Many Perinton residents against plans to turn Burgundy Basin into apartment complex with retails stores

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A packed public meeting in Perinton Wednesday night was all over plans to turn the old Burgundy Basin Inn into an apartment complex and retail space. From what was said at the town board meeting, a lot of neighbors are not in favor of it.

Although many are for more housing, they believe the complex would cause too much congestion in the town.

“I have some concerns about what it is going to do to the community particularly from a traffic standpoint and safety,” Derek Slovenec said.

Slovenec lives in Perinton, right across the street from the Burgundy Basin Inn on Marsh Road.

He and his neighbors came to speak out against plans to redevelop the property into a three story 180-unit apartment building along with townhouses and retail stores like a coffee shop or bakery.

“It’s right next to a one lane bridge that right now is a little bit hazardous to cross and this is going to make things considerably worse,” Slovenec said.

This is something another neighbor Bill Corbett agrees with. He also came to have his voice heard.

“Traffic at that single bridge is very difficult to get across for pedestrians and bicyclist and more traffic is just going to make that more dangerous,” Corbett said.

The Burgundy Basin Inn was shut down during the pandemic. The co-owner of the property is looking to transform it and believes his plans are a good fit for the town.

He understands neighbors have traffic concerns and says the bridge has been there for a long time and even when it was a party house.

“We were one of the largest event facilities in Western New York and we had thousands of people who came through the door every day. So we feel it will be elevating from what was there in the past,” Car Arena said.

Another concern neighbors have is the overcrowding in a small neighborhood.

“It’s kind of an over development of the property. And they are proposing a lot of high-density population housing within this very small area,” Corbett said.

Arena believes there are a lot of businesses in the area that would benefit form more housing and people in the neighborhood.

Perinton Town supervisor says he’s received emails from some people who are in favor of the new plans.

“Surprisingly enough when you have a project like this you don’t get a lot of people who are in favor, they always have people against it. Surprisingly enough, we had many who are for it. And I think part of the reason is it’s because it has sat vacant for a while,” Ciaran Hanna said.

No decision will be made Wednesday night. They’ll listen to all sides before deciding whether to issue the special use permit within the next few months.