Historic 3rd Street isn’t Historic?

Rochester auctioneer and historian John Kruesel is critical of the process being used by the city to identify historic properties that should be covered by a proposed Historic Preservation ordinance.

John has been a regular guest on Rochester Today with Andy Brownell and often joins Alan Calavano in the KROC-AM studio for a monthly program on Rochester history.

On Monday, the discussion was more focused on the future of Rochester and what features of the past will survive as the community moves forward with the Destination Medical Center project.

The Rochester City Council previously established a historic preservation commission to come up with an inventory of buildings and properties that should be covered by the still undefined regulations of a possible historic preservation ordinance.  A consultant, the 106 Group, was later brought in to assist with the process and recently developed a draft report on historic properties in the downtown area.

Kruesel and others are upset about the contents of the report and the limited ability for the general public to offer input. He noted, with considerable irony, that some of the oldest surviving structures in the downtown, including those along "Historic 3rd Street," are not among those classified by the consultants as historic.

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