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Team Charlotte

Meetings are held at 6:45 pm on the 4th Thursday of the month at the Charlotte Library 2011 meeting schedule:

January 25
July 26
February 22
August 23
March 22
September 27
April 26
October 25
May 24
Nov. 22
June 28
Dec. 27

Team Charlotte Co-chairs: Steve Marone and Kathy Strauss

Meeting Dates: 4th Tuesday of the month

Where: 6:45 p.m. Lower level of the Charlotte Branch library

For planning or resident information:
teamcharlotte@charlottecca.org

We hope you will consider becoming involved in NBN Sector 1. The public is always welcome to attend our meetings. The NBN Sector 1 committee interacts with the City of Rochester’s Department of Community Development. It is a sub-committee of the Charlotte Community Association and focuses primarily on quality of life and land-use planning decisions. A yearly sector Action Plan determines goals and issues to be addressed and how the neighborhood can achieve its goals through interaction with community partners.

Citizens can make a difference…Your voice can be heard
Get involved.
Participate in NBN and make it happen!

NBN Sector 1- History and overview

Over the past 14 years, the City of Rochester has been engaged in a citizen planning process called Neighbors Building Neighborhoods (NBN). The city of Rochester was divided into ten “sectors” that were empowered to facilitate communication with City Hall departments and act as a voice for the community. This process allows residents and stakeholders to establish priorities, formulate solutions and share in the responsibility of shaping the neighborhood’s future.

Charlotte is Sector 1 and has been fortunate in the fact that its geographic boundaries are the same as its neighborhood. While other city sectors might include four, five, even six distinct neighborhoods under one sector umbrella, Charlotte’s NBN Sector 1 committee acts as a “sub-committee” of the Charlotte Community Association. By actively establishing neighborhood priorities, NBN Sector 1 has been able to work with the CCA, other neighborhood organizations and community partners to implement strategies and achieve the goals set up in its Action Plan. What this has meant is that Charlotte residents have been able to establish its own “vision” of what its problems and solutions are. By empowering the neighborhood, we all share in the responsibility of what happens in Charlotte.

In December of 2007, Sector 1 adopted written By-Laws to establish guidelines for its function as the planning committee for the Charlotte Community Association. The Sector committee is constantly seeking input from YOU, its residents and stakeholders, to determine the direction for our community. By accessing the tools available through the NBN process, NBN can accomplish significant community projects through the involvement of its residents and make decisions that affect our future. The NBN committee has access to technology tools in the form of a NeighborLink Network that is installed on the computer at the Charlotte branch library.

While that may not seem to be too significant to sometime who has recently moved to Charlotte or an outsider looking at NBN for the first time, Sector 1 has been highly regarded as one of the most cohesive and vocal of city sectors over the years. And that is a good thing! When city planners from across the country visited the city of Rochester and took part in a citywide showcase, Charlotte and Sector 1 was chosen as one of four site visits because it was a model for the participatory citizen planning process.

Sector 1 NBN committee members have attended and participated in a multitude of public meetings since 1999, when Charlotte became the focus of huge city investment in capital improvement projects for Lake Avenue for the Port and the Genesee Riverway Trail. Take a look at what we, as a community, have been able to accomplish through the “Charlotte Action Plan” and also through targeted funding projects of NBN:

“Design Guidelines” drafted to guide future construction in the 4 strategic areas of Charlotte. These have been submitted to both Community Development and Zoning Departments.
Street renovations of Lake Avenue, River Street, Latta Road and Lighthouse Avenue; Closing of the east side of Beach Avenue and its conversion into a pedestrian walkway; construction of the Bill Davis Overlook/O’Rorke Bridge
Input on RFP’s for the old train station and Stutson Street firehouse
Recommendations for the construction of the Terminal and the boater facilities building on River Street
Renovations to the Roger Robach Community Center (2nd floor renovations and elevator installation)
$20,000 in targeted funding contributed to the renovation of the Charlotte Youth Athletic Association ball fields at Ontario Beach Park
Establishment of the Charlotte Village and Transportation Museum
$25,000 in targeted funding for signage at the Bill Davis Overlook; this was a collaborative effort of the State and Monroe County DOT, the City of Rochester, the CCA and Sector 1.

NBN Sector 1 PROJECTS for 2007-2008

NBN Sector 1 sponsors three ongoing yearly projects each year:
sponsorship of the Charlotte Beautification Committee
distribution of the CCA newsletter to every household in Charlotte once per year
print and distribute the annual Discover the Harbor District magazine.

In addition to the above projects, NBN has budgeted 2008 funds for the Charlotte Community Association to support a new community website

In March of 2007, City Council approved the last of our targeted funding projects from the $100,000 allowed for permanent neighborhood improvement projects. Sector 1 had already spent $20,000 for the CYAA ball fields at the park and $25,000 for signage at the Bill Davis Overlook, leaving a balance of $55,000 to be spent. The new projects that have been approved and will be installed in 2008 are:

Planters and benches for the Bill Davis Overlook
Signage ( backstop signs and a 36-inch diameter baseball shape sign) for the Charlotte Youth Athletic Association
New gates for road entrances to Ontario Beach Park
Exterior sign for the 1905 Dentzel Carousel in front of the roundhouse building
Interior signage detailing the history of the Dentzel Carousel
Welcome to Charlotte sign installed at the entrances to Charlotte
Funding for site renovations for the Charlotte Village and Transportation Museum