There are many ways to view our neighborhood, Corn Hill, a residential neighborhood with the city of Rochester. There are two preservation districts, a neighborhood association of all the people living here, single family homes, rental properties, property associations with property managers…… it can get confusing.
This article deals with the difference between the Neighbor Association and the Commons.
Corn Hill Neighbors Association (CHNA)
The Corn Hill Neighbors Association (CHNA) is a not-for-profit 501(c )(3) organization that promotes neighborhood engagement and preservation. No one pays anything to the CHNA to belong to it, or to be involved with it. It has maintained an office at 133 St Fitzhugh St for many years, and it has only one paid employee, a part-time office manager. CHNA’s income comes from money generated from the highly successful Corn Hill Arts Festival and Holiday Home Tour, and from investments, from which it pays for many social and philanthropic activities in the neighborhood.
CHNA has a Board of Directors consisting of eleven residents of Corn Hill who are elected for two-year terms, with elections staggered for half the members each year. The Board plans and oversees all CHNA sponsored activities, as well as maintains liaisons with city offices, such as police and city parks. Individual private organizations around the city, including Wegmans and ESL, who sponsor and/or underwrite some CHNA activities.
CHNA Board members are:
- Jeff Holdsworth
- Joanie Fraver
- Judy Simser
- Keith Davis
- Debby Onslow
- Debbie Gruber
- Quentin Schneider
- Rohan Parikh
- Kevin Petrichick
- Lew Jones
- John Wunderlich
Some of the more well-known activities sponsored or run by the CHNA are the Arts Festival, the pre-Festival picnic in June, the December Holiday Tour of Homes, the summer concert series held at Lunsford Circle, and the August Neighborhood Night Out, a national meet and greet with ice cream for neighbors and first responders. It also runs Pac-Tac, the local neighborhood watch group. CHNA publishes the Corn Hill Gazette four times a year, as well as a monthly electronic newsletter, and an all-encompassing website for all things Corn Hill (cornhill.org) – social events, announcements, volunteer opportunities, history, etc.
The CHNA is not responsible for snow removal or other kinds of property maintenance. It does however have an active Beautification Committee of dedicated volunteers that maintains the green and public spaces including Lunsford Circle, Avery Mall, and the medians on South Plymouth and Exchange Streets, and the colorful banners lining Exchange, South Plymouth, Ford, and Clarissa Streets.
Cornhill Commons
And here is where the confusion might come in . . . Cornhill Commons, a.k.a. The Commons, refers to the Mark IV properties built in Corn Hill in the 1980s. These include the townhouses that line Frederick Douglass Street, Cornhill Place, Cornhill Terrace, the east ends of Edinburgh Street and South Plymouth, and the corner of South Plymouth and Exchange Streets; the double townhomes on Avery and S. Fitzhugh, and the single-family homes on S. Fitzhugh. The two-story townhouses are recognizably painted in red, light tan and light yellow, and appear most commonly in images for Cornhill Commons.
If you live in the Commons, your property is managed by the large property management company, Crofton-Perdue (croftoninc.com) and specifically by an elected, five-member board of Corn Hill residents. This five-member board and the services it provides is also called the Homeowners’ Association (HOA). If you live in the Commons, you pay a monthly HOA fee that covers snow plowing and removal, landscaping, most pest control issues, and maintenance of roofs and siding. If you need repairs to any of the exterior elements such as gutters or pest problems, you can call Crofton-Perdue’s office at 585.248.3840, and request a work order. The Homeowners’ Association maintains a very detailed responsibility matrix for residents; it varies considerably between single-family properties and townhouses, with single-family property owners having more responsibility for upkeep but also more flexibility for such things as exterior colors and landscaping.
HOA Board Members are:
- Lew Jones
- Richard Sarkis
- Dan Bresnan
- Danielle Williams
- Logan Green
Being an engaged community, people who live in the Commons have served on the CHNA Board or contributed to its activities, as do people who live in other areas of the neighborhood. Hopefully, this clears up the confusion.