News Blog

A controversial proposal to build an Aldi discount grocery store at the corner of North Winton and Blossom roads will be in front of the City of Rochester's Zoning Board for consideration this week. The proposal is number eight on the board's agenda for the meeting, which beings at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 23, in City Council chambers at City Hall, 30 Church Street. 

Supporters like the idea of a discount grocer within walking distance. But opponents say that Aldi would be a poor fit for the site and that there are other grocers nearby, so Aldi is not needed. The proposal is opposed by the leadership of the Browncroft Neighborhood Association. BY CHRISTINE CARRIE FIEN 


The Rochester school board’s monthly business meeting which was scheduled for this coming Thursday has been rescheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 28, at the district’s central office, 131 West Broad Street. BY TIM LOUIS MACALUSO 


When the Village of Pittsford’s planning and zoning board meets at 7 p.m. today, it’ll begin hearing an appeal of a decision made by the village's Architecture and Preservation Review Board on the Westport Crossing project.

In December, the APRB rejected Mark IV Development’s proposed designs for the 167-unit apartment complex on a canalfront brownfield off of Monroe Avenue. The board said that the proposed buildings are out of scale – too tall and too big — with the rest of the village.

Mark IV disagrees and says that the buildings are consistent with a special-use permit previously granted by the village. But village officials disagree.

The highly-controversial project is caught up in a tangle of lawsuits. As part of one lawsuit, State Supreme Court Justice John Ark ordered the village planning and zoning board to hear the developer’s appeal of the APRB decision.

Odds are, however, that the appeal won’t go in the developer’s favor. Historically, Pittsford’s boards have been very aggressive in holding developers to village codes and design standards. BY JEREMY MOULE