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Rochester 2034 - The City's 4th Ever Comprehensive Plan

About the Comprehensive Plan 

Rochester 2034 is a 15-year comprehensive plan to improve our community leading up to our 200th birthday. The Plan covers a wide variety of topics, from housing and transportation to economic growth and historic preservation. Each topic includes Goals and Strategies that are aligned with an overarching community vision and a set of Guiding Principles. Overall, the Plan presents a blueprint for growth and development, with several main themes carried throughout:

  • Positioning Rochester for Growth
  • Connecting Land-Use and Transportation
  • Placemaking
  • Social and Economic Equity

Rochester 2034 was officially adopted by City Council in November 2019. It has since received an award for comprehensive planning from the Upstate NY Chapter of the American Planning Association. It was also recognized by the Rochester Community Design Center for the Plan’s efforts to enhance the public realm and contribute to its vibrancy.

View the Plan

Appendices

The following links below can be used to access the appendices of Rochester 2034. Some of these appendices include technical studies commissioned to inform Rochester 2034. 

Interactive Tools

  • Placemaking Plan Map - A map of all the proposed Character Areas and place-based recommendations in Initiative Area 2, the Placemaking Plan
  • Master Action Plan - A tool that helps sort all the strategies of Rochester 2034 based on topic of interest.

Community Engagement Process

Community engagement is vital to crafting an effective and responsive long-range plan. Involving a community in planning for its future creates a sense of excitement, hopefulness, and ownership. This engagement is a valuable outcome of a successful planning project. To view a summary of the full community engagement process, Click HERE.

First Round of Community Engagement (2016-2017) 

The first round of community engagement involved a survey which garnered more than 1,250 responses, and multiple quadrant-based community meetings. To download a summary of this round of community engagement, click HERE. 

Second Round of Community Engagement (2018)

The second round of community engagement occurred from January-September of 2018. This process involved City staff going out into the community to meet with every neighborhood association in the City, meeting with topic-based stakeholder groups, attending pop-up events at festivals, universities, and the public market, and receiving more than 3,000 survey responses from the community on priority issues that should be included in the plan. See the list below for engagement summaries and materials used in outreach:

Third Round of Community Engagement (Spring and Summer 2019)

Mayor Warren released the draft of Rochester 2034 for community review on May 16, 2019 at a community celebration that included over 300 people. Over the next three months, the community was invited to view and comment on the Plan online, at libraries, recreation centers, Neighborhood Service Centers, and at five community meetings held throughout Rochester. During the comment period, city planners met with many stakeholder groups (advocacy groups, non-profits, industry experts, etc.), neighborhood groups, and City Hall professionals. See the list below for engagement summaries and materials used in outreach:

Final Round of Community Engagement (Fall 2019)

The Final Draft of Rochester 2034 was presented to the Planning Commission in September. After the Commission and the community have had a month to review the final draft, along with a report that summarizes the substantive revisions, the Commission held a public hearing October at their regularly scheduled meeting, where they voted to recommend its adoption by City Council. City Council held a puiblic hearing in November, after which they voted to adopt Rochester 2034.

Rochester 2034 Moving Forward - Implementing the Plan 

The City and its many community partners are hard at work on implementing the Plan. Rochester 2034 Moving Forward: A 4-Year Progress Report summarizes all that has been accomplished and is underway since the Plan’s adoption in November of 2019.

Links to Other City Planning Projects and Initiatives

Questions / Information / Comments

For more information about this project contact Kevin Kelley, Manager of Planning at (585) 428-6861 or Kevin.Kelley@CityOfRochester.gov.