This is an open comment period.

If there is uh has it ended the agenda that allows members of the public to address the commission on items that are not on the loan's agenda as a public hearing.

If there's anyone listening on present that would like to address the commission, we step forward.

Um I've got their copies of my model to add my own just three up to copies.

Commissioner members.

My name is Mike Bakerstone, and I'm reading a letter on the app of the Zumbral Valley Autobahn Society for ZBAS.

Can serve the area for for around the last 50 years.

Rapid development, both ongoing and projected, is now having and will have future profound effects on our natural areas.

First example is the development in progress west of East Side Wildlife Management Area, also known as County Nine Marsh.

Always bottom chemical runoff, vegetation, removal, and even rolling pet cat will combine to lower the quality of that important wildlife area.

The city needs to do a better job, a buffer and these sensitive areas from developments.

They're both reclusive birds that may not tolerate the added impacts from today's developments.

Haven't seen nesting at this location.

These birds and other wildlife are important parts of this habitat, and they eat they all provide important technological services.

Another development called tech campus is being planned for the IBM area campus and surrounding lands.

Allowing for development right up to Valley High Drive, and even cutting off Green Strip, uh hosting many ponds running along the south side of 41st Street, Northwest.

We have also huge waterfall and related bird migrations in Silver Creek Reservoir and East and South Landfill Reservoir areas.

Yet there are plans to push developments towards these reservoirs.

These areas should be protected.

Rochester is a city with a lot of sprawl.

Studies show that being in nature offers both physical and also mental health benefits.

Regard feedbacks.

Okay, let's uh we're not going to set the order of the agenda.

Are there any changes in the quiet nice staff?

Commissioners, nine.

If not, I will take uh motion.

Second.

But then we're saying right things.

Moving on.

Um sent agenda.

We would now review the consent agenda items.

Item 4A with the minutes from the April A6 condition.

Has anyone had a chance to review minutes?

Any changes, concerns, questions?

If not, uh, I think motion.

Motion to approve the minutes of May for a April 8.

Thank you.

Motion made by Commission, seconded by Mission Ross.

I'm in favor, I need these motion prices.

Um that includes our agenda items for tonight.

Well, we want to reports and recommendations.

We have two staff presentations scheduled tonight.

Item by A is presentation from the city register, voice shift and transportation demand management from bench stack and we have a e-boat.

And how I'd like to frame the uh mode shift and patient management issues are as planning and development issues.

And so some definitions to start off is that mode shift is the end goal or outcome we wish to see, more trips shifting from single occupancy vehicle trips to more efficient options.

And efficiency is in terms of the exportation network overall, and transportation demand management or review is TDM, as I will put the following throughout the presentation, is the tool set or levers that we as a city and development community have to improve and diversify access to developments and destinations, which in effect maximizes the public investment.

So this is not a request for a new policy direction, and Rochester's adopted policy and goals already call for better integration of land use and transportation, uh expanded transportation options and more connected and compact development patterns.

So that to the commission this matters because these outcomes are shaped by site design, zoning, parking, frontage, connectivity, and how growth takes shape on the ground.

And so tonight is about implementation through the built environment.

So nothing I will be describing to you this evening is new policy.

The comprehensive plan you see at the bottom of the slide is the foundation, and above that sits several other plans, including the active transportation plan, transit development plan, a regional planning document, the metropolitan transportation plan from ROCOG, uh also DMC planning documents and implementation tools like the UDC or you can provide development code.

So together they point toward a more connected multimodal and less automobile dependent pattern of growth.

And Rochester will continue to need driving and parking.

Uh but if our adopted direction does not include lower single occupancy vehicle uh trip options, then these development decisions need to help create those options and not make them harder to achieve.

So if our default in response to growth is mainly warm motor vehicle access and more parking, uh we can work against those adapted outcomes unintentionally.

So the policy direction is to make walking, rolling, cycling, and transit more practical options for everyday life for trips that can happen that way, especially short trips and access to transit.

So for this commission, uh what you'll see on screen is the most useful question, is not necessarily which mode is best.

It's just the question about how Rochester's growth should function and development patterns shape travel behavior, uh site layout, parking placement, sidewalk continuity, uh multimodal parking, like bicycle racks, uh, and transit access, they all influence whether people have real options for transportation in the community.

And transportation choice is not separate from city form, it is one of the outcomes that city form produces.

So a drive first site makes walking, rolling, cycling, and transit harder, even when destinations are close, and access first site on the right side of the screen uh shows that more trips are practical in more than one way.

So when trips can work in those other modes, that's when those options can be taken and adopted or used for some trips out of the year.

So this image helps illustrate why mode shift in a very practical why mode shift matters in a very practical way.

And the point is not that one mode is good or bad.

The point is that different ways of moving people use space differently.

So when more trips can uh happen by transit, walking, rolling, cycling, or shared modes like the shared micromobility program we have for these scooters and bicycles, the same amount of street space can move more people with less strain on the transportation system overall.

And so that matters in a growing city, especially in places like downtown, where streets, street space and parking space are limited and finite as it is.

And so it also helps explain why transportation choice benefits everyone, including people who need to continue to drive.

Because when others have more practical options, there's less competition for the same finite space.

So downtown at Rochester and major other major activity centers in the community are not commute only destinations.

Non-commute trips or trips that just generally are increasingly important across the country and in Rochester.

And there are places people reach for appointments for errands, for meals, work or school, and services are just daily life, as many know it.

And that means that the planning level should be total access, not only vehicle access.

So in constrained places, access by multiple modes supports more activity and more growth without requiring every increment of growth to be solved with more parking or more vehicle capacity.

So this is where our conversation this evening becomes more practical, and you'll hear more about it in my teammate Molly's presentation later.

It shows up in whether building entrances face the street or the parking lot, whether sidewalks connect directly and clearly, whether the multimodal parking is visible, useful, and perhaps even closest to the main entrance, whether transit stops are in fact reachable, and whether parking perhaps overwhelms the site itself.

And so these are minor design details, but over time they determine whether adopted access becomes real or remains abstract.

And so the image here that you see on the screen is the city's transportation demand management viewer in GIS, which is a geographic information system.

It's a program the planning team and others throughout the city use a lot.

It's used for a practical pre-development review tool.

It helps the staff quickly understand the multimodal access context around a site, including pedestrian routes, transit proximity, multimodal connections, parking and curb management considerations, and nearby capital projects that could affect frontage or access as those capital improvement projects move into implementation.

So in other words, it helps translate these adopted transportation and land use goals into a review lens that can be applied later in the development process.

And transportation choice supports better land use outcomes because land and curved space are finite, and space used mainly to move and store vehicles is space that cannot also be used for housing, jobs, public realm, or active frontages, more active frontages.

And so again, this is not an anti-parking argument.

It is an argument that if you want to meet adopted mode shift goals, we cannot treat more parking and more vehicle access as the only response to growth.

And when more trips can happen another way, growth doesn't have to be matched by proportional growth in vehicle storage or capacity.

So you can see here about the size for one billion dollar in value compared to one billion dollar in value land use patterns in a downtown area versus a northwestern area in Rochester, and then also comparison miles of road shown on each.

And then since 2019, you'll see the worked at home, the darker paint line that has risen.

Those are two sample sizes that do not have a margin of error that we can take reliable statistics from.

And those are important to note because those are uh sorry, we're working from home as an example is a transportation demand management strategy that effectively can reduce peak hour demand on the transportation system, if perhaps some trips don't need to be taken by car or uh at all, for example.

So, what I'm going to walk you through in the following slides are a series of maps that will emphasize why short trips can make the biggest difference in our community.

Uh the point is not that every short trip will shift in this mode.

The point is merely that the short trips are not limited by distance, where uh they may be limited whether a route is direct, whether it's connected or feels safe to the user and just simply more comfortable.

And so that is what makes this a planning and design issue, not only a transportation issue.

And so a few important caveats that I'll share about the data that you'll see following is that replica is a system that models trip data for a hypothetical Thursday in Q2 of last year.

And so it's not uh direct or observed count, merely a strategic planning tool that is directional in nature, and then the downtown focused layers are reflective of trips that start or end in a downtown area that was thrown around the general downtown area that we're in now.

Um, also other layers may include uh all trips that are that are starting outside of that downtown ending there, uh, according to the road cog trip model that we had access to.

And so the short trip filters they use replicas default travel speeds.

So a 3.6 mile trip reflects a trip that could be biked in about 20 minutes, and a 1.1 mile trip reflects a 20 minute trip that could be uh completed by walking or rolling.

And the model does not include recreational walking, running, or cycling trips or exercise or leisure.

So some of the active travel that you'll see is is actually could be understated or is understated.

And then these maps are best used to identify an opportunity pattern, um, not to simply not go for a claim precision of legacy following.

Sure.

So you've you've used the phrase rolling a few times.

Can you define that?

If it's it's obviously difficult with cycling, what is rolling?

Thank you.

Uh rolling, and I'm sorry to do that sooner.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh, rolling is perhaps using mobility A, like a power assisted wheelchair or device to uh mobilize something we have disability that prevents them from being able to walk.

Um, rolling can also be inclusive of uh e-scooters uh or scooter devices that one could roll for short trips from mobility.

Yeah.

All right, so now that I've covered the caveats, what I'll show is the this is simply a slide that grinds us where existing access patterns are today to downtown Rochester.

And I want to acknowledge that the the down the downtown and medical district uh they have real motor vehicle access needs, including patient access, visitors, uh service traffic, freight, and pickup and drop up activity that we see daily basis at peak hours, especially.

And so the point of showing this is not to deny that reality, it is simply to acknowledge it.

And at the same time, I want to uh show that the corridor carrying strong motor vehicle demand today is not automatically a corner that should uh only serve motor vehicles in the future.

And so the planning task is to determine uh where vehicle access will continue to be essential and where some trips may be better served by a connected lower stress multimodal network.

And so on the next slide, you'll see uh the suggested area of where some of the strongest opportunities for the short trips to be moved from driving trips to walking or rolling trips could be in this area, and that means that the response we have as a uh a city is is often not only bikeways, it is also the crossings of sidewalks, it is curb ramps, it is the winter maintenance, is it passable year-round?

Uh, direct pedestrian routes and also uh reducing friction in the walking environment.

So, it in other words, uh improving walk access is a land use and design issue just as much as a transportation issue.

And this shy, this slide shows where cycling becomes more realistic if the network is connected direct and comfortable for the user.

Again, this is not to mean that every trip shifts uh to bicycling, but it does show where protected and lower stress facilities can have strategic value because the distance itself is no longer the main barrier.

And for the commission, uh that matters most because future development and corridor decisions can either preserve or strengthen those opportunities, uh, or it could make them more difficult to implement later.

And so comfort becomes very important here.

A short trip is only a realistic bike trip if the route feels comfortable or safe enough for the user.

And the active transportation plan was adopted to guide investments that create safer, healthier, and more accessible connections across the city.

And for many users, especially people who are not confident riders, that means lower stress routes and on busier corridors, separation from motor vehicles.

So when we think about development and order design, the question is not only whether a multimodal facility exists, it is whether it is comfortable enough so that more people would actually want to use it.

So this may be the most important physical planning principle in the presentation, and it's that sidewalks, the cycle tracks, the shared use paths, and the transit access, they all need to work as a connected system.

We use network as an intentional word because if you have a break in the network, the network doesn't work as well as it is as it could if it were fully connected.

So a fragment does not create a real choice if it does not connect to something useful.

And so for the commission, that means asking not only whether an element exists, but whether it meaningfully connects people to destinations where they want to be.

And so network uh networks in general create access where fragments do not.

And so we need to plan for real people, uh, a successful development pattern.

It's is it needs to work for more than the ideal driver making an ideal trip.

And so it should also work for older adults or for children, caregivers, people with disabilities, uh, people with only one household vehicle, or people making linked trips throughout daily life because sometimes it's more efficient to drop off that library book that's been collecting fees forever and then grab that gallon milk before you head home for the day.

Um so that's that's how those link trips are real for daily life.

And that's one reason that transportation choice belongs in a planning context.

Uh, when a place can only function well for someone arriving or leaving by private vehicle, the system therefore is incomplete to the broader population.

And so the better multimodal access is what makes places more useful for real people in real circumstances.

Um, what you're seeing now is uh examples of important development levers that make practical transportation uh transportation options a bit more practical.

I'll just use that word.

Uh the key the key point is that TDM is not separate from physical planning.

It is one of the ways that site design, uh, parking policy access and code expectations do reinforce the adopted direction of more connected and practical transportation choices.

And so for the commission, it means thinking about transportation options not only as infrastructure, but also as something shaped by development review, uh frontage, parking strategy, and how the sites actually connect to the network, because that in effect will also maximize the public investment for the development community as well.

Um so this work is already moving and um rolling, I should say, um from the concept uh of TDM and Mode Shift to implementation.

And so the city and partners are coordinating around no shift and PDM already, especially when you're major uh institutions and transportive areas and organizations, because uh we have various programs in our shared mobility, um, shared micromobility program management, our multimodal count program, GIS tools, pre-development review, and uh also uh potential um other initiatives that are all making this more concrete.

Uh the the TDM and free development view approach, for example, is intended to help staff look at pedestrian access and that multimodal context in making decisions around site development plans and where we could actually see a maximal optimal use of that public investment adjacent to uh development sites.

So the the practical takeaway for uh just to simply like reduce it down to a planning and zoning lens is that uh on each project, we could be simply asking whether it makes short trips and everyday access easier, um, safer, uh more practical across all modes, uh, as whether it improves connectivity and supports the adopted plans and also uh catches opportunities while the project is still flexible.

And I'm not suggesting that every project may solve every translated issue, however, I am suggesting that uh if it's consistently applied with this lens, Rochester's growth, it does gradually align with the direction the city has already adopted.

So that's why this lens is hopefully a helpful way to think about how to be considering TDM and moat shift objectives in routine meetings and decisions.

So I want to thank you very much for the time and invitation to participate this evening.

I hope the main takeaway is that this is not a separate transportation agenda.

It is about how planning and zoning helps implement adapted plans through land use and site design, uh, through connectivity and uh broader multimodal access.

And I welcome uh questions and our discussion.

I have a couple of little minor questions.

Um I know that I just wanted to see how this was linked, not intended for that.

Um to first, I think it's first is getting the sidewalks regotten in 2027 on the west side of the street.

Is that any incorporation of anything with any of these updates that are happening that you know of?

Um I just want to clarify, Commissioner, uh the are you saying first at the end of Southwest?

Okay, and so the proposed design uh that was adopted by council in January, February, March maybe.

Um, that had a cycle track that was going to be installed as an interim solution to reconnect the multimodal network.

And it was also going, it was proposed to offer uh protection from motor vehicle traffic.

Okay, and that's an example of where a facility can offer a safer space for the user to operate in because when you reduce it down to an interested but concerned persona of bicyclists, for example, that is where we would see a the facility that operates the most comfortable and safest space to operate in.

So that's that's an example, yes, of TDM in infrastructure uh design.

I was just hoping they do the east side too, because there's an entire block that's right in front of Lucky's, like that new FIS place, all the way to the old city hall, it's all broken up completely sidewalking scriptures.

Yep.

So I was thinking that you know they're doing one side that's great.

That sidewalk looks amazing, but there's more traffic on the other side, which would help improve people walking.

I've seen people trip and fall downtown in that particular area, including myself almost a couple weeks ago.

But that was when that was one of the questions I had for that.

Okay, and then um the second question, I guess, is and thank you for that.

Um the first one.

Second one is when we look at fragments.

I see that a lot.

I know exactly where that was.

It's by the quick trip by Wells Fargo and St.

Louis, I know exactly where that is.

16th Street.

Going eastbound.

If you're over at Salem Road, maybe hang a left here.

Now you're on 16th Street, go past them all.

All that you get to just past where Buffalo Wild Wings is.

There's no walkable area on the south side, but there is on the north and north side is very narrow, right after that stop light there.

Do you have like a I don't say a list, but more like higher concerned fragmented areas than others that we would be looking at in the future as we look at different neighborhoods and as we look at the projects.

Uh the example I showed on the screen is being addressed through a carbon reduction program grant administered by Rogog, funded by MidDot, which City of Rochester will have awarded funds for 2029 to close that gap, for example.

Um, and then for the commission uh to consider other city work is there was a council initiative action.

Uh, I think it was in December January that asked for a review of an orphaned parcel analysis that city staff would look at where those connections might, those disconnections might be and what our recommendation could be to uh to make further make future investments, meaning totally some of those disconnections in there.

So that work is happening at that council.

But you're analyzing that type of stuff on a regular basis, what you're saying.

Yes, see it.

Okay.

Wait for the report so you can say that the SMAS point you very much.

Uh so I have a question for you.

I think it was slides 11 and 12.

You showed that there was what you described as short distances for walking and biking.

Um before it.

Can you help me understand how you arrived at the um I mean I love I I love our idealistic?

So I'm just curious how you guys derive this idea that these are appropriate for distance sort of like replace cars and walking or plane.

Sure.

So um in the in the data set from Ramoka, the estimated um amount of time for that physical activity uh that isn't comfortable for a general user was 20 minutes and the operating speed.

And I don't I don't have an operating speed off the top of my head, but I can respond to that at later time.

Um did uh calculate to be a 1.1 mile walking distance and 3.6 mile bicycling distance, and I'll republic one criterion that uh the bicycling distance is a traditional bicycle on the e-bicycle.

Okay.

Um how does that account for uh so I mean again I really like the models to game.

What I'm curious about is how do you account for weather patterns?

So uh what we've seen from uh emerging data from our multi-model count program is that it's not temperature that affects um the need or desire to be physically active for transportation or recreation, it is the surface condition, and that's consistent in our active transportation plan.

And so what we see in our uh counter that has been it's a main dot counter at the base of MacNamera Bridge.

We saw in 2025 that there was activity by bicyclists and pedestrians every single week of the year last year, and so that tells you that there are people operating year-round in in different modes.

Um, and it's what we hear from the active transportation plans most often the surface condition that will limit uh create a barrier if it's not maintained or if it's not passive year round to know that's set.

Okay.

Um so then you you guys have a persona, it's like a average defined somehow, say that a 20-minute walk is acceptable to go to grocery store or whatever.

Um the persona that I referenced earlier, or yes, you said that you guys used uh some sort of persona-based logic to come up with what an appropriate short-term distances for community or for activities where you can replace car activity.

Okay, uh the persona that I mentioned was a persona of a bicyclist, uh, someone who's interested but concerned accounts for uh a large portion of the population to study from Ashto.

Um, but what uh the the model that I described that used the 20-minute physical activity that determined the distance.

So I I wasn't referring to a persona for that necessarily of that clarification, yeah.

It does actually okay.

Um, do you guys have some sort of idea?

I mean, does this come with so the ask here is to say that like if we're taking a look at requests for developing city, but there's considerations maybe besides uh considerations, but also what can help achieve the mode shift targets of the city adopted in its comprehensive plan to okay?

Awesome.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Can you go back to the slide that shows all the different um ways people get to their destination?

This one perhaps?

Yes.

Um public transit that that excludes the Mayo shuttles for the employees, or is that included in that data point there?

Um I'm not certain of that.

However, being that they are operated by Mayo Clinic, I believe that would be private.

So I think this only includes RPT, for example, RBT programs for public transit.

I don't know if that we're certain that that's my what I would imagine.

Yeah, and my question kind of is rooted more on the public transit side.

We see around 2019 2020, yes, COVID.

Um, we see a decline begin there, and that's really when the city sort of being more intentional about development and looking at how do we achieve this modality shift?

Um so we will we've been more conscious of that getting the number of projects that we've either voted down or pushed different ways to achieve those schools.

We still don't see it yet in the data point.

And as the city is currently evaluating their bus contract and all of that, what efforts are being made to increase that ridership?

What are those barriers that are preventing it from going back up?

Why are people utilizing the public brand that have we made a more intentional effort to push people that way?

We still haven't seen that budget yet in the data points here.

And this only gets us through to 2023.

Um it's uh data from the Census Bureau of the American Community Survey, and the uh margin of error because of the sample size taken for nodes other than drill alone and worked at home are so small that the margin of error being what it is is very broad range.

So the only statistics that we can that we take from this data is the drill balancing work at home.

Um however, to comment on the the transit um um uh ridership numbers sitting in citizen advisory transit the other week.

I heard wonderful news that the uh spring service changes that they are already seeing the increased uh ridership, and then any further comment on transit utilization ridership, I would defer to uh director Rachel Fouch.

And then any further comment on transit utilization and ridership, I would defer to uh director Rachel Fouch.

I have one.

Um so uh as as developments come in and it's gonna become part of the UDC on the transit plan or mode shift.

I mean, as we see more applications in banning and zoning, um I think we get zoning change requests because of DDMs.

I've included uh when we look at new developments, is uh is a community development going to first review the transit needs in the in the new development that funds to us in the is it moving in uh from pre-bound review standpoint that that occurs, but yes.

Um then for uh addressing UDC changes, it's something that staff is currently evaluating how uh the UDC may even better align with mode shift targets and those uh forthcoming proposed changes will come to the commission in the future time.

I'm not very clear on what my question is, but I'm just trying to make it up.

The planning is only in what what would be able to see change as the school store.

Okay.

And I guess whenever uh different proposals come to the commission, you can consider how does this provide multimodal access to the site and surrounding area where um that how can multimodal access be broadened and and reserved or supported?

I think I can lose the link would need to reduce cars and uh I think uh development should uh should incorporate uh these mode shifts I think quantitative as as we go as a city.

So a lot of our uh info development send the multi-family uh developments, they are based on the graphic transit.

But as you know, as we get makes more dynamic, you know, more the not rest, or hopefully not rescue.

Um the transit is not meant.

So I I think that should that should be a consistent yeah.

I was just gonna add that um I think if you go back to one of the first slides that Matt had, um, you know, a lot of the work that the planning team does now is the basis is in mode shift, and you know, you think back to the comprehensive plan or whatnot, but um actions that have taken place that have come before the planning commission, you know, I think of the the TOD zone changes um back in 2019 and the developments that we see in that as well as the UDC in general in regards to pedestrian design and site design and things like that.

Um so it may not necessarily be you know in your face mode shift, but a lot of it is you know underlying to further those goals of the comprehensive plan and further those goals of mode shift.

So a lot about density, downtown core development, all of this, and just thinking of you know land availability.

We have the old Kmart site, but like both of these windows here.

We have the city owned parcels.

What's the timeline for the development of those bots?

Do we have anything with that?

Because if we look for opportunities to achieve a lot of these goals, or we have them sitting right here, they're just vacant and awaiting good timing with Taryn here.

Um I think you can do a little bit to the um parcel disposition or whatnot.

But um, you know, there have been a handful of parcels um that the city owns that have gone out for for RFP and um I think of the um site just across the street, for example, and um Sherman associates have been working on that for for quite some time, but I still let Karen kind of handle that one.

Good evening, I'm sure I have some comments that Matt might share as well as it relates to infill opportunities.

Uh essentially, right?

We can't control private property necessarily.

We can control our timing and the process, and I'm sure you're aware or understand that we've limited that and reduced that as much as possible.

Um, what I would say is the city council uh has made it clear that they're interested in understanding um infill opportunities, and that's uh accounted for in the council adapted action plan.

So uh ways that we're considering those opportunities and ways to incentivize that.

For example, I believe it's in June, we're hearing from Urban Three, which will do an analysis essentially of the city and sort of make the case of where uh we have um property tax incentives and where we will have the most opportunity for infill opportunities.

Um and so I do imagine further policies and incentives will come for that.

So those those are things we're considering, I would say.

Feel free to add to that, Matt.

But um, I think I think I was cuing me up for parcel disposition, but right, we also do our part in considering land we own um strategically making recommendations for redevelopment as mentioned as well.

So that's a regular um occurrence that we're doing on an annual basis.

I think we have some sites for sale today, actually, that we've advertised.

Um so those are different ways we're approaching this within our within our powers.

What would be our favorite books?

Okay, but that's the meaningful question then um perhaps it's a better question for things we would be up to people.

Sure, I sorry, I missed the beginning of that question.

Um sorry, can you just repeat it?

Um I guess I would start off by saying that the planning commission is not necessarily in an appeal body.

So the zoning board of appeals is the body that sees decisions that are decisions made by staff that are then appealed to a higher body.

But I think the you know, in regards to the TDM space, the the biggest policy lever that the planning commission sees is the UDC.

I mean the UDC is I'd say one of the most, I mean, it is the development center in the city of Rochester.

Um so it's not necessarily like you're going to see appeals of decisions of decisions made, um, but you're actively engaged in that process and actively making decisions.

Um, and I suspect that you know there'll be additional TDM strategies implemented within the UDC now as time goes on within the near future.

I don't know if that necessarily answered your question, but we will be like uh this development is one of the to show such and such way.

So is then one of the assembly section about shift um being a not necessarily.

I think um, in regards to current standards within the UDC, there are you know um mid-block connections and you know sidewalks and things like that, which um once again is kind of uh point of the Matt's point of um helping to create additional options you know outside of single occupancy vehicle.

So it's not necessarily like the um Matt's presentation today is is reinventing the wheel, but there will be additional strategies coming forward before the planning commission to help aid that in the process.

Sure.

And yeah, and and there's um uh development series within the UDC in regards to providing a transit stop, um, like uh cover or whatnot when located along a transit route, things of that nature that you know is in the UDC but doesn't necessarily come before these boards because that's taking place during the site plan review.

But you know, those are things that you know we're working with Matt on to um to talk to the developer and talk into the public transit of you know how best we make this work for for everyone to come out on top of standards like for example uh safe and direct pedestrian access.

There's a pedestrian access section that's basically says that the closest entrance must be as close to the pedestrian access that exists as possible along those lines, but um those exist.

And then they're going to the bicycle park view is another um example of the section UDC about that.

TEM the mode shift objectives are going to be integrated throughout rather than a specific section.

So we may not be able to answer that request, but it will there are opportunities to get a great throughout.

So I just uh have two more questions.

Um one is that bridges that we have in APO as a crossways uh roads, for example, the one that's HBS.

I don't I don't see them.

What is the uh what is their future?

I'm gonna be maybe more of them.

Um even seeing the intersection being you know, people have like they walked a little second on, but nobody knows a one.

Like the bridge of boards is a safe crossing that you are at risk to be a major killed by people.

So those are important for that reason, especially for school-aged children directed to century high school, perhaps.

Um the comment about the user usership uh of bridges uh in 2025.

The McDamara Ridge uh counter saw over 100,000 uh passes of the bridge.

So somebody was going, somebody went past the counter over 100,000 times just in 2025.

I can't speak to that one bridge in particular in the east, but that's an example of the usership.

So if you're passing by it, you may not see them there, but I can assure you from the data we've collected that it does show usership.

And my other question is that um there lots of people blocking their clouds and light lanes, so yeah, the right of time is at the streets that you did not.

So is there any any way to wanted to these people indicate them and thank you?

Uh that's a great question because that's a uh a barrier that can be created by leaving personal property in a travel lane.

Um I'm aware of RPD uh dispatching community service to go out and ticket.

Um, if not educate the motorists that they cannot park there, but ticketing citations does have a curve, and that is a mechanism that exists today.

Yes, it requires the report for that clear ticketing video.

Uh so I think sort of uh following the questions from Chirp, there's a couple of things to consider.

So one of which is that you know, I work in plotting, so I I think about these things sort of as a comprehensive system.

Like today, we have information it sounds like from studies we're doing on how people are to, but these are all in places that are currently developed, so a majority of them are not going to be conforming to these criteria says the buildings need to be within 15 feet.

So you're talking quite literally about retrofitting spaces.

I think that that's a really difficult task because it will wind up fragmented if we cannot redevelop entire situations, right?

Fragmentation may or may not be worse than what we currently have.

So I mean, I'm completely on board with I completely understand the new development phase here.

I think, but to echo what Chair Gupta had mentioned, I think it would be really important for us to understand these pedestrian corridors, the high traffic areas where people do actually ride their bikes and where pedestrians do actually walk, so that we can make intentional efforts to protect them.

But I think that the amount of time and energy and planning that goes into things so that like someone can't park at their apartment and so they park their car in a bike lane kind of situation, right?

Like that's also not an input benefit.

So like I think it would be really important for us to have this kind of information when we're considering development plans and when we're considering updates to zoning and planning.

So I'm just gonna reiterate.

I know that I know this is not convenient for the city.

I think that these traffic studies and that these pedestrian studies exist.

I think it's really important for us to see this, especially in places where things are already developed.

Um, because the the system level impact if we start putting in you know 50 feet of sidewalk here that's compliant in the midst of six blocks that aren't wasted a lot of time with body and something that's so anyways.

Thank you for your presentation.

Thanks for that.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Uh good evening, I remember the planning commission.

So tonight I'm going to be talking about the heritage preservation and urban design.

I'm the heritage preservation and urban design coordinator.

And I believe my presentation tonight was prompted by a request from the commission, possibly last fall at some point.

So I'm going to give you an overview of the work that I do and then be open to the questions.

So if there's a question specifically about a slide that I'm going through, feel free to kind of raise your hand and get my attention.

Otherwise, we'll do question and answer back once.

So a little bit about myself, just to kind of give you a sense of who I am and how I approach the work I do.

I am a city planner, AICP credential, which means American Institute of Certified Plans, Master's degree in urban planning, and my undergrad degree was in heritage preservation, American studies.

So I really came into urban planning from a standpoint of how cities are formed, how they change over time, and then kind of how we react in human beings to our environment.

But both of them are really kind of brought together in this idea of how we as human beings interact with our built environment.

And I would say further that in my conversations with folks and with developers, I think sometimes you know the urban design in particular is thought of as sort of an after, you know, kind of the final like, oh, how do we make this pretty now?

Right?

How do we now we've designed it?

How do we sort of pretty this up to meet the requirements?

And really what I'm going to talk about tonight is the fact that it's not just sort of this icing on the cake after the fact, but actually urban design, um including aspects of heritage preservation really are about health and safety, um, which is what the core of what zoning is about.

Um and it's also about equity and sustainability.

Uh, just a couple images on the um on your screens of different resorts and um literature that talks about this idea of you know how humans interact with their environment.

And I'm gonna say that in you know Rochester as a city for health.

I think this starts to become really important, and it really becomes an opportunity for us to think about how we can design our city to um to continue to increase its healthy aspects for residents and visitors.

So, first starting with um kind of the urban design standpoint of what I do.

Um, this is really solidly um coming out of the um planning to succeed, the city's comprehensive claims and the urban design in the way we approach it as a city program, um, is really about encouraging the efficiency of land use, um, encouraging right how we a lot of the things that Matt just spoke about, how we access properties, how we support higher density and mixed uses, um, and then how we improve the relationship uh between the um the development, um, whether it's existing or new, and those different transit calls, those different transportation goals.

Um, starting with what is urban design, and we look at kind of different aspects of urban design.

Um the upper right-hand side, you see an image of you know, different scenarios where there's an increasing level of density, right?

So the form of the building is the same, or the form of the dwelling unit is the same.

It's a it's a box, right?

That causes people, it's a blowing unit.

Um, and the way that in its least dense image is kind of single family homes on the separated individual lots.

Now you can increase the density when you stack up those or compile those dwelling units, the same size, if you will, um, and increase the density and get more intensity, right?

And you can see how those policy decisions, which are reflected in the UDC in terms of setbacks and um heights and that type of thing, uh, can really impact how the city starts to form and how we start to see a design of our urban spaces.

The image on the upper right is kind of the opposite of that.

Actually, that's the same density throughout different scenarios where you're taking and you're rearranging these same dwelling units, but you're having a different impact on the land and the environment that you're creating for us in the exterior of our toilet units.

So these are things again that the UDC in our zoning requirements directly influence.

And then, of course, there is the street pattern, lots of blocks and the shapes of them, the connectivity through the grid, areas where you've seen some in some of Matt's images where there's less connectivity in new areas that don't have that historic brain pattern.

And so these are all things that the UDC really has a really strong impact on our urban design.

When we think about urban design and the work in particular that I do, it's really on you know on a wide variety of scales, right?

From kind of the largest scale, citywide scale, down to the site design.

And some of the requirements from the UDC that I'm going to talk a little bit more about here in the slides, really have an impact more on this large citywide scale.

And there we're talking about certainly how we get around the city, right?

The spaces in between the buildings and the connectivity or lack of connectivity between them.

But we're also talking about things like first impression.

And when you look at these silhouettes of different cities, you can see some very distinctive architecture that really tells you where these places are.

So urban design has the ability, and we have the ability within our UDC requirements to have an impact on this to really impact kind of how the city is viewed from this much larger scale, right?

As people are coming into calm, the profiles of these buildings, things like the Kaler sign, the plumber building, right?

Those are really distinctive Rochester.

And they're going to have some new elements to our skyline with Bolt Forward and Mound, right?

And so that's the work that happens on a day-to-day basis with new development.

How is it impacting this scale of a room design?

On a smaller scale, as you kind of decrease the scale, we're looking at a district scale and things like subdivision standards, how wide the streets are, how certainly the topography, right, and other natural features that are already present.

The river create open you know wide spaces that give us sort of views of you know of buildings and sites and parks.

And then of course the buildings themselves and the architectural style that happens with smaller buildings, whether or not they're facing the street, whether or not they're you know, kind of secluded in cul de sacs, um really gives a different atmosphere as a human being as you're walking or driving through this through this built environment.

And then the scale that we work on the most often is really study design.

And this is where I work with the planners on a regular basis, um, in particular with site development plans that come through and looking at how our standards in the UDC are either being met or not being met with their proposed developments.

And there we're talking about this idea of how the private building development interfaces with the public environment and the requirements that we have really are specifically, and especially in a very built-up area like um like the images you see on your screen with the burnt apartment buildings, really about how you're using that building to create a public environment that's directly abutting the private property.

So with things like setbacks, right?

So if you have a uh a deeper setback, um, there's not as much interaction then between the pedestrian on the street and what's happening, you know, in say a single family home.

Um, and so in our areas where we're looking for density and we're really trying to continue to promote walkability, bikeability, we're trying to uh use our requirements to um to help uh foster this sense of place that really makes a comfortable space for people to be in to walk through to roll through many of the things that Matt just talked to.

And again, this is the scale that I most often am working on with our planers.

Yeah.

I just want to say thank you for that because that goes, that's a lot of work.

I've seen some newer apartment complexes similar to this, but I have a lot of green space.

It's very inviting for people that are not living there.

They're just visiting family or friends there.

So thank you for all that work on that.

Yeah, thank you for that comment.

I appreciate that.

Um this slide I really like to show this series of image.

Um, this, of course, is a more historic uh development in a city, not ours, it happens to be um uh Fargo more uh more space.

Um and uh so it happens to be Grand Forks, and you know, again, but this is not dissimilar to what we saw right along the brick, where you've got that wall of private developments, but you know, it's what the developers did at the time they built that building.

And um, and you can really see how, and I think we we all experience it, but if you haven't kind of looked sort of granularly at what is happening on that sidewalk, you may not realize that it's like you're walking through a corridor, right?

Where the the buildings create one side of that hallway or that corridor, um, things like the street trees and other barriers or even a space, a planting strip creates a barrier between you and where um where other modes of traffic are.

Um, it could be a bike lane, it could be um you know the vehicular traffic, like you see in this photo.

And then on the third photo in, um, you see that actually that's not an impervious surface, right?

There's there's visibility, right?

That is offered through windows that's offered you know in between the trees.

Um, and and really that allows for this interaction of having a sense of where you are, um, and you know, getting a sense of what's happening on the inside of the buildings that provides a sense of comfort, right?

It provides both a sense of enclosure so you don't feel like completely out, like when you're crossing a very wide highway.

Um, but then it also provides enough connectivity to other activities.

So you're not alone, right?

You have a sense that things are happening on the inside of the building, light might be shining out, you know, especially evening activities.

Um and this is the type of atmosphere that really is more comfortable for people to spend time in and walk through as they're as they're walking through this environment.

And then the final image really is just sort of some of these extras that kind of add um sort of a rich sense of of where you are.

Um, things like signage can be um can really provide some like diversity and sort of interest to kind of keep you thinking about what's that sort of next thing that's coming up.

Um kind of piques our interest as human beings to keep us active, you know, actively watching and participating within our environment.

So, how is this reflected in the UVC?

Um, and one section in particular that I spend a lifetime working with is about our building design.

Um, there's other sections as well that really also relate to building design and um sort of pedestrian access, but this one is really sort of the holistically um our building design standards.

So we require that buildings have a 360 degree architecture.

This idea that, and we've all seen it, um, you know, maybe there's like a kind of a pole building, and then there's sort of a little office that's put on the front, and like it's completely different, right?

The architectural style is completely different.

Um, and that's that's not inappropriate for some locations.

I'm not saying that that's bad.

Um, but what we're looking for is we're looking for um buildings to have you know a sense of of um of participating with their environment, right?

So, like it's um the idea in particular when you're on a street, you're experiencing that building as sort of a whole designed property.

That makes sense.

Building materials, we're looking for a high quality material, something that's substantial, something that doesn't um you know fall apart or degrade over time.

Um, and one of them that we spend a lot of time with is the transparency requirement.

We do have a fairly high standard for window transparency, in particular in our downtown MXD district and our MXT, which is the transit oriented district.

And again, that's because we're encouraging spaces that people feel comfortable walking through, spending time in and being able to connect with their surroundings, kind of that emotional mental connection with what's happening around them.

And then horizontal articulation is another one that we spend a lot of time with.

And that's the idea that there'll be an image here that kind of shows the difference when you have a feeling about it.

That's the idea of sort of breaking down very long expanses of walls, spots to make it feel more of a human scale.

And this is actually the image that I that I just referenced.

This is kind of a great example of how you know when you have a building that goes in with all design standards.

And again, you know, nothing wrong with that.

That's been there a long time.

It's it's an industry, it's something that has you know been an economic, you know, um, and you know, driver for the community.

Um, but when it's built, it was more of like on the outside town, right?

When it was first established.

So just from a design standpoint to see that compared to when you have a building like a brick with some of these features and providing a space and helping to create the space and interacting with the public realm in such a way that actually um benefits the community, general community as a whole.

Um, and that's why I just like to show that that phone.

I'm gonna switch gears a little bit here and talk now more specifically about heritage preservation, and um we'll start again with the why um we have these requirements.

So heritage preservation, the way we operate the program here in the cities really directly relates to the mission of the city as a whole, right?

Um, it's to provide safe, attractive environments through responsive, efficient, and cost-effective delivery of services and our zoning can be considered right now development plans and development uh programs can be considered one of those programs and services, I should say.

Um the city will strive to enhance community pride by improving the physical environment, economic, cultural, social quality of the community.

So there's a lot of things within that city mission that really directly relate to why we're doing heritage preservation program as we are within the city.

It definitely is part of the urban design as well, in terms of creating these environments that people feel comfortable in and can relate to and can relate to each other, other human beings within.

Um it has a very strong economic development component.

Um, it helps to create areas and districts.

To create districts that have kind of a unique sense of place that become attractive to people, both residents and visitors, and um, and then it's also of course um that has strong sustainability aspects, right?

The agreement's building is the one that's already built.

This idea that rather than uh demolish and move all of that material to a landfill to build a lead certified building, right?

You know, yeah, I mean, that's if you're joined to building the building, that's a great thing, but maintaining and preserving the existing stock that you have has certain elements of sustainability that we really can't beat.

Um if you can reuse that building, and then place attachments.

Um I'm going to talk a little bit, show you some slides later on that sort of reflects to this and brings us back to that help, kind of that's all safety aspect of what we do, um, and that city could help.

Uh, and then diversity and preservation actually, the history of historic preservation.

Um, there's some lack eyes when it comes to diversity, and as a preservationist, I recognize that.

Um, and that has to do with you know, whose history are we preserving, whose are we sharing, you know, who's participating and allowed to participate in this.

But if you do it in a way that really opens up to our diverse culture, it really allows for a sharing of that, and that just becomes really a sipher that really helps to um create an environment within a community within a city that really helps to make that city unique.

So there's a lot of opportunities for that.

Okay, so it's quite sort of go forward.

I want to talk a little bit because Ed had mentioned that there were some questions that I think came from the commission about what the difference was between our local designation process and national register.

And so I created this slide with the table here to show the kind of three different levels of government, you know, federal, state, and local.

Local, of course, you know, we're focused on us as a municipality.

In some places, it pertains also to a county or to a township.

But we find local heritage preservation most often at the municipal level, and in particular in Minnesota, it's almost exclusively done it at the city or municipal level.

And of course, in the city of Rochester, it's being done by our community development department, myself and some of my teammates in community development, the Heritage Preservation Commission, which is kind of a you know similar, obviously, to you folks that are making decisions based on what's in the UBC.

At the state level, we have the state uh historic preservation office or SHIPO as it sometimes referred to.

Um they're under the department administration.

And they're actually working closely with many local communities in the programs that they do.

They also work very closely with the federal level, but kind of their kind of conduit across the different levels of government.

At the federal level is the Department of Interior, um, and then within the Department of Interior is the National Park Service, and um more generally the Department of Interior and the National Park Service have heritage preservation programs.

So if you look at the designation, right?

And I'll talk a little bit about what designation means, but that's um if you look at that, so on our local level, that's called an historic landmark, right?

Where it goes through a process and it goes to the city council, and they say, yeah, this property is special, it meets the criteria for historic land or designation.

Um at the national level, that's where the national register is.

So you have these two programs that are operated by different levels of government.

Um, there's some different sort of repercussions or results of that designation, but they're two separate programs.

One of the things that the designation may have an impact on is funding.

And at our local level, um, we've developed a program for our downtown commercial historic district where there's funding through infrastructure investment funds, and that's through the DMC properties that are within and contributing to the downtown historic district, have access to funds of up to 500,000 or um which become a grant um to do projects within their properties for for preservation.

Um, we also have low interest loans that come from uh the city, and those can be used as a match to that 500,000.

Can you just get up to 200,000?

Um again, low interest, but um uh 10 years before interest starts to accumulate.

Um so we've got that at the local level, and that's actually pretty unusual.

Um, there are some cities who have programs, you know, a few thousand dollars, but nothing from what I've seen in other communities that we've been able to do here.

Um at the federal level, at the state and federal level, actually, there's tax credits.

Now, to acquire those, you need to have national register status.

So for both the state and federal tax, it has to be national register listed.

Um there's also funding that comes through um in the form of grants.

That's the state level is um what's called the legacy amendment fund, sort of holistically the legacy amendment.

Um, and cities are eligible to apply for those funds for preservation projects.

Um, I've applied for quite a few, and we could have receipts on right now.

I've got one in the hot letter that is focal on that.

We might be able to get some help to designate in Gonfights Park as a local landmark.

Um then the authority.

So at the local level, um, the HPC's authority is um is given under the UBC or by ordinance.

It had been a separate ordinance, um, and the program was operated through city administration.

Um, and when the UBC was adopted, we actually rolled that in there so that we could look at preservation more from a community development standpoint as opposed to sort of a standalone program.

And like one aspect is through environmental review, which oftentimes at the community development level will have a role in that.

So in terms of local landmark designation, we have eight criteria.

Again, this is at our local level when we say if yep, this property is going to be considered part of our program.

And much of it does have to do with sort of how that property sits within the city, which again is kind of what I've talked about with building this environment where creating the um is a place that make people feel comfortable.

But some of it isn't necessarily kind of about the physical structure for veil number one, right?

Um character or interest or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the city, the state of the United States.

So and number two, right, location of a significant event.

So sometimes it has to do not with like the architecture or the design of the property, but of what happened there.

Um but still the characteristics then of that location directly um relate, right, to how we how the environment, how that urban design, that urban environment is for us to occupy as human beings.

If you have any questions on this, or if you want more, I can come back to this.

Um so when we designate a property as a historic landmark, it's actually part of a zoning overlay.

And we have a two-pronged process here in the state, which is a little bit unusual.

Um we have both uh historic inventory, which are properties that have been identified as potentially meeting the criteria that I showed you on the last slide.

And then we have properties that are designated as historic landmarks.

That's in the red, and I apologize if anybody has issues with seeing different colors, but red hashtag is historic landmarks, the green hashtag is historic property inventory.

Together combined, their historic preservation overlay district, which is a zoning over the district.

And um, so this uh screenshot is from the county GIS system, the mapping system.

So developers who are doing projects have access to that, use that on quite a regular basis.

Um we have this, we also have an internal mapping um system that we use within the city.

So planners for working with folks who are reaching out to them to talk about properties and projects that they want to do on their property, have the ability to access this information kind of at that first call, that first point of contact, and identify whether or not the property is on the inventory or indeed if it's already been landmarked.

Yeah.

We talk offline in the future about the Avalon place.

Sure.

I don't see that that's on there, but since 1944, it was it was one of the first black hotels.

Yes, that's boarding houses, but a hotel.

Yes.

I thought the fact that I mean it's there a long time.

Yes, yep.

It's just out of view on this map.

Yeah, it is well, yes, it is landmark.

It's actually a landmark, it also is a national register.

So many of the properties, actually, all of our national registered properties within a city also are locally landmarked.

So it's got that dual um designation across the different ones.

Thanks for that question.

I'm just present with all yeah, but it's a fascinational story.

Yeah, absolutely.

Yes.

Um, what happens when a property gets the designation of a historic landmark?

One of the things that happens is that there are some requirements when the owner wants to alter that property.

And that's through a process called a certificate of appropriateness.

Now, the certificate of appropriateness is required when so it doesn't require you to take any specific action, right?

But it requires that if you're going to do a project, then oftentimes you need to do it in a certain way and get approval to do it.

So the proposed alteration would have to require a building or a demolition permit, or the proposed development would require some sort of land use application.

So site development plan, building permit, demolition permit, um would all require certificate of appropriateness.

Well, then there's the end, right?

So the end and that third item there is the proposed project will alter the appearance of the property when viewed up from off site.

So things like HVAC, you know, interior moving walls around, those might require permit, but they don't require certificate of appropriate dispersed.

Um things like painting, um changing out, right?

Replacing some siding with a similar material.

Um those would change the appearance, but they wouldn't require a permit.

Well, siding might but PET wouldn't.

Yeah.

So we have the exemption or exceptions here, the alterations that are not done.

Oh wait, so the post Bolton had a story about one of the houses in the historic district was looking to review the windows.

What is I guess how would you make that distinction between replacing the window?

What rises the level of change the exterior periods and need that additional process?

Right.

Well, and that was a question because it was the first time we had that type of situation where um where it wasn't a window that was kind of towards the rear of the property where it really couldn't be seen.

This was really going to change out all the windows on, including the front facade of the house.

Um, and so of that, I brought it to the Heritage Preservation Commission so they could make the decision about whether or not it was too much of a change, right?

And needed to then um uh right if it met the standards or not, they made the determination that it wasn't too much of a change, that visibly um it was a kind of a low enough change, right?

A minor enough change that they could approve it.

Because we hadn't really sort of tested that type of situation, um, I felt like it was really important for them to make that decision to kind of it's kind of a test case for us, and and now it's established that where I can now say, like, no, we we've determined that that type of change is acceptable and meets our standards.

Um we also have minor alterations and major alterations, which is which I was just referring to there.

So in the case of the windows, um, it does change the appearance to some extent, right?

And it does require permit.

Um, but right, are they is it not significant enough?

Um, or is it um or does it replace features that are non-character defining?

For example, if those windows clearly had been replaced within the last, like say 20 years, right?

And they're just replacing again, right?

Those are not really character defining features.

Um, a lot of those were original.

So that was again, you know, I wanted to make sure that we were following this um sort of these two different categories.

Um, so certain things clearly are minor alterations, signage, right?

We just do that at the staff level.

Um, and then there's some requirements, right?

How does it actually impact the historic feature of the building?

Um, you know, if you're doing something like covering up historic windows, if you're um uh really altering the property and the character of that building, I may deny it at the minor alteration level, and that then kicks it up to the heritage preservation commission.

Technically, it's an appeal.

Um we try to be really nimble with this as much as we can be, and most of the time when I get um uh oftentimes I'll just get building permit, right?

Up take by the planner who's reviewing um the project, or sometimes the building inspector who's um working on the permit, and um the property owner might not even know that we went through this process.

I take a look at it, I look at what what the actual project is, how it impacts the building, and if I can approve it, I just do that within our system.

Um those those that I kind of have questions about or that I think may have a bigger impact um get get brought to the heritage preservation commission.

So in terms of what we currently have on our local landmark um designated list, we've got 22 historic landmarks.

Um I started with the city in 2019, and um the position that I'm in was created actually shortly after I started.

I started as one of the principal planners.

Um we had 13 properties that had been designated at that time, and all of those were national registers.

They basically took the national registry of formation and kind of adopted that in one package for those for those properties.

So we've got out of those 22 landmarks, we've got 14 individual buildings.

So like the Silver Lake Power Plant is a huge site, and there's some different kind of outbuildings and things, but that's really designated as an individual building, and it's the kind of that compact building, the historic brick part, and then some of the later part as well is part of that building.

And then we've got five individual sites that includes our parks, includes uh Central Park, Soldiersfield Park, it includes Silver Lake Park.

Central Park is the latest one that we designated.

Um either late December or early January this year.

We've got two historic districts, and uh one's our downtown commercial district, one is the Pillville neighborhood district.

Pill Hill had been designated on the national register.

Um they decided at the time that the program was adopted not to take districts, and in this case, we only have the Pill Hill district and not automatically designate that at the local level.

So we just did that in 24, 2024.

Um, and that was at the neighborhoods request.

We put a lot of time and effort working with a consultant to pull out that information together.

We've got one structure, and that's the Iricord water tower that is really become kind of a love by the community, I think.

Um, this is again where sort of crossover between urban design and heritage preservation.

Um, yes, it's a historic landmark, but it's simply a landmark, right?

It's something that really tells you again, it's kind of it's one of those elements on the skyline that tells you you're in Rochester, and in particular in Southeast Rochester.

The thing that we don't have designated yet, which is also a possibility, are objects.

That's an interesting one.

We have a few objects that are on the historic inventory, um, including, for example, the statue that's over in the park over there, um, which I think is um uh William World Mail, if I'm not mistaken.

Um, there's a couple of other statues that right now um are probably in storage with bold forward unbound.

Um things like signs can become a landmark.

There's some that are landmarked on the national register.

We kind of use that as a model when we consider this.

They've asked the Heritage Predication Commission has asked me to bring them more information about sort of how we can look at um objects if we if we want to designate some of those.

Um yeah, so 22 uh landmarks, including again those two districts.

Within the districts, we have contributing and non-historating properties.

You think about the downtown, some of the new buildings that have been built on this block, kind of on the other side.

They're technically within the boundaries, but um, they're considered non-contributing to the district.

So I want to kind of bring us back to sort of that first slide that I had where I talked about how the urban design energy heritage preservation isn't just sort of this sense of something you know that's kind of nice to have, or this sort of icing on the cake, um, but actually it relates to again sort of the health and well-being of community members and of us as human beings.

Um, very similar to other aspects of urban design, it directly impacts sort of how we relate to our physical environment, how we relate to each other as human beings.

Um, and the image that I have here on the lower left is uh is an interior, obviously.

Um it's a care facility, and I this really piqued my interest when I write a story.

This has been several years now, but there's more than one care facility that's done this.

They've actually recreated using kind of these very ubiquitous patterns of a main street within their facility to provide an atmosphere for their residents to feel this sort of level of comfort and um sense of uh kind of you know they know what to expect, right?

They they they feel comfortable walking into the store, happens to be the care the nurses or you know, folks who are operating in the facility, and it helps them then to carry on their day-to-day activities.

There's a laundromat in this, right, where they can go in, they can sit, they can do their laundry, they can chat to folks, and it really kind of helps to support their um their overall well-being.

And I think that really speaks to how kind of important some of these very familiar places are to us as human beings, um, and how grounding it can be to have those within our environment.

So wanted to just kind of um you know have that as sort of my final um slide and discussion points.

So I guess I'm guessing there's some questions, and then we can try and address those questions.

So we just heard earlier uh a big goal of the city is to drive density, drive walkable neighborhoods, all of that, and we're trying to balance that with heritage preservation also.

Um over the last year, we've seen a number of projects within the historic district come forward for redevelopment, some more so than others trying to preserve the existing building.

How do we marry what does that project look like that where something and then blanking on the name of the building is the lower popice was previously located?

How do we marry preserving that historic building, but also contributing to the downtown building that density and making that parcel work for the property owner while still continuing to meet these objectives of the city?

Yeah, yeah, I think um, so that's a really good question, and it's very right, it's very appropriate and timely.

Um, I think you know, one of the things that um our preservation program is still relatively young, right?

We we didn't have one until um I think the very beginnings of it were 2013, 2017, I believe was um the first ordinance enacted.

Um, and then um it was kind of you know, went along, like I said, they had these 13 properties that were designated.

Um then when community development was created in 2019, um, and this position was created.

We really sort of said, Okay, we're you know, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna really jump in and do this.

Um and the reason I I bring this up in terms of the timeline of the program is that it's gonna take some time to kind of figure out what it is we expect as a community.

Um there are some communities that are pretty staunch, right?

And like very little gets changed.

Um the East Coast, I think, you know, uh if you travel at all, or if you're familiar with things like Williamsburg and um, you know, areas of some of the older cities, Boston, right, where they have a really strong preservation and a long-term preservation program.

Um I've I've always definitely when I kind of started this here with the city of Rochester.

I don't think that's where Rochester is, right?

We're a very forward-looking community.

We expect sort of new innovation, you know, modern type of um applications throughout our entire community.

Um, so we're still trying to find where that sweet spot is.

I think it's there.

We actually have two projects.

We're continuing a discussion with two separate property owners, um, and trying to find where that balance is.

Um, so that's I think the answer I can give you at this point.

I have some questions.

Yes.

Um, you mentioned uh grants and loans, which is like city kids.

How much of that comes from the essence?

Yeah, um, none of it comes for property taxes.

Um, one of the programs is funded from DLC, and the other, I'm gonna look at Terrence since she's here because um it's from Nation works with very closely, and I always kind of forget that part of it.

But it's our economic vitality project, which is a project funded through a local sales tax extension.

Um the the program is given, yes.

Um how about uh thinking forward to EPOS?

Yes, yes, yeah, that's a really good point.

Um, I really focused on this presentation on our designation program.

Um the HPC is also really charged with doing education of the community, and um I challenge them on a regular basis to think about how we do that.

Um we have a good partnership that continues actually to get stronger with Phoenix History Center of Olmstead County.

They of course apply their program across the entire county, um, but they're a really good partner in doing more programming types of things, and um I think that there's some good opportunity there.

So I think have we drawn like hands does.

Yeah, I mean, I think that's a challenge with history programs.

It seems like a lot of times it's sort of older people who tend to get drawn to these things, um, which sort of baffles me because I've always been drawn to it.

Um it's it's definitely an opportunity that we I'd like to see us follow one.

Well, one suggestion would be a related to the speaker.

Okay.

Yes study would be history.

Yeah, and another suggestion would be like maybe uh I don't know if the program is big enough with tourists, but yes, and um with our downtown historic district now designated, we've had some discussion.

Um we just had a plan adopted for um a public realm vision for the downtown distortion district, and well, that had most to do with you know, kind of the physical um district.

We also identified opportunities to do education, and one of those is is more tours.

Yeah, any questions?

So we can see them moving on to public hearings tonight.

We have no public hearings on the agenda, so we will try and use a part of business.

We have the um while we do have uh the uh working city council meeting on uh the Columbia.

Uh we've had those three uh FEMA math hands that were adopted on the city council.

So that's the only thing we found.

Yeah, so that's last meeting.

Thank you for serving you.