On the trail behind Cobbs Hill Village

Recently, we have seen a spate of improvements at Cobb’s Hill. A Youth Challenge Course was installed, a Dog Park built and the basketball courts redone and renamed.

Now — based on a recent city council vote — there will most likely be another improvement that I hope is an improvement: the renovation,. modernization and expansion of Cobbs Hill Village.

I am ambivalent about the project.  From a strictly personal perspective, I would consider living in a modernized village.  As seen in the COBBS HILL SERIES (BELOW), I ceaselessly use the park and living in the Village would well compliment my lifestyle. In the summertime, I umpire on the softball fields next to the Village. What a quick commute to work!

My other ambivalence stems from whether or not the project will improve affordable housing in Rochester or ultimately shrink the stock.

As described in the CITY article by Mary Anna Towler and Jeremy Moule, in the short term low income tenants will have improved housing. But, as the current tenants pass on, affordable housing at the complex may be squeezed out by market rate apartments. Time will tell.

On one point, I am pretty certain.  The expanded facility will detract from the ambience of the park.  The proposed complex is not unattractive but will dominate that section of the park and bring more traffic.  The expansion will cut back on the amount of wooded and grassy space.

Recently, I spoke with a man who plays basketball almost everyday next to the Village. When I explained the changes, he was opposed. He pointed how unobtrusively the Village blends in with its environment.  He likened it to Letchworth Park where there might be a few buildings here or there, but do not detract from the experience.

I also worry about the tree lined trail behind the Village. The trail runs from the tennis courts, along the slope of the hill, and then to a path that ultimately ends at the entrance to Washington Grove.

The trail is serene, tranquil and bucolic. The Village below barely registers to walkers or bikers.

I hope the trail remains serene, tranquil and bucolic as the Village beneath it expands.

COBB’S HILL SERIES

Adding the very first shot at the Tony Boler Courts, 9:07 a.m., to the Cobb’s Hill series

Adding a SOTA baseball game and the Air Horn guy to the Cobb’s Hill series

Keeping score at Cobb’s Hill

Adding a snow day to the Cobb’s Hill series

Adding Yeshiva football to the Cobb’s Hill series

In search of Talker on Cobb’s Hill for “The Day of Wrath”

The Graffiti Towers of Washington Grove: A Photographic Gallery

Adding a wooded haven to the Cobb’s Hill series with a stroll through Washington Grove

Adding a March blizzard to the Cobb’s Hill series

172 years ago when the Millerites trudged down Cobb’s Hill

42 years and counting for the Kick Ass Kro-Kay Club of Cobb’s Hill

Once more into the breech on the banks of Lake Riley

Flowering Upper Monroe

Ultimate spring fever at Cobb’s Hill

On a mound at Cobb’s Hill! And how the City of Rochester handles its loose leaves.

Cobb’s Hill welcomes the Ninth Cobb’s Hill Cyclocross

Diehards and the Cobb’s Hill Tennis Courts

Back to normalcy at Cobb’s Hill basketball

Rochester’s own street ball Rucker League

The 8th Annual Festival of Softball: After 800 Innings the “Tribute to Noah” nears $100,000

That Championship Season thirty five years later

The Cobb’s Hill tragedy of an “invisible man” ten years later

On the 22nd of October, 1844 on top of Cobb’s Hill