Village Vibes: Protecting Our Charm

What gives Fairport its "village charm?" In this episode, we talk about the small details and shared experiences that make our village feel special. From walkable streets, local shops, and historic character to canal views, community events, and everyday moments of connection. We also discuss how thoughtful planning and intentional choices can help protect what residents love while supporting a vibrant, welcoming Main Street. Charm isn’t accidental...it’s something we choose together as Fairport moves forward.

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Transcript

Johnna McCooey 0:00

Hi, I'm Johnna McCooey.

Amy Olds 0:01

And I'm Amy Olds.

Johnna McCooey 0:03

And we're back with Fairport Forward.

Amy Olds 0:05

Yay!

Johnna McCooey 0:08

We are here today to talk about charm. What a fun topic.

Amy Olds 0:12

Charm. Charm, charm, charm. When you talk to anyone about visiting Fairport, or when I tell folks that I just got a new job in Fairport, downtown Fairport, it's, "Oh! So charming." It's one of the first words that comes out of everyone's mouth. "Oh, how lucky you are to get to work there." And I agree. I agree with them. And as this episode will demonstrate, a whole lot of other folks do too.

Johnna McCooey 0:36

Definitely. Um we are here to talk about charm and character, really. It's a fun topic because we have a charming village and we're gonna talk about what does charming really mean. It's a hard thing to describe because charm is kind of a vibe.

Amy Olds 0:52

It is a vibe. Yes.

Johnna McCooey 0:56

And it's that intangible feel that makes people go like, oh, I love Fairport. Um, but as intangible as it may be, you have to be conscientious about how you manage it when, especially when you're talking about the things that we do from an economic development perspective, a business and community growth perspective. We want to keep our village charming and we want to maintain the character, but we have to do that in a way that helps us move forward.

Amy Olds 1:25

You can't remain stagnant. That's not really what anyone, I don't think anyone really is looking for. They're just looking for smart growth choices that allow Fairport to maintain and preserve and protect that charm.

Johnna McCooey 1:38

Yes, exactly. So um, before we get into some of those real tools as to how do we manage charm, uh, let's talk about the survey, of course. The reason we're talking about charm and character. Last episode we talked about parking because we had a number of comments about parking. But really, the underlying theme through all comments, as we talked about in the first episode, is keep Fairport, Fairport, maintain our character, maintain our charm. And so today we're gonna dig into that, and that'll help us set up for some of the other topics we'll talk about in the series.

Amy Olds 2:13

Yes. So I would like to share a couple of real comments. These are straight from the comments um that I think really illustrate um what a lot of folks were feeling. First one: " Fairport. It's a beautiful little village, and that's why many of us moved here. I want to keep it that way and make changes carefully." So I thought that was well thought out. And then another one: "As we move forward, let's do so with care and a clear focus on the needs of our community members and the local institutions that sustain us." So I think, you know, to me that means that the goal as much as parking was mentioned the most, charm is something that I think over extends across all of the things that we're gonna talk about. Like every topic that we will dive into cannot move forward without protecting the charm.

Johnna McCooey 3:03

Yes, that makes sense. Um what I liked about both of those comments that you chose is that it highlights that that care and our our need to be good stewards of the character and the charm. But also both of them were forward-looking. We're thinking about, yes, we care about this, but that doesn't mean, like you said, do nothing. And so it's really about a lot of the things we talk about. It's a balance. And we want to, we do want to grow, we do want to make move forward. And when I say grow, I think that just means maintain our vibrancy. You said you use the word stagnant. I think that's a great, a great way to characterize it. We aren't talking about when we say growth, building more things and packing more people in.

Amy Olds 3:48

You don't want to get left behind.

Johnna McCooey 3:50

Yes, exactly. We were recently uh reading an article from uh the village historian, and it had a picture about traffic over the lift bridge. But the interesting thing about it was that the population from a hundred years ago, yeah. Uh was only about 500 more than the population today. So we have a village that is only 1.8 square mile uh large. Um, so growth means like life, vibrancy, and those kinds of things. And how do we maintain our charm while maintaining our vibrancy as a village?

Amy Olds 4:23

Yes, yes, exactly. And uh see something that you said um about not remaining stagnant but being more progressive in our look to the future. The idea that the choices we're making now will contribute to the future charm of the village. So that's something I think we'll dive into a little deeper. But that concept of we have to make choices now, and that charm isn't accidental, and it definitely is easier to lose than to protect. So we think we all have the same goals in mind. Now, how we uh uh attain that, those are where some of the opinions differ.

Johnna McCooey 5:00

Yes. Well, the great thing about this podcast is it lets us talk about the opinions, talk about, you know, the feelings, but also lets us look at what are all those options and how we can we can use them in ways that best suit our village. We know being in Fairport every day what we mean when we say Fairport is charming, but if we zoom out a little bit in general, let's talk about what are some of the components of charm and what does that really mean, other than like, hey, it's a cool vibe.

Amy Olds 5:28

Y eah. I mean, for me, a lot of it is the main street feeling of walking down and seeing, you know, multiple cute boutiques with their windows dressed for the season. It's things like Moonlight Creamery, you know, tucked back in behind a a couple of trees and the winding pathways that bring you there. It's kind of whimsical almost the canal frontage that we have in Fairport, particularly, you know, that fresh, fresh canal scent and air. It just the water gives off a soothing vibe. Like all those things contribute their own little piece. So the experience of walking down Main Street, having trees, having flowers, hanging pots, you know, that the right lampposts that that just feel right. Trying to think of what else.

Johnna McCooey 6:14

L et's not forget about our small businesses.

Amy Olds 6:17

Yes,

Johnna McCooey 6:17

Right, every cute little bookstore, charming boutique. We have um one of the most recent stores, and you know, we have so many great stores I don't want to leave any out. But a really more recent one is the yoga , spiritual

Amy Olds 6:33

Oh, Sun Rising.

Johnna McCooey 6:34

Sun Rising.

Amy Olds 6:34

Yeah, they're we're very new, very new.

Johnna McCooey 6:36

It's just so unique and different and fits right into the fabric of the village. And you won't find one at the mall, and you probably you'll find maybe similar boutiques, but that is a unique offering in Fairport.

Amy Olds 6:49

Yes, and and not just the offerings, but the fact that the shop owners really are all in. They immerse themselves in the culture of Fairport. The y are all in.

Johnna McCooey 7:00

Yes. Yeah. Most of the time when you walk into one of the stores or boutiques, you are talking to the owner behind the counter, you're hearing about their own story and how they got to opening that store. And most of them did something else, and this is a passion for them, a dream. Like I always wanted to open a bookstore. Yeah, I've always wanted to sell, like I had a great toy collection when I was a kid. Oh, now I'm now I'm selling these toys out the basement.

Amy Olds 7:26

Ye ah, and that you know, we'll get into it even more. But Fairport is a village that has many in many ways enables that to happen. And that's through the choices of, as we'll say later, many, many, many entities. It's not just coincidence. It's not that you could go anywhere and open up that shop and be successful. You know, Fairport is a great place for that for a reason, for reasons that we will dive into. But I think that leads into the whole uh charm isn't maybe so tangible, but experiential.

Johnna McCooey 7:58

Yes. So um exactly, the experience of charm. We talked about you're talking to the boutique owner when you go into the store. Um, you talked about walking down Main Street, but the walk itself is charming when all of the historic buildings. That boutique is in a historic building that was a hotel a hundred years ago. Yeah. On your walk, you run into someone you know. Yep. And you see maybe uh someone walking their dog, and you see a mom with a stroller, and the whole scene is charming.

Amy Olds 8:29

Yes. So it's all those things add together.

Johnna McCooey 8:32

Walking down that main street, having a walkable main street, and then the things you experience along the way.

Amy Olds 8:37

Well, walkability is a big part of it, you know. You're not no one's ever gonna be like, hey, I'm driving down this highway with the retail strip plazas on the side of me and say, This is so charming. Like that's just not this, that is not an adjective used to describe that. So, you know, the vibes in Fairport. I'm gonna come back. I like this vibes theme. The vibes are good.

Johnna McCooey 8:58

Yeah. So, um, and we do talk a lot about Main Street, of course, but the whole village is an area where we focus on charm. So yeah, we should talk about some of the other stuff, like uh front front doors and porches and porch.

Amy Olds 9:13

Y eah, all of our houses really embrace that charming village feel. Um, the style architecturally of our homes, you know, uh here at OCED, to your point, yeah, we have a front porch grant for homeowners who need help to main, you know, make improvements to their front porch,

Johnna McCooey 9:29

Rehabilitate or build a front porch because we want to emphasize that we're a front porch community. So keeping that front porch stable, ready, and good repair,

Amy Olds 9:39

and adorable. Just adorable. Uh yeah, like wreaths on the door. Um a local artist just did a little poster of the doors of Fairport, and and it's so adorable. It's I saw people commenting online, like, that's my door, and my door made the cut. And you know, just so cool to say, wow, someone, you know, that's true. We have some cute doors and the compilation of it.

Johnna McCooey 10:01

Yeah, poster is for sale, great time for a Christmas gift. Yeah, there you go. The Perinton Historical Society. Cool. Check in, check it out. So there's the experience of charm, there's meeting your neighbors, there's the feel of the homes. All of those things go into when we say, what do we mean by charm? Yeah. Those are all the ingredients.

Amy Olds 10:23

Yes. Yes. I'm sure there's more. I'm sure this stuff we're not even thinking of. Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I was... as a person with a marketing background, I always thought it was really neat that there were some naming um nuances that sounded just so like, "Hallmarky," if you will.

Johnna McCooey 10:40

Sure.

Amy Olds 10:40

Um, you know, Packetts Landing. You know, Lifbridge Lane. I mean, that sounds like where some young girl's gonna meet her future husband or something. Like I it's just wild to me how um even the names of things and the the logo itself for the Village of Fairport is, you know, iconic in a in a it's clearly a canal town and it has um it's rooted in history, and there's definitely that charming vibe behind even something like that.

Johnna McCooey 11:09

So definitely. Um, and then the another component of charm is not the just that it looks great and it feels good, it also is an important economic driver for those small businesses. Brings people here community. Exactly.

Amy Olds 11:26

Keeps people here, brings people here, makes people want to be here, whether they live here or visit.

Johnna McCooey 11:31

Correct.

Amy Olds 11:32

Boots on the ground, people walking and patronizing these shops for sure.

Johnna McCooey 11:36

I magine you have, we talk a lot about small businesses and our our boutiques, but imagine you have um an office and you have 10 employees and you're looking for a space for them. Would you love that office to be in a village like Fairport where you can walk out the front door, grab lunch, and sit on the canal and watch some votes go by? Don't you think that would attract people?

Amy Olds 12:01

For sure. Attract employees. Or how amazing to get invited uh for a meeting to, oh, well, come to me because we'll just grab a coffee out and sit by you know Colonial Belle, and you can't do that everywhere. So it's special and unique to us.

Johnna McCooey 12:15

You said this earlier that charm doesn't happen accidentally. So we're gonna kind of get into how do we make sure that the as we go forward with uh planning for the future, with building for right now, with moving forward with our DRI projects, when and should that happen, how do we make sure that we are choosing charm along the way?

Amy Olds 12:37

Yeah, and even just the concept of charm as a series of choices was something that came up in our research for this episode. And I felt like that really hit the nail on the head that it isn't one thing, it's a million things, and they are repeated and continued. So it's okay, we're gonna make this choice today, we're gonna put that policy in place today. And all those little things add up and keep us on the path that we need to be on to maintain that and protect that charm. And any little misstep, you have to bring it back in, like, oh, that was a that was a oopsie. We shouldn't have allowed that, you know, and everything in hindsight, you know, you think back. I mean, we have a lot of things that happened during urban renewal that folks would look back now and say, Oh, that was a mistake. But you know, we can only do what we can we know best now. And the research, you know, that's out there now, we make decisions based on that.

Johnna McCooey 13:30

Right. And those past experiences inform people's opinions about new and and how do we move forward. So when we talk about making those decisions about how we move forward, I think it's important to talk about who are we making those decisions for? And we've done that a little bit. Our our residents, we talk about visitors a lot. Um, we are both employees, but we certainly uh feel like we're part of that everyday Fairport community. We go there every day.

Amy Olds 14:00

Every day. Um, even on the weekends, we'd be come, we're going in.

Johnna McCooey 14:03

Right. Yeah.

Amy Olds 14:04

There was a big Christmas holiday. Um, Come Home for the Holidays this past weekend . Yeah, Santa came and the spruce tree was lit, and there were horse-drawn carriage rides. I mean, what's more charming than a horse-drawn carriage ride through the village?

Johnna McCooey 14:16

So many social media posts made the comment um a real life Hallmark movie right in your village. So um, it's important as we're thinking about these decisions that we are making decisions for our long-term residents, for our young adults who want to come home. They left to go pursue their dreams. Now they want to come back. Um, and for our small business owners and our local workforce.

Amy Olds 14:43

So that reminds me of something we talked about um before this episode recording. But it was the concept that there are many groups making choices every day, but at the end of the day, those choices all stem from community feedback. What the residents want and what the community wants has to drive the decision making of these various entities. You know, we're not top-down, we're we're community down, if you will.

Johnna McCooey 15:12

Exactly. So we have um a really engaged community, and that's great. We've heard through the survey that this was really an important uh focus in everything we do.

Amy Olds 15:25

Everything.

Johnna McCooey 15:26

And from here, I think it's important that we let people know that we s we do have a number of ways we can address um and make sure that we are stewarded. We have a number of ways that we can be sure we're taking charm into account as we move forward. So let's talk about how some of those decisions around charm get made. Yeah. And who's making those decisions and how do those decisions impact our day-to-day?

Amy Olds 15:57

Yeah. So you said um most people think the village. The village is in charge of everything, they control everything. And ultimately, I that really isn't the case. They are a big part of it, um, but they're informed by the community and there are opportunities there. I mean, a lot of our village board is they're elected, right?

Johnna McCooey 16:15

Mm-hmm. Right, exactly.

Amy Olds 16:16

So the voice of the people.

Johnna McCooey 16:18

They are the voice of the people. Um, but there are there are decisions that get made at the municipal level. Yep. They include not just the day-to-day, you know, workings of the DPW and even the big projects like the like the Streetscape, they include um our draft zoning code, right? That that's something, a big thing happening at the municipal level, driven by the voice of our community, um, aligned with our character-based code to now take that feedback, take that um code and put it into actionable tools for new property development, um property owners and residents as they make design decisions throughout the village.

Amy Olds 17:04

Yeah, things like what materials you're allowed to use, how many stories you can build, you know, we don't want a big high-rise on Main Street, those types of uh guardrails and and guidelines are put in place at a municipal level, code level, so that some of those I I like the guard, I like guardrails as a term because I feel like it's a the best way to describe it. Like you can veer a little bit either way, but there's some rails and plate railings in place to say, okay, well, we need to talk about that.

Johnna McCooey 17:32

You know, yes, exactly.

Amy Olds 17:34

Um, and even uh then taking a trickle down, it's not just municipalities, you know. Obviously the property owners and developers have choices to make as well. You know, I actually um have seen that Fairport offers a lot of smaller suites than I have typically seen for like commercial suites for leads, which again is a choice they're making that fosters. Now I'm sure it follows the market, but it also is right in alignment with what we're types of uses we're looking for in Fairport. We're looking to let people have a startup shop or take a take a gamble on a passion project, like you said earlier, and set them up for success, not for failure. And there are a lot of places where that isn't possible, where the rents just don't allow for that or the spaces available are way too large and there's just nowhere to go that would accommodate a little sunrising shop or or a bakery or a coffee shop. So those are choices made, you know, at a property owner level, a development level. And then it goes down even further to the shop owner themselves, you know, they're contributing to charm, their choices. Like I'm gonna decorate my window every season. It's gonna Mescolata is gonna be decked out for Christmas, and then it's gonna be decked out for New Year's, and then this, that, this, that. And groups like the Partnership and the Merchants, and they have a Sip and shop and and all those events. I'm sorry, I'm just going on. I'm excited.

Johnna McCooey 18:59

So well, I I want to come back to um another point that you made about the intentional, the intentional uh offerings of the property owners to have smaller boutique sizes.

Amy Olds 19:13

That's a big deal.

Johnna McCooey 19:14

And part of that brings us to an inclusive approach to charm, right? And using that by offering a small business suite that really helps from an economic driver perspective. Every business is not going to start out at 3,000 square feet. Yeah. They have to build a customer base, they have to build a following, and they need a platform to be able to do that. And by creating this small, small business platform actually leads to some really charming little spots to bring it back full circle.

Amy Olds 19:47

And definite mainstays. You know, we have some businesses here that have are iconically Fairport, you know, and they aren't all huge, large corporations. You know, I'm sure that there are folks...folks out there who would say, Oh, well, yeah, like the the The DeLand House and The Blind Pig. And oh, I go there and you know, there's some really cute. I'll I mean I won't even call them hidden gems anymore because the word is getting out. But uh but all of those unique shops and establishments were allowed to even exist because there was a path laid out for that.

Johnna McCooey 20:22

Yes, a a platform for their small business. Yeah. So that charming little platform.

Amy Olds 20:27

I love it.

Johnna McCooey 20:28

Great. So let's talk about how do we measure charm. And and really, not like we're looking for a charm scorecard, but we want to make sure that we're staying on track. Yeah. Kind of back to the the the guardrail. So yeah, let's kind of you know bring it back around to um we know this is important to our village. We're going to, as we move forward, make sure we keep an eye on it. But how do we know what are the signs that we have been doing a good job?

Amy Olds 20:58

I mean, I think just tying into what we just said, the occupancy of our small, small storefronts, you know, if all of a sudden everybody's going out of business, that's a red huge red flag. You know, we want ribbon cuttings, not shutterings. And we want to see off-season traffic. You know, we want to know that we're drawing more than just the folks that visit us for our amazing festivals. You know, we want them to come here um more regularly. We want residents to be served. We want ...

Johnna McCooey 21:24

Let's just go back to what you just said about the amazing festivals, because everybody knows Fairport as the canal town, the place for the Music Fest, Canal Days, yeah. Um, all of even the everyday weekends, I want the hot spot to go. Yeah. But we also have a great everyday downtown.

Amy Olds 21:45

We do.

Johnna McCooey 21:45

And that is so critical to our small business owners from a day-to-day.

Amy Olds 21:50

And the charm can't only be charming on the weekends.

Johnna McCooey 21:52

You can't just be charming on the weekends, but we need that charm to serve those small businesses every day. Yeah. And so another indicator of charm as an economic driver that you might come for the the fun of the music fest, but you'll come back to bring your girlfriend to dinner at that cute little cafe.

Amy Olds 22:11

Yeah, I mean, obviously measure another measurement, you know, sick just sales, you know, business sales.

Johnna McCooey 22:16

Well, another thing that we talked about was um making sure it fits into the village, right? Does it fit our um new things? It says here's a topic that um had a lot of buzz when it came into the village, no pun intended. We have a new Starbucks on our main street.

Amy Olds 22:35

You're going there. Love it.

Johnna McCooey 22:37

Um, you when you see a new Starbucks, you it might have a drive-thru, it might have a big logo.

Amy Olds 22:42

Well, kind of a rectangular shape is like the um typical these days.

Johnna McCooey 22:46

But for us, um, and I won't get too deep into all of the fun leading up to that great new Starbucks, but one of the most important things that we were able to do, again, through um a municipal perspective, was made sure, make sure that that building was going to fit into the character of Main Street. And when you look at it, it does.

Amy Olds 23:08

Yes. And you wouldn't even necessarily look and say that's a Starbucks. Like you stripped that Starbucks logo off, and you know, heaven forbid Starbucks doesn't make it. I think they'll be fine. But if they didn't, that building could easily translate and transform into something else. And nobody would bat an eye and say, that's an old Starbucks. So it would be, you know, it's not like the Pizza Huts you see around, and they oh no. So I, to your point, man, they really did a nice job making that building fit into the village aesthetic. Yeah, and the vibes.

Johnna McCooey 23:40

And community feedback was a big part of that, but there is no drive-thru, and that wouldn't fit in. No, and that wasn't desirable for our residents.

Amy Olds 23:50

The front porch is very, you know, it's a patio kind of area without our seating. That's very village of Fairport. You know, not not every Starbucks has that.

Johnna McCooey 23:59

It's it's a great example of using those tools that we've talked about to produce something that brings economic value and is additive to the charm of our village.

Amy Olds 24:12

Yeah, and not everyone will will agree. I think a lot of folks are hung up on Starbucks, the entity, and not so much Starbucks, the building that got built in Fairport. So I do think it's important to separate those feelings and say, if you didn't like that Starbucks came here, there are a multitude of reasons that you may have agreed or not agreed on a personal level. But at the end of the day, that building that got constructed definitely fits in with Main Street in a way that a typical box Starbucks would not. Right. So, you know, taking your feelings aside about do you like Starbucks or not, and looking at the building with just eyes of the building itself, I think those are very separate things.

Johnna McCooey 24:54

Yeah. So I really have liked this conversation and I think it leads us to our next one. And and that is housing. So charm is, as we said, not just about the way the village looks, it's about the way it feels. And part of the feels, a huge part of the feels, is the people and the community and why people want to be here to begin with. And that's one of the reasons we need more housing. Exactly. Well, we do want to talk about housing. We want to have the ability to stay in Fairport. And we want that for um all types of community members. Like we said, we're designing for everybody. So next up is going to be housing. We're excited to talk about that. Thanks for joining us today.

Amy Olds 25:39

See you next time.