It was a full house at Rochester City Council chambers last night.
Residents were anxious to hear the outcome of a vote on a project that has been generating controversy for the past two years.
In the end, Council voted 5-4 for Rochester Management's plan to tear down 60 low income senior apartments to make way for a new Cobbs Hill Village.
“It sends a strong message that all seniors matter,” said Peggy Hill, CEO of Rochester Management. Council agreed to extend the company’s lease of the property for another 40 years. Hill said the agreement addresses a serious shortage in affordable senior housing.
“It would be a crime to lose that affordable housing," she said.
The plan calls for 104 studios, one and two bedroom apartments, and townhouses.
Rochester Management says the current 1950s era complex is outdated and has deteriorated. Plans for the new complex include handicapped accessible features, centralized laundry facilities, and nurse call buttons in each home. A community room would give residents a chance to socialize indoors during the cold winter months, Hill said.
But tenants and others in the community strongly object to the development plans.
Their concerns range from affordability of the new units to how the new design would fit in with the landscape of Cobbs Hill Park.
Northwest District councilmember Molly Clifford, who cast one of the "no" votes, had another objection.
"Where there are communities around the country are trying to reclaim as much green space as they can and get more parks available to more people, it seems crazy to me that we would be expanding a housing development," Clifford said.
But Hill said plans for the new complex, which include some two and three story units, fit within the current housing development's existing footprint.
"Part of the parcel includes a path that is used now by the public and we're extending an agreement to make sure that the public is always able to use that path, even though it's on the property that we have," she said.
Some of the opponents have filed a lawsuit to try to block the project. Hill would not comment on the pending suit, but said if Rochester Management is able to successfully fight it, construction would begin soon thereafter and take about 3 years.
Under the current agreement, 60 of the 104 units will maintain their current rent for existing residents and for new tenants who move into the units for a minimum of 15 years. Twenty of the least expensive units will maintain their current rent level for 40 years.
Monthly rent ranges from $332 a month for a studio apartment to $1,170 for a townhouse. Two bedroom units are priced at $850 per month.
Hill said the final plan was the result of months of feedback from members of the community, but Clifford points to ongoing resistance.
“We had 47 neighborhood groups from around the city that opposed the project,” she said. “That says pretty loud and clear to us that there isn't a lot of community support."