Over the past few decades, scores of Monroe County residents and businesses have moved out of dense population centers like the city or villages and into what were once outlying areas. The explosion of malls, shopping plazas, and housing developments attest to that.

But several towns want to bring the focus back to dense areas that mix stores, offices, and residences. So in an effort to make that happen, they're considering developing town centers: dense, walkable areas in the spirit of traditional hamlets, villages, and urban villages. The idea is as much a way to address quality of life and community identity as it is to address issues in housing and sustainability.

Traditionally, community cores developed organically in areas with trade traffic or natural resources. Erie Canal villages like Fairport, Spencerport, Brockport, and Pittsford are good examples; their downtowns grew near intersections of the canal and major trade routes. Honeoye Falls, on the other hand, grew along Honeoye Creek, which powered a number of mills in the village.

That kind of development didn't happen in other communities. The Erie Canal cuts across a small part of Henrietta, for example, but hasn't influenced the way the town grew. But residents still want the town to have some sort of central area.

"As towns are coming to deal with that, they're saying well, if we don't have it naturally then we really have to direct that process," says Henrietta Supervisor Mike Yudelson.

The town governments won't build anything themselves; rather the goal is to identify a locale and to guide development so a denser, walkable area emerges. Generally, the town center would have a mix of different kinds of residences, office space, and retail and would serve as a community destination and gathering place. And it can happen without a resource like the Erie Canal.

Penfield and Henrietta are weaving this concept into their comprehensive plan updates - documents that essentially guide development for the next decade or so. In both towns, residents say the lack of a core community area is a drawback. The towns did once have these areas, but they were swallowed up by development, says Joni Monroe, executive director of the Rochester Regional Community Design Center. Monroe is a local community planning expert.

The town center concept is not rigid and means different things to different communities. In Brighton, the Twelve Corners area is the generally recognized town center. It's got places like coffee shops and restaurants where people can gather, and public spaces. But officials want to enhance that area as part of an overall focus on Monroe Avenue. They recently held a Monroe Avenue charrette, which generated ideas to improve Twelve Corners. Much of that revolved around bolstering the area's walkability and attractiveness.

Charrette participants also talked about new uses for the former Rite Aid building in Twelve Corners. A vacant building like that can detract from the vitality of a community core.

One suggestion was to move the town library into the building, says Town Board member Sheila Gaddis. Another was to turn it into a year-round farm market.

Having grassroots community input guide enhancements is a plus, Gaddis says. Engaging residents and acting on their priorities and desires, she says, will help draw people to the area.

"We collectively are making the decision what we want our community to look like," Gaddis says.

Penfield's town center idea grew out of public input.

During early stages of the comprehensive plan update, residents said that the town's lack of a village or a town center was a weakness and an opportunity. At the same time, they didn't want runaway commercial development and they wanted to keep Penfield's largely residential character. Residents and town officials decided that targeting an area for a mix of retail, residential, and offices would allow better control over development.

After discussing a few possible locations, the town settled on the area around the intersection of Route 250 and Sweets Corners Road for the development of a town center. That area is home to a YMCA, Grossmans Garden and Home, and Wickham Farms, a pumpkin farm and market with an ice cream shop and a miniature golf course. So there are already some popular destinations.

The Four Corners area at Routes 441 and Five Mile Line Road has been a core area in Penfield. Town officials and community leaders have emphasized it as such, but there are challenges and limitations, Penfield Supervisor Tony LaFountain says. Traffic is the big one; about 30,000 cars pass through the intersection daily. That makes the area less attractive to pedestrians because it's harder to cross the road.

The Route 250-Sweets Corners Road area is less developed. And the attractions there now are all on one side of the road, LaFountain says.

"You're really starting with somewhat of a clean slate," he says.

A couple of factors are driving Henrietta's town center push, Yudelson says, including commerce. But that's not the big one.

"I think in most cases it's tied to community identity," he says.

That's a big issue for Henrietta residents because outsiders often form an impression of the town based solely on the Jefferson and Hylan commercial strips.

Henrietta residents point to several areas as their town's core, but there's no single area that's a clear town center, Yudelson says. One place with promise, he says, is the intersection of East Henrietta Road and Lehigh Station Road. That area has a mix of residential and business in some of its buildings. In other cases, houses have been fully converted to businesses. And there are plenty of homes in the area.

It's also home to one of the biggest church congregations in town, Good Shepherd Church.

"Even the gas station is kind of like a gathering spot for people," Yudelson says. "People go to get their coffee and they see people, and that's a lot of what the town center is all about."

Developing a town center would require a unified plan between residents, businesses, and town government. Existing properties could be reused as restaurants or other businesses, for example. The concept is not about tearing down all of the existing buildings in an area just to put something else up, Yudelson says. Instead, the effort is on developing the area in a way that fits the town center vision.

Henrietta's not as far into the planning process as Penfield. But in both cases, officials will have to develop the framework to carry out the town center concept. That could mean zoning changes, design standards to maintain a consistent appearance, and working with private developers.

But it'll take more than zoning tweaks and design guidelines for these towns to develop successful, vital town centers.

There are other factors, some within the communities and some affecting the entire region that will influence these efforts. 

"Communities are going to be faced with having to make difficult choices about rebalancing their environment to accommodate a real center," says the Rochester Regional Community Design Center's Monroe.

A good example comes out of Penfield, where the town's housing variety is an issue. Older homeowners may want to stay in Penfield, LaFountain says, but in smaller residences that require less maintenance. To that end, he says, the town should examine whether there are enough townhomes, apartments, or patio homes to accommodate those residents.

The town also needs to examine whether it has sufficient affordable housing for young couples and young professionals, LaFountain says.

The region as a whole should be thinking about those same things, Monroe says.

"We're not building the kinds of homes we should and therefore we have thousands of people living in these suburban areas who are baby boomers or who are elderly and don't have any housing choices," she says.

LaFountain sees the town center concept as a step toward addressing that issue. It could create the kind of dense, walkable area that young people want to live in, while providing apartments and townhouses that are attractive to them, he says. Moving away from the center, there could be patio homes for people who want to downsize, LaFountain says.

Context is an issue, too; a town center's fit with surrounding neighborhoods is important. So is making sure those neighborhoods and the town center connect via trails and sidewalks.

But the real make-or-break issue is transportation connections; developed town centers can be public transportation hubs. If they are connected by bus to other community hubs, people can drive to the town center, leave their cars, and take the bus from core area to another.

That point's not lost on government leaders or residents. The area Penfield officials have in mind is near an existing bus route. So LaFountain and other town officials may try to convince RGRTA to extend the route up to any town center development.

"The whole point of having a town center, aside from the fact that the center is there and you walk around and enjoy it, is its connections," Monroe says.