Brockport Village Landing plans presented

A 230-unit housing development, on 117.32 acres, with six professional business offices and three "forever wild" sites is being planned for the Village of Brockport.

Representatives from Schultz Associates and Mark Calcagno, the owner/developer of the Brockport Village Landing project, were on hand at a May 13 planning board meeting making their presentation for development of the Farash property on West Avenue.

"This is the last significant parcel of land available for development within the village," Planning Board Chairman Scott Winner said. "As a planning board we have to look at the potential opportunities based on the merits and impact to the village and right now we see more positives than negatives to the development."

Winner said based on the preliminary proposal he doesn’t see any "huge obstacles" to the project. "I think the lid’s off the secret that the (county's) west side is the place to be," Winner said. "This is an exciting time for Brockport."

Winner said between the two developments the village is seeing come to fruition there will be approximately 300 new homes in Brockport. The development on the east side, he said, is appealing to the empty-nesters because there is less home and less yard to maintain. "There is also no burden on the school system," he said. The west side development, he said, is a more family oriented project. "With these two projects we have the best of both worlds."

The planning board can’t look at a project of this size and imagine there won’t be an impact on the people who live along West Avenue, Winner said. "But there is nothing insurmountable," he said.

The Brockport Village Landing site will also be home to three environmental wetlands, or "forever wild" sites, Calcagno and Winner said. There will be a pond, trees and landscaping of the areas. A path will run from the park-like areas to the towpath. "Access to the forever wild area will be open to the public," Winner said.

Calcagno said Brockport was chosen as there is a real deficiency in lots available in the villages. "There are no village lots available," he said.

"People wishing to build have to go to Sweden, Hilton or Clarkson."

The site, that encompasses land on Redman Road and West Avenue and borders Willowbrook Apartments, was originally intended for a high density apartment/commercial complex back when it was begun in 1976, Calcagno said.

"The project didn’t move forward because the resources were better used in towns that were growing faster," he explained. "The land has just been laying there, undeveloped, for 26 years."
The land will hold 230 residential lots, he said and the homes will range in size from 1,600 to 2,200 sq. ft. "We’ll develop 12-15 homes a year … or whatever the market will bear," Calcagno said.

Pending board approval, the group hopes to break ground in early August and have some houses finished by October.

The next step in the project, Winner said, will be for the developer to complete preliminary plans for the entire site and final plans for Phase I.

He anticipates the developers will make a presentation at the June meeting.