A New Window on Vacant Storefronts

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As I’ve been talking with neighbors recently, several people have mentioned to me that they are concerned about vacant storefronts. As a village we should certainly be focused on issues like this, so I’ve started to take a deeper look. Based on a preliminary survey by the village, we have about 260 businesses and it seems that there are only around a dozen vacancies. This would put us at an overall commercial vacancy rate of less than 5%, which is very good when compared to national averages. While we need to continue to look closely at the data, I believe that we should consider re-framing the question from one of concern about empty storefronts, to considering why our village economy has remained so strong, despite a number of challenging factors both locally and nationally.

Our village is currently facing a number of challenges in its business and retail environment. Mayor Corby mentioned in the comprehensive planning meeting last week that we live in an “age of Amazon” where local retail is challenged in many ways by national trends. Our village has a development moratorium that is winding to a close in May, which prevents us from approving permits for certain types of business while we are updating our comprehensive plan and village code. Our elected officials have acknowledged that there are process changes that can help us to be more business-friendly as we consider new proposals for development in the village. Finally, we can’t blame business owners from not wanting to trudge through a foot of snow to open a new office. Some of the prominent vacancies in our village will likely fill when the moratorium lifts and the snow melts.

Some other things to keep in mind related to the workings of village governance is that your elected officials are not able to favor particular businesses. Instead they must uphold our code that was put in place based on citizen input in efforts including the previous and current comprehensive planning process. While we may not like seeing business owners ask for rents which we feel keep businesses vacant longer than necessary, or excessive turnover of certain storefronts, the village has little power to directly control those things through regulation.

Instead of lamenting vacant storefronts, it may be more productive to instead ask why the economy in Pittsford Village appears to be thriving in terms of a low business vacancy rate, despite a number of factors that may be adversely affecting it. I believe that one of the reasons that our economy is strong despite these factors is the historical character and unique charm of our village, which we know is a huge draw in terms of new businesses and residents. When we consider the immense economic value that comes from our village’s success in historical preservation, our perspective changes from one of concern about what types of preservation we may have to sacrifice in order to spur economic growth, to one of what we can do to maintain our strategic position as a unique historical village that continues to be a strong draw for businesses and residents, despite challenges including a temporary halt on new development, a seasonal depression in rentals, and a process that all admit can be improved for new businesses.

In many cases looking for a new window is the most productive way to solve a problem. By looking at our commercial environment in a more data-driven way, we can focus on substantial changes that need to be made, while being proud of what we’ve accomplished as one of the best-preserved villages on the Erie Canal. Trustee Peggy Brizee has been integral to all of the major efforts listed above to improve our government and to make it more business-friendly, while not “selling the store” in terms of what matters to the character and uniqueness of our village. As the current President of Historic Pittsford, she is an especially qualified public servant of our village government in terms of historic preservation. As a Trustee she has been working upwards of 25 hours per week in these crucial efforts, and we should support her so that she can continue on the board after the election on March 19th. By choosing the right window to understand issues, we can ensure that preservation of our historical assets continues to be a key to the cultural and economic richness of our village.