buildings in Cobb's Hill with a new, four story building, and eventually,  another, similar structure.

“The park is right next store to our neighborhood, but we are city residents and we are frequent users as are all kinds of people, and we believe this would change the very nature of the park when you’re in many different parts of the park.”   

Peter Debes,, who is chair of the regional Sierra Club chapter, says part of Cobb's Hill is home to an old-growth hickory forest. 

“The vision of management of the area surrounding it should also fit in with the uniqueness of that forest and that would mean that we would want to preserve the view of the forest,  the forest-clad hills that you can see from Culver Road and the 490 expressway.”

In her letter, Warren has recommended that Rochester Management develop the new design in consultation with community stakeholders before a proposal is actually submitted. 

Randy Gorbman is WXXI's director of news and public affairs. Randy manages the day-to-day operations of WXXI News on radio, television, and online.