By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Medina site aims to be top riding camp in Northeast
Photos by Tom Rivers – Mary Herbert, owner of Forrestel Riding and Sports Camp, opens the doors to the new indoor riding arena today after a ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Margaret Darroch, Forrestel’s operations director the past six years, said the new indoor arena will help make Forrestel a year-end center.
MEDINA – Forrestel, a riding and sports camp on Main Street in Shelby, showed off its new indoor arena today.
The farm also is opening its original farmhouse from 1825 as a bed and breakfast with two rooms. Forrestel will soon kick off its 33rd season of English horseback riding camps. It draws campers from all over the world. Half of the 20 camp counselors come from Britain and spend the summer in Shelby.
The site has a mix of modern amenities and it’s steeped in history, with buildings from Shelby’s mill days in the 1800s.
“We are transitioning to a year-round business,” said Margaret Darroch, the Forrestel manager. “I can really envision this place bring the place for horse people in the Northeast.”
The arena is 148 feet by 68 feet and includes a viewing area that’s 64 feet by 12 feet.
Forrestel leaders believe the camp offers a riding, sports and outdoor adventure program that is among the finest in the country.
Forrestel owner Mary Herbert led a ribbon-cutting celebration for the new arena this afternoon. She exuded enthusiasm about the improvements at Forrestel, saying the arena will make for the best camp season ever.
The new arena is 148 feet by 68 feet, and includes a 64 by 12 foot viewing area for parents and spectators to watch the action.
Forrestel also is open for receptions, parties and historic tours. Forrestel has a kitchen and the facilities to feed a crowd.
“We’re adding more, but we’re primarily about the horses,” Darroch said.
The original farmhouse from 1825 now has two rooms open as a bed and breakfast.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Willow Groth, 6, of Albion is thrilled to pet a horse at Forrestel, a riding and sports camp at 11380 Main St., Medina. The camp, going into its 33rd year, held an open house today from 1 to 4 p.m. Willow’s mother, Laurie Genagon-Groth, is the camp’s art program director.
Karolina Korytko, 9, of Buffalo befriends one of the horses at Forrestel in Medina. Karolina will attend camp this summer as a beginning rider.
MEDINA – I moved to Orleans County 17 years ago and finally made it to Forrestel Farm today for the first time.
I will have a story later about Forrestel’s new indoor riding arena. That facility will give the sports and riding camp more options when there is rainy or cold weather, and should extend the program to a year-round operation.
Forrestel also held its annual open house today and the place was nearly overrun with girls. (My 7-year-old daughter was one of the kids in her glory, petting the horses and feeding them grass.)
I wanted to post some photos right away from the visit because I have so many and won’t be able to fit them all in the one story. Forrestel is a photographer’s dream.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Holley Catholic Parish will celebrate 150th anniversary in 2016
Photos by Tom Rivers – The Catholic Parish in Holley was founded in 1866. Church members built the sandstone church in 1904 on South Main Street.
HOLLEY – I had never been inside St. Mary’s Catholic Church until Friday. I was in Holley working a couple other stories and saw church members outside, getting ready for a June 1 yard sale.
I asked for a quick tour of the church and Laurie Vogt was happy to show me around. Vogt cleans St. Mary’s. She has attended the parish for 20 years. The Byron resident used to be a religious education teacher at St. Mary’s.
“I like the people,” said Vogt, who met a lot of the Holley residents through her farm stand on Route 237 in Byron. Her family, the Bezons, grow onions and other crops on the muck.
“The older people here really took me under their wing,” Vogt said about St. Mary’s. “The parish is very family-oriented.”
The parish was founded in 1866. Church members built the sandstone church in 1904 at 11 South Main St.
I’ve heard Holley residents talk about the stained-glass windows, how the sunlight seems to pour in during the afternoon. I wanted to see it myself.
“It’s really beautiful,” said Father Mark Noonan, the parish priest the past three years.
He is proud of the parish, from the early members who built the large sandstone church with so many stained-glass windows to the current members who maintain the site and work to connect with the community.
When Father Noonan moved to the rectory next door three years ago, he had a pine tree taken down. Some St. Mary’s members were initially upset. But the community soon approved of the change because the church building and a statue of Mary outside are now more visible, Noonan said.
Before I left, church volunteers working on the June 1 sale asked that I give the event a plug on OrleansHub.com. The yard sale also includes a chicken barbecue.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – The old Holley High School is being eyed by a developer for senior apartments. If the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the developer would be eligible for tax credits for 40 percent of the capital improvement costs.
HOLLEY – Developers have raised village officials’ hopes before, offering to turn a vacant landmark building into senior housing and offices.
But those deals to renovate the old Holley High School have always fallen through in the past 20 years. The financials didn’t quite work for the project.
Mayor John Kenney is optimistic a proposal by George Hsiao of Rochester could work, and reclaim the building as an attractive asset for the community. Hsiao wants to convert the site at the corner of routes 31 and 237 into senior housing, while the auditorium is used as a performance venue, Kenney said.
Hsiao has ties to Orleans County. He opened the new Kentucky Fried Chicken last year in Albion.
The Holley project has a better chance of fruition this time because the building could soon be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Kenney said the village is working on that designation for the property. If the old school, built in 1931, receives the historic designation, 40 percent of capital improvement costs would be eligible for tax credits with 20 percent each from the state and federal governments.
Kenney believes that will make the project financially attractive for Hsiao.
Kenney said Hsiao also is expected to soon approach local government leaders about a tax abatement plan for the old school as he works to make the project financially feasible.
The building on Thursday was named one of “Five to Revive,” an inaugural list of five high-profile sites in the Rochester area that need investment. The Landmark Society of Western New York established Five to Revive.
“I am very pleased we are on the list,” Kenney said. “The Landmark Society sees the importance of the old school. They know it is very important to our village.”
The organization has been active in the Holley area the past two years, working to save the old stone store in Clarendon by getting that site on the National Register. The Landmark Society also helped Clarendon officials apply for historic designation for Hillside Cemetery.
Landmark officials support the National Register designation for the old school. The organization also wants to see Holley’s Public Square on the list.
“This historic district, situated in the core of the village, is a significant collection of late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century commercial, religious, residential, and educational architecture,” the group stated Thursday as part of the announcement about the old high school.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – Nicole Cooper, 14, of Medina runs through an inflatable obstacle course this afternoon at the Orleans County 4-H Fairgrounds in Knowlesville.
KNOWLESVILLE – About 50 youths played miniature golf, laser tag, and enjoyed bands, face painting, balloon art, an inflatable obstacle course an other events this afternoon.
The faith-based committee of the Orleans United Drug-Free Coalition put on the event for children in grades 6 through 12 today from 1 to 4 p.m.
The event was called BLAM! for bands, laser tag, and mini-golf.
Simeon Sugar, 16, of Albion mishits a putt this afternoon to the delight of his playing partners, from left: Jordan Thomas, 14, of Holley; Shay Russell, 15, Appleton; and Simeon’s twin brother, Levi.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Pullman Memorial and Presbyterian also featured on Sunday
Photos by Tom Rivers – The pipe organ inside the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church includes gold leaf stencils.
ALBION – Two historic churches in Albion are part of a state-wide “Sacred Sites” tour this weekend.
The First Presbyterian Church and Pullman Memorial Universalist Church were open today from noon to 3 p.m. and will be open for tours during the same time on Sunday.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy coordinated the third annual “Sacred Sites” tour in New York. The event aims to raise public appreciation for the churches as community treasures with stained-glass windows, pipe organs, ornately carved pews, decorative paintings and murals.
I stopped by the Pullman building today and will feature the church in an upcoming “Sandstone Heritage.” The church was built in 1894 from local Medina sandstone. It has 41 stained-glass windows from the famed Tiffany stained-glass windows including “Christ the Consoler,” which looks like a three-dimensional image of Jesus with outstretched arms.
Today I was most interested in the Johnson pipe organ, which was decorated in gold leaf stencils by the Tiffany company. It is a striking work of art, and I didn’t even get to hear it play today. I couldn’t stay long and a woman from Buffalo was on the tour. I didn’t want to be a distraction.
The First Presbyterian Church spent $300,000 on an interior restoration in 2008, a project that included repairs to the rose window. The church also removed tiles and restored the original plaster ceiling.
The Presbyterian Church is full of shock and awe. From the outside, the church built in 1874, reaches 175 feet high. It’s impressive, but the inside may be even more dramatic.
The congregation spent $300,000 five years ago in a sanctuary restoration that removed ceiling tiles to showcase the original ceiling. The dominant stained-glass rose window also was repaired in the extensive interior project.
The two churches have committed to being open on Wednesdays from 9:30 a.m. to noon from May 22 until the end of summer. The churches want to be available for canal visitors and community members who want to stop in to pray and tour the sites.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo courtesy of State Sen. George Maziarz’s office – Lyndonville students smile while standing on the Million Dollar Staircase in Albany.
ALBANY – Lyndonville eighth-graders were in the state capitol today and they happily posed on the famous “Million Dollar Staircase,” which is made from Medina sandstone quarried in Orleans County.
Adam Tabelski, state Sen. George Maziarz’s communication director, sent me a photo of Lyndonville kids.
I’ve never seen this staircase, and it’s on my “Bucket List.”
The staircases took 14 years to construct between 1883 and 1897 and cost $1 million. The state employed 500 stonecutters to get the job done. I have to think “The Million Dollar Staircase” is a strong contender for the inaugural class of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame, which is expected to be announced this fall.
You can read more about the staircase by clicking here.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Iconic sandstone building stays vibrant as a YMCA
Photos by Tom Rivers – The 90,000-square-foot former Medina Armory dominates Pearl Street in Medina.
The YMCA proudly displays a sign near the front entrance, noting the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Editor’s Note: This is the latest installment of a series featuring buildings made of Medina sandstone that are on the National Register of Historic Places.
MEDINA – Retired Medina teacher Maryellen Dale is a regular inside the Medina Armory, taking yoga, Zumba and Silver Sneakers exercise classes.
Dale’s children grew up playing youth sports at the Armory, which has been used as a YMCA for more than three decades.
When she ascends the sandstone steps of the front entrance, she walks past a sign that notes the building from 1901 is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Dale said the community should be proud of the Armory’s role in Medina’s history, and the site’s continued prominence as a Y.
“It’s a beautiful old building and we saved it,” Dale said at the Pearl Street location. “It has a wonderful history for our town.”
The Armory was repurposed as a YMCA about 30 years, a move that has allowed the building to remain widely used as a community asset.
The state built the Armory in Medina for the 29th Separate Company of the New York Army National Guard, which formed in 1891. The 29th saw its first action in the Spanish-American War, before the Armory was built. In 1913 the unit was called up to help suppress the Buffalo streetcar strike. The 29th by then was known as Company F of the National Guard’s Third Regiment.
Company F would be deployed in World War I. It fought in World War II. In 1977, the state announced it was closing the Medina Armory. Company F was moved to other units. (In 2008, the community dedicated a monument in honor of the 29th and Company F next to the Armory.)
Courtesy Medina Sandstone Society – Company F prepares to leave Medina Oct. 24, 1940 for training at Fort McClellan and active duty in WWII.
The community dedicated this monument in front of the Y in 2008
When the building was closed, the Armory Action Committee formed to find a use for the 90,000-square-foot site.
“We were very much afraid if it was left empty nature would ruin the building,” said Bob Waters, a member of the committee and the retired owner of The Journal-Register in Medina. “It was too nice a building to turn your back on.”
The community formed the Lake Plains YMCA, which has been using the site for more than 30 years. That organization, now known as the Orleans County YMCA, recently spent about $225,000 for a new roof, new lighting and new exercise equipment.
The Y launched a $400,000 capital campaign last month to modernize the facility. The project will include a handicapped accessibility ramp to the side of the structure, a vestibule, two unisex bathrooms and shower areas inside. The lobby will be expanded for social areas for coffee and conversation. A “Child Watch” room and group exercise room will also be added, as well as other improvements.
Jeff Winters, the Y’s executive director, said the organization wants to make the 112-year-old building as functional as possible for a modern-day Y. The Y has grown 42 percent in the past 2.5 years to 2,400 members.
An Armory meeting room, which preserves many of the original features from 1901, is now used for exercise classes.
“The building is an absolute monster to heat and cool,” he said. “In many ways it’s not ideal for a Y, but we’ve made this work for us.”
Most Ys have sites that were designed for exercise, sports and other Y programming. Winters said the Orleans County Y has looked at other venues outside the Armory site, but the group has decided to commit to the Pearl Street location, and work to upgrade that site. Winters knows the building, despite its age and challenges for a Y program, is a tremendous asset for the community.
“Anytime I give a tour, I watch for people’s reaction,” Winters said. “As soon as they walk in, they love it.”
The Medina Armory was designed by state architect George Heins, who used many features of medieval military architecture, including the towers at the front of Pearl Street building.
The Medina Armory and many others in New York resemble castles or imposing fortresses with towers.
In 1995, the U.S. Department of the Interior put many of the surviving and intact Armories in NY on the National Register of Historic Places.
Waters said other nearby closed Armories never found another use, and have been left as dilapidating empty shells. Many of those Armories were built with Medina sandstone. Waters hates to see them fall into ruin.
“Some of these Armories just sit there and rot,” Waters said. “When the YMCA came to Medina, God bless them. That was a big move. It has made for a century of great use at the Armory.”
The Armory at Niagara Falls is largely underutilized. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
CARLTON – An Orleans County man is hospitalized following an explosion this morning at his Carlton residence.
The incident occurred at approximately 11:20 a.m. at 12905 South Hillcrest Drive. Wesley R. Baes, 75, was operating an acetylene torch in an attempt to patch a hole in a 200-gallon above ground gasoline tank. The tank had been drained, but there were residual vapors that ignited and caused the explosion.
Baes sustained what were described as severe burns and was flown to Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester by Mercy Flight helicopter.
The incident was investigated by Deputy J.W. Halstead. Central Orleans Volunteer Ambulance personnel and Carlton firefighters also responded to the scene.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 May 2013 at 12:00 am
DeFilipps, DeRoller are backed in first runs for Legislature
Photo by Tom Rivers – John DeFilipps, left, and Ken DeRoller were both endorsed tonight by the Orleans County Republican Committee for the County Legislature.
GAINES – The Orleans County Republican Committee endorsed a slate of candidates for county positions tonight, including two who are new to county elections.
However, John DeFilipps of Clarendon and Ken DeRoller of Kendall both have long-time ties to the community. DeFilipps was endorsed for a county-wide legislator position currently held by George Bower, who is retiring after 24 years as legislator.
DeRoller was backed to represent a district that includes the towns of Carlton, Murray and Kendall. Ken Rush currently serves in that position. He chose not to seek re-election after 14 years on the Legislature.
DeFilipps, 55, has been a member of the Clarendon Town Board for 12 years. He owned a convenience store and gas station in Clarendon for 10 years before joining the Town Board. He worked 28 years at General Motors in Rochester before retiring six years ago. He recently helped develop the Red Rock Ponds RV Resort in Murray.
DeFilipps and DeRoller both met with the 10 town GOP committees in recent weeks before the countywide meeting tonight. The Republicans are concerned about local taxes, DeFilipps said.
“The consensus is we’re at a turning point with the way government is running and with what we can afford,” DeFilipps said after the endorsement meeting at The Village Inn.
DeRoller worked 38 years at Kodak, retiring 11 years ago in the information technology department as a business analyst. DeRoller, 66, also worked as Kendall’s town assessor and served 25 years on the Town Planning Board, including 15 years as chairman.
He has been a member of the Orleans Economic Development Agency the past 10 years. He also helped shape a waterfront development plan in 2002 for the towns of Yates, Carlton and Kendall, a project that helped those communities secure grants.
DeRoller said his experiences, especially with economic development and land use, will be an asset to the seven-member Legislature.
“I want to make a difference in the rural community,” DeRoller said. “With the Legislature, I thought it was time for me to step up.”
Ed Morgan, the Republican Party chairman, said DeRoller and DeFilipps are both well-rounded candidates with years of business and community service. They’ve also proven themselves at the town level, Morgan said.
The GOP committee also endorsed five incumbent legislators: David Callard of Medina, Bill Eick of Shelby, Lynne Johnson of Lyndonville, Don Allport of Gaines and Henry Smith Jr. of Gaines.
The committee also supported two other incumbent candidates running for county-wide positions: Susan Heard of Albion for country treasurer and Karen Lake-Maynard of Medina for county clerk.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers – John Williams, a member of the Elks Lodge in Albion, opposes a plan to turn a daycare next door into 10 efficiency units.
This former childcare center is eyed for 10 apartments.
ALBION – A proposal to turn a former child care center at the end of West State Street into 10 apartments has riled neighbors, including the Elks Lodge, which is next door to the former Agri-Business Child Development site.
“It’s not a good thing,” John Williams, a member of the Elks, told the Village Planning Board. “You could have sex offenders in there and ex cons. It’s no good.”
Williams and other neighbors said the site, if turned into 10 apartments, would bring down the property values in the neighborhood.
Linda Smith of Albion wants to buy the site from the state and turn it into 10 “efficiency units” that would be about 550 square feet each with their own bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. She said she does criminal background checks on all applicants for her apartments.
“If I think they are a danger, I can refuse them,” she said about applicants.
The efficiency units wouldn’t be a “flop house” or boarding house, and residents would stay for at least a month. Smith said the project would improve a building that has sat empty for at least three years and would return the site to the tax rolls.
“I take pride in them,” she said about the properties she owns in Albion. “I keep them up. I try to put good people in them.”
The building is in a residential neighborhood. Village Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti said it’s highly unlikely the building would be converted into one- or two-unit housing.
He wrote a proposal for adaptive reuse overlay districts that would target buildings older than 1996 that are vacant with more than 5,000 square feet of space. The zoning would provide some flexibility for reusing the properties, but also provides conditions for the Planning Board to consider the project’s impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
Planning Board Chairman Dan Gleason said there are many vacant or underutilized sites in the village that need creative solutions. The Planning Board and Village Board would need to adopt the adaptive reuse zoning for the building before Smith could proceed. The Orleans County Planning Board also would need to weigh in on the proposal.
Several neighbors said they didn’t want a 10-unit site in their neighborhood. Matt Passarell, a member of Town Board, said the proposal is contrary to the recently approved Albion comprehensive plan, where community members they wanted less rental properties in the village.
“We established a vision in our comprehensive plan and we should stick to it,” Passarell said.
Village Code Enforcement Officer Ron Vendetti is looking for creative ways to reuse vacant buildings that are bigger than 5,000 square feet. He has proposed an adaptive reuse overlay district for those properties.
His parents, Jim and Barbara Passarell, both addressed the board and said the West State Street neighborhood has sharply declined in their 30 years on the street. Mrs. Passarell said the street has turned into “a slum.”
She also told Vendetti he should be neutral in enforcing codes, not working to create new zoning.
Vendetti said he was asked by the Village Board to draft a proposal for reusing some of the larger vacant buildings in the village that don’t lend themselves a one- or two-unit housing.
“It’s a hard thing to figure out,” Vendetti said about the properties.
The village’s tax assessed value has been shrinking in recent years. Gleason, the Planning Board chairman, said the village would benefit if sites were reused, rather than sitting vacant or being torn down. He said the board wouldn’t make a decision soon on the adaptive reuse zoning or on Smith’s project.
“It gives you an idea of what we’re up against,” Gleason said. “If you look around Albion, there’s a lot of empty buildings. We’re looking for ways to reuse some of those buildings and increase our tax base.”
(left to right) Front Row – Aaron Arnett (Albion), Mason Miller (Albion). Second Row: Teacher Matt Anastasi, Chris Balk (Newfane), Jamal Christian Jr. (Lockport), Codie Miller (Newfane). Third Row: Nate Martin (Newfane), Andy Stone (Newfane), Dylanger Spry (Lockport), Kyle Clark (Lockport) and Travis Ellnor (Lockport).
Press Release: Orleans/Niagara BOCES
The Orleans/Niagara BOCES Building Trades program has been helping out Habitat for Humanity throughout the school year. The organization has asked Matt Anastasi’s class for one more favor. They wanted to know if the class, which is located at the Orleans Career and Technical Education Center, would be willing to use their skills on a smaller scale and make a playhouse for them to auction off at the Orleans County Fair to help them raise money.
“Of course we are more than glad to help out,” says Mr. Anastasi. “The students love helping out on something that benefit the people in this community. It is a great organization.”
Press release
Community Partners at Orleans Community Health
LYNDONVILLE – Medina sisters Charlene Pratt, left, and Darlene Rich, a breast cancer survivor for seven years, were among the 300 people who attended the 17th annual “For Women Only” event on May 1 at the White Birch Golf Course in Lyndonville.
Rich has attended the event for the past 15 years, except for one miss. That was the day of the event seven years ago when she got the news that she had breast cancer. She had since had treatment and is very doing well. She encourages all women to get screened.
The event on May 1 included speeches from holistic nutritionist Sara Vacin and cancer survivor Aleka Schmidt.
The benefit raised about $5,000. Those funds will assist cancer patients for expenses not covered by the Cancer Services Grant for women who are uninsured or underinsured in our area.
All women 40 and over should have a mammogram. If someone does not have insurance or they have a high deductible – please call Community Partners 585-798-6641 for a free mammogram.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 May 2013 at 12:00 am
Photo Courtesy Richard Margolis – The former Holley High School, which sits in a high-profile spot on Route 31, has fallen into disrepair and has been mostly vacant for two decades.
HOLLEY – The former Holley High School has been identified by a preservation organization as one of five sites in desperate need of investment in the Rochester region.
The Landmark Society of Western New York today announced the “Five to Revive” list. The group intends to annually publish a list of five properties in need of improvement.
“Whether buildings, landscapes, or structures, they are significant historic properties whose rehabilitations can become catalytic projects for the neighborhoods and communities that surround them,” the Landmark Society stated on its Web site.
Landmark Society staff picked the five sites, calling them “irreplaceable historic resources.” The Landmark Society offered to work collaboratively with owners, municipal officials and developers to facilitate investment and foster rehabilitation so that these structures can again play an active role in their communities.
In addition to the Holley school, the Landmark Society picked the following as Five to Revive: the Pulaski Library, 1151 Hudson Ave., Rochester;Former Eastman Dental Dispensary, 800 Main St., Rochester; Pedestrian Bridges in Genesee Valley Park, Rochester; Sampson Theatre, 130-136 East Elm St., Penn Yan.
The Holley school was last used about two decades ago by Liftec Manufacturing, which went bankrupt. The site was last used as a school in the early 1970s.
Here is what the Landmark Society wrote about the school:
Holley High School
Wright Street (NYS Route 31) at Main Street (NYS 237)
Village of Holley, Orleans County
Built in 1931, the former Holley High School is a strategically located and well-recognized landmark, which occupies a prominent site in the village at the central intersection of Wright and Main streets (NYS Routes 31 & 237).
This Neo-Classical Revival building is located within the Holley Village Historic District, which has been declared officially eligible for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places.
This historic district, situated in the core of the village, is a significant collection of late-nineteenth and early twentieth-century commercial, religious, residential, and educational architecture.Between 1825 and the early twentieth century, Holley was a small, yet bustling, canal-side transportation hub, as well as a center of commercial activity for the surrounding rural, agrarian region.
The very irregular street pattern is a reflection of the village’s earliest decades of prosperity, when its primary thoroughfare (Route 31) developed along the curving route of the west bank of the 1825 Erie Canal.The canal was rerouted to the north during the 1850s-’60s, although the southern loop through the center of the village was in local service well into the early twentieth century.
The highly visible site of this former school has been the location of two high school buildings, one constructed in 1896 and its successor, the present building, which was erected in 1930. Designed by Rochester architect and school specialist, Carl Ade, the former Holley High School was described as “the latest type of modern school construction” and featured fire-proof construction with structural steel frame, reinforced concrete floors, and brick exterior walls.
Its restrained Neo-Classical design included a handsome columned portico on the façade. This prominent building served as the community’s high school into the mid-1970s. There has been only intermittent use of limited sections of the school in the intervening years. The former high school is a major visual anchor in the village business district.
A contributing building in the proposed “Holley Village Historic District,” the former Holley High School also appears to be individually eligible for listing in the State and National Register of Historic Places.
WHY SELECTED
A highly visible anchor in this historic Erie Canal village, the former Holley High School is one of the most important civic buildings in Orleans County. Its notable historic and architectural significance, combined with its prominent location and scale of design, make it an important candidate for rehabilitation and re-use after nearly 30 years of vacancy.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 May 2013 at 12:00 am
‘Unfortunately it’s going to be painful, very painful.’- Medina Fire Chief Todd Zinkievich
MEDINA – Mayor Andrew Meier and the Village Board put out the directive for the fire and police departments: They each need to cut $40,000 from their budgets for the 2013-14 year. And that’s after board members had already chopped from the spending plans.
“This will be my hardest budget by far,” said Todd Zinkievich, the Medina fire chief since 2003. “Unfortunately it’s going to be painful, very painful.”
Meier said the additional $40,000 in cuts from each department were needed to prevent a tax increase of nearly 10 percent for a fiscal year that starts June 1. With the $80,000 from the two departments, plus $10,000 from the Department of Public Works and $5,000 from the code enforcement officer, Medina was able to pass a budget April 29 that raises taxes 4 percent.
Meier left it to the department heads to identify the cuts. He would like cost-savings pinpointed by the end of the month.
Zinkievich said he doesn’t want to skimp on preventive maintenance and equipment upgrades that are recommended by the National Fire Protection Agency. Medina has been working hard in recent years to maintain aging equipment, trying to put off new replacements, he said. He doesn’t want to pull back on maintenance, fearing a bigger repair or replacement.
“We have our budget tight right now,” he said. “I’ll do my best to not jeopardize the safety of my men.”
Police Chief Jose Avila said his department has reduced staff over the years and is already running lean. But he said he will make the $40,000 in cuts.
“It will certainly make things tougher, but my job is to make it happen,” Avila said.
He is working to identify the cuts. He has about two weeks to make those decisions.
“My job is to serve and protect Medina with what I’m given,” Avila said.
Medina is in a difficult predicament, Meier said, because the village’s tax base has been shrinking, putting more tax pressure on property owners. Meier fears if the tax rate continues to rise, more residents will flee the village, causing assessments to drop even more, putting the village in a vicious cycle.
