Balancing Growth with Character

A waterfront community transforms its economic landscape through adaptive reuse, targeted infrastructure, and technology integration

With nearly 100,000 residents and 17.1 million square feet of commercial space, Greece is the second-largest town in western New York. Located along the shores of Lake Ontario, this suburban community combines waterfront living with diverse economic opportunities spanning industrial parks to recreational boating.

“We’re a large municipality,” explains Scott Copey, Director of Planning and Economic Development for the Town of Greece. “We’re a waterfront community, which is of importance, especially when you mentioned resiliency, that definitely has been a key thing for the town in the last five years. Lake Ontario flooding created major events in terms of being responsive and becoming more resilient.”

The geographic diversity of Greece provides unique planning challenges and opportunities. From Eastman Business Park’s heavy industrial sectors to rural residential areas and agriculture, the town encompasses the full spectrum of land uses. Founded in 1822 and named during a period of sympathy toward Greeks fighting for independence from Turkish rule, the town has evolved from its agricultural roots into a modern suburban community.

Recent census data confirms Greece’s position as a mature suburban community with a median age of 41.9 years and a predominantly white population (75-82%), though with growing diversity among Black/African American (8-10%) and Hispanic (7-8%) residents. Nearly 30% of residents are over 55, influencing community planning priorities and recreational offerings.

Zoning Innovations and Business Growth

The 2020 Comprehensive Plan marked a turning point in Greece’s economic development strategy, focusing on four key areas: local economy, housing, infrastructure and technology, and waterfront development. This forward-looking approach has already yielded impressive results with commercial occupancy rates rising from 93.5% to 96.7%, representing over 16.5 million square feet of occupied commercial space.

“Prior to 2020, we didn’t have an economic development office per se. We deferred to Monroe County to handle economic development incentives,” Copey explains. “Following the adoption of that comprehensive plan, we broke economic development into two pieces—retail, commercial and industrial aspects. We’ve focused on commercial occupancy, tracking it through a robust database, and we play a more active role now.”

The town established an Office of Economic Development within the Planning Department and implemented programs like GROW Greece Small Business Assistance to help local businesses recover from COVID-19 shutdowns. Greece was among the first communities in upstate New York to provide direct assistance to businesses during the pandemic, demonstrating its proactive approach to economic resilience.

“One of my favorite success stories is Bozza Pasta, a small growing company that outgrew their previous space,” Copey says. “They came to the building department counter one day looking for a new space. Meanwhile, a big commercial plaza in town, Elm Ridge Centre, was in foreclosure with only about 26% occupancy in 2020.”

The town’s innovative zoning changes enabled adaptive reuse of commercial spaces like Elm Ridge Centre. By modernizing bulk zoning requirements, like increasing lot coverage allowances from 15% to 50% and reducing parking requirements, Greece facilitated more intensive commercial development within existing footprints, embodying their “growth without sprawl” philosophy. This approach has attracted businesses like Waffle8er, which will occupy 130,000 square feet in a former Sam’s Club space, bringing approximately 150 jobs to the community.

Business Parks and Infrastructure

The strategic enhancement of Greece’s business parks showcases the town’s targeted approach to economic growth. Two key areas exemplify how thoughtful infrastructure investments can transform commercial potential and attract diverse enterprises.

“Canal Ponds Business Park is a couple hundred acres that the Town’s Development Corporation purchased from Eastman Kodak in the nineties,” Copey says. “It’s a good-sized business park with a mix of office use, a BJ’s Wholesale Club, and a couple of hotels. Ortho Clinical has their headquarters there, and IBM had a major data center there which was later purchased by the University of Rochester.”

Despite these successes, Canal Ponds faces infrastructure challenges that have limited its full potential. The business park adjoins the New York State Route 390 Highway with an interchange at Lexington Avenue but lacks the direct highway access it was originally intended to have. Recognizing this barrier to growth, the town secured funding to address the issue.

“We got a grant from the Metropolitan Planning Organization last year and finished a study on how best to make that highway connection,” Copey explains. “About a month and a half ago, we submitted an application to the state through the Transportation Improvement Program for federal funds to design and construct it.”

The planned infrastructure improvements would connect Lexington Avenue under the highway to Canal Landing Boulevard, which then links to Long Pond Road and Northampton Landing, a 400-acre property with two miles of frontage on the Erie Canal. This connection will serve both business parks, creating an integrated commercial corridor with excellent transportation access.

“Northampton Landing was purchased from Eastman Kodak in the early 2000s. We made custom zoning for that property with the intent of light industrial development and some mixed use along the canal corridor,” Copey notes. “That highway access from Lexington Avenue to Canal Landing Boulevard is going to be critical not only for the health of Canal Ponds but for the future development of Northampton Landing as well.”

Adapting to Changing Housing Needs

Greece’s housing strategy involves a nuanced understanding of evolving market demands while respecting existing neighborhood character. “We adopted a new zoning district called Planned Residential for those infill parcels within existing infrastructure that are slated for development,” Copey explains. “What it allows for is higher density, even townhomes, in areas surrounded by single-family residents who often get concerned about high-density development in their neighborhood.”

The town’s creative approach permits higher density in the interior of new developments while maintaining compatibility with surrounding neighborhoods. “We allowed for up to 75% of the units in those areas to be townhomes. And then around the perimeter, where it adjoins single-family residential, the developer must build single-family residential,” Copey says. “When it became clear that we put this district in place to address residents’ concerns while still providing for higher density and more affordable housing stock, I feel like we hit the nail on the head.”

With a median household income of approximately $77,278 and a poverty rate around 9.9%, Greece recognizes the importance of diverse housing options. Nearly 70% of Greece residents own their homes, with the median property value estimated at $173,752. The town’s demographic trends, including an aging population and changing household sizes, further reinforce the need for varied housing types.

The town has also doubled down on maintaining existing housing stock through rehabilitation programs. “We completely overhauled our home rehabilitation program in the last three or four years, making it more efficient and successful,” Copey notes. “We gave out nearly a half million dollars in home renovation funds last year, a combination of HUD funds, since we’re an entitlement community, and a grant from ESL Bank that matched our program, giving us double the money compared to the year prior.”

Leveraging Natural Assets

Greece possesses an extraordinary natural resource in its waterfront areas, notably the 2,500-acre Braddock Bay Fish and Wildlife Management Area. This extensive wetland ecosystem, located remarkably close to Rochester’s urban center, offers recreational opportunities while requiring careful management to address environmental challenges.

“We have a very unique resource for a suburb adjoining the city of Rochester,” Copey says. “The Braddock Bay Fish and Wildlife Management Area provides hunting and fishing opportunities that you just don’t have in other communities, especially being as close to the population center as we are.”

The town’s waterfront revitalization is evident in the transformation of its 300-slip marina. Once struggling with just 26 occupied slips in 2016, the marina now boasts 270 filled berths following comprehensive improvements. “We basically replaced all the docks. They had old broken-down wooden docks, and we replaced them with new aluminum floating docks,” Copey explains. “We built a new seawall at the marina, expanded the parking, added a new fueling facility for boats, a new sanitary pump-out, and other improvements.”

This revitalization included significant flood resilience measures, crucial after damaging Lake Ontario flooding events. The town secured a $1 million REDI (Resiliency and Economic Development Initiative) grant to raise the marina’s seawall above flood level and implement other protective measures. Looking ahead, Greece has planned spring 2025 dredging and long-term maintenance of the Braddock Bay navigation channel to ensure continued access to Lake Ontario.

“The 300-slip marina is kind of the gem of our waterfront area in terms of public amenities,” Copey notes. The marina’s economic impact extends beyond recreation, generating approximately $175,000 direct revenue to the Town annually at full capacity while supporting the broader waterfront economy.

Beyond water-based recreation, Greece maintains 15 parks townwide, managed by a dedicated Parks Department reinstated in 2014 under Supervisor Bill Reilich. “Until then, our Public Works Department maintained the parks,” Copey says. “Supervisor Reilich brought back the Parks Department with their own equipment and budget, which has really improved the quality of our parks.”

Building a More Efficient Town

The Town of Greece has embraced technological solutions to improve operational efficiency and enhance service delivery. “We’re in the midst of implementing a unified workflow system, a software system that was from a company now purchased by Trimble,” Copey explains. “We started with our Public Works Department, taking an old archaic system for work orders and service requests and implementing a module of that software to gain efficiency. People were passing paper back and forth for work orders, and now it’s all digital.”

This digital transformation covers multiple departments, creating an integrated information ecosystem. “People can access it on their cell phone or tablet. We’re now implementing it in the town hall for the Building Department, permitting, Planning Department land use reviews, Fire Marshal’s Office, and the call center,” Copey says. “We’re trying to get everybody on a common platform so we can share information. Operationally, it’s been huge for the town.”

Looking ahead, Greece has ambitious plans for both economic development and sustainability. “We want to continue to implement our economic development initiatives and make the town even friendlier to business,” Copey notes. “We also want to focus even more on our housing stock. Some of it is getting older, which is why we doubled down on that home improvement program last year.”

A significant solar project points to Greece’s fiscal and environmental responsibility. “There’s a solar project currently in preliminary design,” Copey says. “The idea is to completely offset the town’s electric bill. Right now, we spend between $900,000 and a million dollars a year just on electricity for town streetlights and facilities. This project would offset those costs, creating a huge boom for taxpayers.”

As Greece looks to the future, its comprehensive approach to planning balances economic growth with community character, innovative infrastructure with fiscal responsibility, and modern governance with traditional small-town values, positioning this lakeside community for continued success in an evolving suburban landscape.

AT A GLANCE

Who: Town of Greece

What: Second-largest town in western New York with innovative approaches to economic development, waterfront revitalization, and residential planning

Where: Monroe County, New York

Website: www.greeceny.gov