Welcome everybody to the December 16th Heritage Preservation Commission meeting.

Before we call to order, we start each meeting with a 15-minute public open comment period.

This is an opportunity for the public to comment to the commission regarding items that do not have a public hearing on today's agenda.

Each speaker has up to four minutes.

And with that said, will the first speaker please step forward.

In this room today, we'll have you go to the end of the table there and please sign in and then state your name clearly, and you'll have four minutes.

Okay.

Hi, as most of you know my name is uh Barry Dunwick, and I welcome all the news you know uh few of the review who are new, and I welcome you.

I the other people know I've done the same eight years when I give you most of the meetings, and I also went to the heritage preservation committee meeting, even though remembered that before that.

Um so the items I've been mentioned today is the the awards.

I I do think we should do the awards.

I just do want to caution you that the the last eight, the heritage preservation committee before it was a commission, had a lot of like experts in in architecture and land and people who actually built the buildings.

And so they were easy, it was easier for them to do some of those more technical awards.

I mean, I don't think there's anyone, there aren't that many people in the HBC who have really good novel to what makes better landmark changes, like changes to the buildings.

And so I it'd be harder for you to do it than some other, but I do think you should do some of the awards anyway, because I think that would be a good thing to do.

Um I want to mention that when it comes to the uh heritage preservation district report that Molly's gonna talk about later.

I still think we should have something in that report if it's not already there, but to help the property owners improve their buildings so we don't have demolition by neglect.

Some of it is intentional, but some of it isn't.

Some of it is they just don't know any better.

So I I think it's important to have in the future have somebody do outreach to the property owners to make sure they know how to preserve their buildings.

You have to get grants for two, but but even if they don't, uh it would be good for them to know how they could improve their buildings and maintain them because I don't know that they will know that now.

And I think education and incentives are both a good thing for that.

So when that's discussed.

Um, I'm gonna bar couldn't make it tonight, but I I know she wants me to talk about Indian height.

Um not so much we don't expect it to be discussed to you really, but I I do think at this point she deserves a uh sort of a general goal and timetable.

If you're gonna get a general uh person to sort of do a uh, you know, the whole plan, you know, the consultant.

I do think we should know what's the timetable.

Is it going to be three months, six months, a year?

Like what are we talking about?

It's already been a long time.

So there's that.

And once we get it back, how quickly will the HBC do it?

I'm also hoping, and it isn't on your agenda exactly, but I'm hoping you can also do something about what you want to do as priorities for the next year.

Like, do you want to do uh review on from the different uh landmarks uh of potential landmarks and inventory?

We're very far behind.

That was originally supposed to take about two years, about 12 years ago.

And we we've done most of them or we've done some of them in districts like the downtown district and to stuff.

But we really some of those buildings like the Kale and some of the individual buildings have been languishing there for like over a decade.

So I think it's important to have some kind of prioritization.

I know over the years Molly's tried to get the HPC issue priority meetings.

Very important that this body come up with priorities about what they should be doing next year, like which buildings, how how are you gonna how are you going to explore it?

So uh and so that's that's that's basically it to know again what what there will be HPC due next year.

You don't have to do it immediately, but what prioritization and don't spend a year talking about how to prioritize.

Just as a group, please come up with priorities and a list and which one will you do first, and we get to we get to it, but at least you know what's on the agenda.

But right now you really don't.

Time okay thank you also great one with the reading thanks okay all right well the next person wishing to speak please uh sign on in there and stay your name uh John Friesel good evening nice to be here and thank you for all of your time too so I can address a few points that I think are relevant with your gas um the award criteria that Mr.

Scholnik brought up uh certainly the criteria is everything um and I think his uh I didn't completely follow all of your uh your suggestions as related to that of some of the former members of the of the committee and then the commission and so forth but I think the important thing is the establishment of the criteria so that that award be something of uh of merit and not uh puffery and window dressing that's a that's an important very important charge on your part um addressing upheaps of buildings I would comment that um I would say that uh people that have an asset which might be a piece of real estate uh uh they are they are aware uh because of the requirements as it relates to the insurance company they they couldn't get insurance if they were improperly keeping a particular building up I don't mean to say that there might be times for some workshops but everybody's busy and just commenting Barry on that and I think it would be very hard to follow through and to and to use this commission's time in trying to educate people how to take care of the buildings I mean all of you uh most recently are aware of that um some of the projects that were proposed in downtown Rochester uh we didn't know that it was historic at the time of purchase well that's uh when that comes in front of the council again I don't know if I can say point of order but that's an out out and out wide uh so um people know how to take care of the facility if that's their choice to take care of the facility many of them choose otherwise so if they have a different argument um timetables uh I would say if more that more of the things that Barry pointed out to this commission uh um are are acted upon it's in the hands of the city council to be able to assign more time uh to Molly or someone else that Molly would like to work with primarily uh and so that's that's their charge and in the past at least uh we have thank goodness we have uh Molly uh lumbren patterns uh here it's just worked with your commission but uh her tasks are many and needs uh uh uh needs recommendation from the commission to be able to assign more more time from her or somebody else to this commission to work forward which uh with items that have been taken care of in the past um uh certainly uh I now I'm gonna talk about um um landmarks uh landmarks such as and um I think some of you have uh been here before what I've addressed okay is the clock a landmark I believe it is a landmark when I say the clock the clock from the fire station um that that clock is going to be relocated uh to a um uh uh a different location than initially was so uh uh some of the discussions in the past saying that these objects that are landmarks um they have been removed thank goodness from some of the buildings that were demolished otherwise they wouldn't be here today whether it's a clock whether it's the I'm gonna bring up again I'm I'm anxious for all of you to act on establishing other landmarks such as the Weber jet clock whether Hollywood whether Hollywood signed it uh China Mall sign uh just another thought that you are unaware of because I'm gonna call it a mobile landmark all of you are unaware of that um uh I currently currently own tried to give it the city many years ago the first uh the first gasoline powered truck of the city of Rochester 1909 was assigned to the Pierce grocery store that stayed in Rochester initially it went to hemp museum that was owned by the Bandle family who I'm related to the Vandal family therefore it didn't go when it was sold to Steiger and went to North Dakota the contents of of the of that museum uh my parents and I uh bought that luckily from the Bandle family and that is currently still in Rochester so think of this that is a mobile landmark uh some of you might be aware of the Aaron's fox that uh as a pumper truck that we give attention to my attention it is not a landmark by the way it was an it was not initially bought by the city of Rochester bridge revere is the landmark now thank you very much are there any other speakers wishing to speak

So think of this.

That is a mobile landmark.

Some of you might be aware of the Aaron's Fox that is a pumper truck that we give attention to it is not a landmark, by the way.

It was in it was not initially bought by the city of Russia.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Are there any other speakers wishing to speak?

Seeing none, that is our open common period.

And so this meeting of the Rochester Heritage Preservation is called to order on December 16th, 2025 at 510 PM.

Commissioner Bodeker.

Present.

Commissioner Connell.

Present.