Grand Rounds Brewing Co. recently completed work on its outdoor seating plan, which also doubles as a parklet.
Tessa Leung, the company’s CEO, proposed the plan for the parklet back in April and was met with much more resistance than she had anticipated. The Rochester community was not entirely in favor of the new outdoor seating space because it takes up three parking spaces, two of which were loading zones and the other was a metered spot capped at 30 minutes. For such a change of use, the developers are required to inform the community using the likes of Flyers, emails, or poster printing.
Neighboring businesses feel that they will miss the parking spots the most. Those companies now have fewer parking spots for their customers and feel that Grand Rounds should not have exclusive access to what was previously a public space. The neighboring businesses made their grievances, known however the city decided to grant Grand Rounds a one-year permit that allowed it to build the parklet. The city stated that it will use that one year to get information from the community on whether it should stay.
The parklet was built using trees that had to be cut down because they suffered from Emerald Ash Borer disease. The wood was converted into seating and furniture that the community is free to use any time of year. Leung stated that she intends to install fireplaces so that the parklet can be used during the winter as well.
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