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Permalink Reply by John E. Curran on May 17, 2011 at 7:38am

An environmentally-friendly opportunity for good stewardship of the Ames Street (Taylor Instrument) property has escaped our attention: a raised-bed nursery for native "old growth" trees maintained by the City of Rochester Department of Environmental Services with the involvement of the Rochester Landscape Technicians program. This is not a food-production suggestion.

It is clear that the site is unfriendly towards growing things in the current soil. Even raised-bed food gardens seem risky here. Likewise, contact with contaminated grass at the location is disinviting to bringing people onto the property for active play or gardening.

Consider the following:

1. Use the current arrangement as an asset: a concrete cap over a mercury-contaminated soil subsurface.

2. Place an impermeable barrier with guided and channeled rainwater run-off on top of the concrete parking lot area.

3. Develop raised-bed nurseries for growing native tree species for subsequent planting along southwest quadrant brownfield areas within the next five-to ten years.

4. Persons who cultivate the trees would perform watering operations primarily and not need to spend much actual time on the property itself. Remote security monitoring for the site.

Benefits:

1. Productive use of a multi-acre area that is not suitable for extended human presence and is unlikely to attract desirable commercial or residential use.
2. Turning a non-contributing urban land area into a resource-generating asset. Grow native trees at lower cost to be used to improve the urban environment. Provide landscaping training opportunities. Grow cat-tails and toxic chemical-absorbing trees, shrubs and flowers under raised-bed conditions for subsequent reclamation of southwest Rochester brownfield areas.
3. Turning the concrete  urban "heat island" into a cooling greenspace.
4. Reducing carbon dioxide levels and increasing oxygen levels in an urban area.
5. Developing a traffic-reducing application for the extended acreage and busy street intersections.
6. Capturing rainwater and using it to grow new vegetation instead of seeping into residual mercury-contaminated groundwater.
7. Creating a natural noise barrier for current traffic conditions.
8. Providing a tranquil entryway to a neighborhood while preserving property values.
9. Relative proximity to DES facilities and equipment resources to save fuel and travel time. Property access by persons familiar with monitoring and managing toxic substances.
10. Developing attractive blossoming trees to enhance vacant lots too small to support new housing throughout Rochester.
11. Maturing trees and shrubs become the attractive perimeter fence accented with masonry details or cut-stone reclaimed (and banked for further use) from other historic sites.
12. Acknowledging the historical role the southwest and southeast quadrants played on a national level with the export of trees from Rochester nurseries westward along the Erie Canal.

Bank on it.

John Curran, Chair
Southwest Rochester Riverfront Planning
Steering Committee

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Permalink Reply by Ken Maher on May 18, 2011 at 7:43am

LIKE!

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Permalink Reply by DeWain Feller on May 17, 2011 at 7:56am

The city of Rochester desperately needs jobs that are accessible to city residents.  Since it is very difficult and expensive to provide good transit access to dispersed suburban office and industrial parks, we need to encourage more offices and industry in our neighborhoods.  A recent Brookings Institution study (http://www.brookings.edu/reports/2011/0512_jobs_and_transit.aspx) highlights the need to both centralize jobs and to improve transit.

The 19th Ward and other west side neighborhoods used to thrive on their access to a large supply of jobs in industrial areas on the west side and in offices downtown.  Our industrial corridors, including the West/ Cairn corridor employ a small fraction of what they used to.

We won't be able to bring back the west side of the 50's and 60's, but we can do much more to take advantage of our vacant and underutilized industrial zones.

A good office use fronting on West would be compatible with the adjacent homes, and it could buffer homes from other uses that could be built on the contaminated portion of the site (such as mini storage).

The challenge will be the contaminated area fronting Ames Street.  We will either need further cleanup of that portion, or find a compatible use that would not require further clean up.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Maher on May 18, 2011 at 7:44am

This could be combined with John's suggestion above. I like it.

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