Tear-downs in Brighton/Pittsford (Rochester, Henrietta: for sale, houses, to buy)

[DanielR]

Hi Everyone,

Wife and I are considering a move to the area from NYC and we are wondering about local regulations regarding "tear-downs" in Brighton and Pittsford. When we were in the Rochester area a few weeks ago, we saw some nice houses but many of them did not come with significant acreage (we are looking for >2-3 acres). We did see some homes for sale that are quite modest but that came with a lot of land.

How acceptable/legal is it to buy a modest home, tear it down, and build a nicer home on the land?

[JWRocks]

Originally Posted by DanielR

Hi Everyone,

Wife and I are considering a move to the area from NYC and we are wondering about local regulations regarding "tear-downs" in Brighton and Pittsford. When we were in the Rochester area a few weeks ago, we saw some nice houses but many of them did not come with significant acreage (we are looking for >2-3 acres). We did see some homes for sale that are quite modest but that came with a lot of land.

How acceptable/legal is it to buy a modest home, tear it down, and build a nicer home on the land?

I did this a while back in a different town. The board was pretty tough on me, but said it was because it was a business project, otherwise they didn't care if I was to be the resident.

I know some in Brighton are complaining about people tearing down houses to build a "McMansion". It is expensive to tear a house down. Brighton is a beutiful fully built out town, so I understand why you would want to build there. I would recomend you structure your purchase offer so as to get approval before the deal goes through, much like many commercial deals.

If you don't need any variances, they may not be able to stop you. Hope this helps.

[Corrion14621]

Where exactly in Brighton were you considering tearing down? Brighton doesn’t have too many mcmansions or newer houses of any type for that matter. I suppose it could be done but it’s not something that is typically seen in Brighton. If you want a larger home and the land you might want to look into the Pittsford/ Mendon areas. It would defiantly be easier to find the land out there…but like you said in the last thread Pittsford has far less of a community feel (or the old money vibe) that Brighton has.

Also did you decide against the houses on Sandraham drive? Moving from those one of those historic homes to a newly built home is quite a juxtaposition.

[mtpaper]

I saw this article today in the paper, right after reading this thread:

High-end market picks up steam | Democrat and Chronicle | democratandchronicle.com

[just_sayin']

I'm surprised you found any 2-3 acre plots of land in Brighton...are you sure you hadn't ventured into Pittsford or Henrietta by then? Brighton is basically a southern extension of the SE quadrant of the city of Rochester....mostly 1920s-1950s houses on small city-like lots. Pittsford (town not village) would have much more in the way of the plots of land that you are looking for. You probably wouldn't get too much hassle for tearing down an existing small house to build a bigger one as long as it wasn't considered historical...and again this would have to be only in the town and not the village....there probably wouldn't be any land parcels that big in the village and it's doubtful you'd be able to tear anything down there