"Save Brighton, Stop the Sprawl!" Moves to New Web Address

Future posts can be found at our new web address.

Sign the petition opposing the hotel/office/retail complex.

If you are a Brighton resident opposed to changing zoning to allow construction of the giant hotel/office/retail complex at the corner of I-590 and Winton, you can sign our petition here.

Reserve No Longer "Gated". Will It "Block the Canal"?

The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports today that Costello Development has removed the "gated" component to the proposed residential development on the Erie Canal ("the Reserve", not to be confused with the three-part hotel/retail/office complex). Kudos to them. The same article reports, however, that the development will "block the canal." It is not clear from the article what this means, and at this point I can't confirm the accuracy of the report. But it is very worrying. If true, does this refer to blocking access to the canal from certain points? I have to assume that is the case, because I don't see how the developer could legally block traffic on the canal itself (!!) or the bike path along it.

Hmm. Sloppy journalism.

Costello Projects are INDEED 725,000 plus square feet of floor space

According to an August 6 article in the Daily Record of Rochester by Eric Walter, there are three components to the proposed new Costello developments (excluding the residential Reserve). These are
1. A 120,000 sq ft. expansion of the Clinton Crossing medical development.
2. A 500,000 sq. ft. business office complex, with buildings 4-6 stories high (6-10 buildings): "Clinton Crossings Corporate Center".
3. A 108,000 sq. ft. retail/ conference center with a 5 story Embassy Suites hotel and a pond that could be used for ice skating: "Crossings Lifestyle Center".

The reporter describes one of Costello's comments as follows: "Expecting Brighton to remain the bucolic town it is today is unrealistic," Costello noted. Costello has taken it upon himself to decide what it is "realistic" and "unrealistic" for Brighton.

An Even Closer Look at Size of Hotel/Retail/Office Development, With Corrections

A closer look at the original "scope" proposal for the Costello hotel/retail/office development, which the developer now refers to as "Clinton Crossings", indicates that I was in error to refer to 1,000,000 square feet of floor space. Total floor space looks to be about 280,000 square feet, conservatively. The buildings' footprints total approximately 180,000 square feet. The "more than" 1,000,000 square feet figure, which I was given, refers to the total area to be developed, including parking.

So back to the comparisons with other developments. Parking for "Clinton Crossings" is given as just over 3,400 spaces (I believe 3,420). Parking at Marketplace Mall is 5,500 and at Pittsford Plaza it is 2,250. Marketplace Mall building floor area and footprint too ( I believe) is just under 1,000,000 square feet. Pittsford Plaza has about 500,000 square feet of building floor area.

Sign the Petition Opposing the Hotel/Corporate/Retail Complex

If you are a Brighton resident opposed to changing zoning to allow construction of the giant hotel/office/retail complex at the corner of I-590 and Winton, you can sign our petition here.

Report on July 23, 2008 Open Forum Discussion of Costello Developments

The vast majority of speakers at Wednesday's open forum spoke in opposition to one or both of the proposed Costello developments - "the Reserve", which is the gated residential community, and the "Clinton Crossing Corporate Office and Retail Center", which is the hotel/retail/office center with almost double the parking of Pittsford Plaza. Speakers addressed the negative impact on recreational users of nearby parks, the increased traffic that would result on Winton Road, the excess of retail and office space in the area as a whole, the lack of development coordination with neighboring communities, the probable negative effect on property values of nearby residences, the positive effects of having more green space in a community, and other arguments against changing zoning to accomodate the two developments. It was also suggested that if the town is going to give Costello Development a change in zoning it ought to require more amenities in exchange than Costello is currently offering.



Anthony Costello Jr. and one other gentleman questioned claims I made in this blog and in the email I circulated in the community. Their claims boiled down to the following:

1. Use of the term "mall" for the hotel/retail/office center is inaccurate, as is use of the term "gigantic". Clearly proponents of the project do not like the use of "mall" because of its negative connotations. The term is inconvenient for them. However, the project includes 108,000 square feet of retail space, and almost double the parking at Pittsford Plaza. So I'm not going to apologize for use of the term "mall". From this point on, however, I'll be using hotel/office/retail center or the like. The impact of this project on the area, given the parking and total building space planned, would be similar to that of Pittsford Plaza. You can also think about the medical office development around Lac de Ville and Westfall as a comparison. This also leads to the question of whether more medical office space is needed in Brighton.

2. I did not cite specific studies in support of my claims that the proximity of green space often increases property values. I have cited one study in an earlier blog post. A summary of various studies on green space impact on property values can be found here.

3. I gave the wrong figure for Anthony Costello's donation to the Brighton Canal Days Festival. This is correct, and I noted the error in this blog, as well as at the town board meeting July 23.