City of Rochester proposes to add beach house and other amenities to Durand Eastman Beach

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WHEC) — The City of Rochester has submitted proposed legislation for a public beach house and site improvements to support the public swimming beach and staff at Durand Eastman Beach on Lake Ontario.

July 19, 2022_Proposed Legislation by News10NBC on

The city told News10NBC back in 2020 that they wanted to revamp the beach and add a beach house and other amenities to make it more comfortable for the people who come out.

As the summer heat stretches across Monroe County, more and more people flock to Durand Eastman Park Beach.

“First hearing it, I’m thinking awesome. You know, it’s it’ll make it more convenient,” Brittney Janae Sparrow said.

The city will partner with Popli Architecture & Engineering to provide master plan design services for the project, which would include restrooms, changing rooms, a lifeguard office, first aid facilities, storage and safe fully accessible beach access.

“I would have minor concerns of how the residents here and around the court will feel about that or in this area, Sparrow said. “I suppose, because, you know, homeowners, they look for certain areas and specific needs in that area and right now it’s really mild and family fun of course, but traffic is really mild and not congested.”

The original agreement for $300,000 was authorized in September of last year. The amendment will increase that by $185,000 to a total of $485,000. That includes the master plan design, a phasing plan, and cost estimates for the entire beach site.

The amendatory amount would be funded from the American Rescue Plan Act. The other money comes from cash capital and a department of a state grant.

“That’s a great thing,” Linda Alicea said. “Because there is nowhere here to you know, I had my sister-in-law change in her car today. So this is great.”

This plan will address the entire length of the beach and improvements on drainage, stormwater management and erosion control. There will also be improvements to landscaping and site amenities like picnic shelters, grills, and bus stop shelters.

“These facilities are needed, Alicea said. “Yeah, because it is I mean, a lot of people do enjoy this, especially the holidays. It’s jam-packed and having all the accessible come over here to this park, to this lake, it would be great.”

The beach currently operates under a variance and temporary permit due to a lack of permanent facilities.

The amendment agreement will result in 2 full-time jobs and the term of the agreement should extend until 6 months after the final acceptance of the project.