City of Rochester to Host Downtown Housing Charrette in September

The City of Rochester has been selected to partner with the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast to conduct a workforce housing charrette September 26th and 28th. A housing charrette brings together a diverse cross-section of the community, including public officials, city staff, workers, employers, and general residents, together with a volunteer team of architects and housing developers, to engage in a collaborative planning session focused on a specific potential property. Only two charrettes are held each year by the Coalition, and this will be Rochester’s first housing charrette.

The city has selected 13-15 Hanson Street, which is currently a vacant lot, as the charrette project site. Justin Gargiulo, Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Operations at Great North Property Management, owns the site and has generously volunteered the site for use in the charrette.

Workforce housing is housing that can be accommodated within the budget of the average working family in the community. This includes workers such as entry level factory workers, teachers, fire fighters, and office workers. Workforce housing differs from subsidized housing in that it is housing built by private developers using techniques so that the units can be sold or rented within a leaner budget than more luxury units.

The charrette is a two-day process, which will begin with a downtown walking tour. The public is welcome to join for the walking tour – the charrette team will depart from the Rochester Performance and Arts Center at 2 PM on September 26th. After the walking tour, the charrette team will return to the RPAC for the first of two community listening sessions, which will begin at 3 PM. All community members, stakeholders, and Rochester residents are invited to join the charrette team to share their ideas and concerns about housing and density in downtown Rochester. Then, the evening will close with the second community listening session, which is scheduled for 6 PM. On Friday, September 28th the charrette team will regroup and work collaboratively throughout the day to craft design options for the site, which will include workforce housing units. Any interested persons are invited to drop by to observe at any time. The finished design concepts will then be shared that evening in a public presentation. A booklet with the design concepts will be produced following the charrette and made publicly available, for the 13-15 Hanson Street property specifically and as information for other downtown development projects.

For more information, please visit the Facebook page for the event, which is located at https://www.facebook.com/events/168740470478085/.