Note: The agenda, minutes, and transcript list this meeting as August 25, 2026. Per the instruction date, this summary uses August 26, 2026.
The Heritage Preservation Commission (HPC) convened to address public comments, approve minutes, and discuss future initiatives. Key topics included the downtown historic district, a historic preservation inventory strategy, and the commission's role under the Unified Development Code (UDC). Commissioner Chad Rod Decker submitted a resignation letter, read by John Krusel.
Welcome everybody to the August 25th 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 tonight's agenda. Each speaker has up to four minutes. The commission will not discuss or respond to any comments made during this time. Please be concise and mindful of your time during your remarks so that everybody wishing to speak has the opportunity to do so. With that said, will the first speaker please step forward and clearly state your name into the microphone? Hi, um, my name is Barry Skolnik. I know all of you in the uh commission know me. And uh I I just want to say a few things. First, I think it is not acceptable that the majority of people on the council um basically wreaking havoc on the beauty and functions of the downtown. To use a qu a former quote that's been around uh for generations, this council will live an infamy for the action they've taken to destroy the city and uh in my opinion and the beauty that's that we had here. Um remember too that the state historical preservation office shipple in the in the in the presence of Michael Koop, uh who I spoke to several times, he didn't agree with uh with the actions taken by the city staff. So it's not that all the technical people agreed with uh with with the uh with with what Molly and and and Irene did. They didn't. And Michael Coop was one of the people who sends his regrets for the for the verdict that was rendered by the uh staff. And again, what kind of representatives do we have if they have a petition with 4,000 people about on it and a hearing with uh with over four with over 40 people unanimously saying one way, and they decide not to represent their own constituents. I think that's disgraceful. Um the I just do want to say that while you're pursuing this in the future, if we're gonna pursue it with how, which I guess we are, uh, I think you should look to do a construction warranty, including like a 10-year coverage securing property and tenants against major structural defects affecting foundations, load-bearing walls, and uh and and frames of the buildings. They should also do a warranty holding the developer responsible for maintaining the business practices on site within for with no disturbances acceptable and liable for monetary damages if interferences occur uh for the businesses to maintain their quality. No, also no increase in property taxes to adjacent properties on the entire block based on the additions uh caused by Hal Henderson's new properties. Because as people know, usually when you have more new new industry there and new buildings, it tends to raise the property tax. And so they can they are ways of offsetting that if we if we do it properly. Hopefully you will um work with uh Irene and and uh have monthly reports or something like that to find out what's going on and to be able to give input on what's happening so you can sort of make sure that you have some say in it. Not that you would decide it, but at least to be able to advise and without anything surprising you. You you should be part of the process. Um I I hope that the AP HPC also today can move forward on uh evaluating the uh the inventory and the awards, uh, because that's on your agenda and they've been sort of languishing because they haven't really gone forward, but I know that you're interested in that material and hopefully you can move forward with that. Anyway, good luck, and I just hope all of you still uh want to continue with the heritage preservation. It's an important thing to continue with, in my opinion, and hopefully you'll have a productive meeting. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Skolnik. Will the next speaker please step forward and state your name? So my name is Ryan Stack. I am a Rochester native. And uh what happened uh regarding the shenanigans of the mayor's uh refusal to veto the uh development uh proposal on uh the Pain Avenue buildings uh and the buildings next to them is uh complete sham. What I want to know is was the mayor influenced by outside um people, whether if they were um whether it was the city attorney or people outside of the outside of the city staff or part of the city staff if her veto, if if her veto was influenced in any shall way, because I believe that veto should have been her decision and her decision alone. And secondly, um growing up in this community, uh seeing the construction that's going on. Um I would like to see the city preserve as much of the historic aspects of Rochester as possible, such as like Central Park. Um, because we don't know down the road if Mayo is gonna want to, you know, take that park away from us and do more development. Um it should be the city and the people um of Rochester to preserve and protect our historical sites and not have to focus on private residents to focus to preserve those historical sites. Um but it should be all of us because all those buildings matter to us, and I don't think it should be uh based on one individual private uh citizen to spend all of their hard-earned dollars to preserve something that we all love and protect. Thank you, Mr. Stack. Will the next speaker please step forward and state your name? Okay, second third. All right, good evening, HPC. Thanks so much for allowing us all to come here and talk today. Um I'll be pretty brief. Oh, sorry, my name is Andrew Knopf, my mistake.