The Environmental Movement in Penfield

Kathy Kanauer
Jun 10
7 min read

by Kathy Kanauer, Town of Penfield Historian

The first Earth Day was held on April 22, 1970, to force environmental protection onto the national agenda following decades of industrial pollution, deadly smog, and oil spills. Growing public concern followed the 1962 publication of Rachel

Carson’s Silent Spring, which highlighted the dangers of pesticides and raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the link between pollution and public health.

The environmental movement had its beginnings in the Town of Penfield through the efforts of one woman, Irene Lound Gossin. She was born in Wisconsin in 1919 and came to Rochester in 1939 to study at the Eastman School of Music.

In the early 1960s a new article in one of the city papers caught her eye. The article was entitled “Wetlands Battle Waning”. She lived on Parkview Drive in Penfield, which overlooked the Irondequoit Creek wetlands, extending from Browncroft Boulevard to Empire Boulevard.

Shortly after reading this article she began to seeing a dumping operation near Browncroft. Residents complained, but nothing was done. In October of 1966 an application for a much more extensive fill into the Irondequoit swamp was advertised. Irene, along with others, appeared at the public hearing on this issue, and were successful in getting the application rejected. But they feared an appeal, so Irene and her husband invited a few neighbors to their home to discuss the potential problem. They formed a group to prepare for the appeal hearing, got an article and photos into the Times Union and contacted dozens of people to attend the hearing carrying their copies of the paper. The appeal was withdrawn.

In November of that year the Park View Association was formally organized, with Irene as the President with a policy board of nine members. Their goal was to prevent future dumping and to preserve the steep slopes around the swamp. Over 100 families became members. Because of pressure from this group, the Town of Penfield declared a freeze on further activity in the area for the winter of 1966-67.

The group began a major drive to have the county purchase the wetlands to be

added to Ellison Park. They persuaded the county legislature of the importance of the area, and in 1967-68 the county purchased the properties.

*Irene in parade as Supervisor of Penfield*

Irene was elected Town of Penfield Supervisor in 1971, becoming the first woman supervisor in Monroe County and only the third Democrat to hold that position. When she took office in 1972, her administration established the first Conservation Board in New York State. One task of this new board was to contact owners of property within the Thousand Acre Swamp area, to generate easements for preservation. A couple of years passed and in 1975 a field representative from Nature Conservancy visited Irene and told her that 52 acres had been bequeathed to the conservancy.

He had come to see how they could manage the property. Irene arranged a meeting of interested individuals and in 1976 the Thousand Acre Swamp Committee was formed. This group secured other parcels in the area to total about 800 acres today.

Under Irene’s leadership the first Historic Preservation ordinance was adopted in

September of 1973. To date the town has 21 designated landmarks and 3 historic preservation districts. She had a hand in the renovations of the Daisy Flour Mill, Fort Schuyler in Ellison Park, and Dayton’s Corners School.

Town parks were officially opened under her leadership including Linear Park, Harris Whalen Park, and Dolomite Park. PEQR – the Penfield Environmental Quality Review Law was adopted in 1977. This law was established to require corporate environmental considerations into the planning, review, and approval

process of local projects to minimize negative impacts.

Irene also served on the Monroe County Legislature, continuing to make the environment a key issue. She, along with town residents, fought against extending the 1980 closing date for the county operated landfill on Gloria Drive. During her campaigns, Irene handed out about 15,000 tree seedlings to Penfield residents.

None of the Penfield Town parks were named for Irene, so Penfield resident, Mindy McClaren purchased the 18 acres at 1651 Five Mile Line Road that make up the Irene Gossin Nature Preserve. Mrs. Gossin attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony that recognized her as a significant environmental leader in the town.

Irene Gossin died on June 20, 2016 at the age of 97.

Efforts to protect the environment slowed but continued through the 1980s and

picked up more readily in the 1990s. The town reduced mowing practices which

led to less fuel consumption and leaving more areas in a natural state. Penfield

became the first town in Monroe County to purchase and own street lights that

were converted to higher efficiency lighting.

In the early 2000s the town offered public education workshops on environmental topics, instituted free mulch availability for town residents, held tree and shrub giveaway events, held an internal sustainability audit, received an energy grant, acquired open space at Irondequoit Bay, and encouraged going digital to reduce paper use.

The town held an annual clean-up day, where individuals were given garbage bags to collect trash in the town. This event was held in the spring, usually close to Earth Day. The town began holding a drop-off to reduce landfill waste, accepting recyclable items like appliances, tires, and furniture; and began a household hazardous waste collection.

Sustainability efforts in the town were encouraged and furthered by Supervisor

Tony LaFountain. Under his leadership the town’s sustainability projects and

events grew in scope and number.

In 2010 the town offered home energy workshops for residents, and the Energy

and Environment Advisory Committee was formed to focus on sustainability and

energy consumption.

*EV car charger at the Penfield Community Center*

Penfield resident, Bob Kanauer, donated an electric car charger to be installed at the Community Center in 2012, the first public EV charger in Monroe County; and that same year organized an EV car show at the Community Center with a handful of EVS. The next year Kanauer and the town added a fall EV car show at the town hall site. Both the spring and fall shows have continued. Color Penfield Green has taken over the organization of the spring show and the fall show was moved to RIT. The fall show now has grown to include more than 100 vehicles. Color Penfield Green provides a learning station and children’s activities at this event. The town continued with these events along with others.

A solar PV system was installed on the roof of the Harris Whalen Lodge in 2013 which offsets about 50% of the electricity used in that building. That same year bat houses made from recycled plastic were installed on town property to help with insect management.

In 2019 a solar array was constructed at the town DPW site. This provides about 75% of electrical use in the town’s three main buildings; and the Richard Vendal Memorial Rain Garden was dedicated at the DPW site which aids in the filtration of storm water runoff from the paved surfaces.

Sarah Waterman became the town’s first Sustainability Engineer in 2022. She handles a wide range of responsibilities such as grant writing, implementation of sustainability initiatives, community outreach, and serving as staff liaison to the Energy and Environmental Conservation Committee (EECC) and the Transportation Committee. Her work also includes the development of the Town of Penfield Sustainability Code which outlines rules and regulations for car charging stations, energy generation, and battery storage. The town has worked on a climate action plan which focuses on government operations to reduce greenhouse gases and emissions.

In 2023 the Conservation Board combined with the Penfield Energy and

Environmental Committee to form the Energy and Environmental Conservation

Committee.

The Town of Penfield, NY, was officially recognized as a Tree City USA community

by the Arbor Day Foundation in early 2025. This designation recognizes the town's commitment to urban forestry, environmental sustainability, and the care of public trees.

Recordings of some town programs on energy and the environment can be

viewed by searching “energy and environment” on the Town of Penfield website.

Color Penfield Green organized in 2018 with a project to bring Community Choice

Aggregation, or bulk purchasing of clean energy for better rates.

They partnered with the town on the Clean Energy Communities, Community Campaigns for Electric Vehicles and Heat Pumps, that helped the town earn thousands of dollars in sustainability grants from NYS. They work on organizing the Electric Car Show; planted a native garden at the Community Center and are planning another for Shadow Pines; they organized to collect Christmas trees to be taken for the town’s mulch pile, keeping them out of the landfill; they support and collaborate with environmental clubs in the schools; teach classes on environmental issues through Penfield Recreation; the Walking With a Purpose Team gets together once a month to pick up trash and recycling from parks and shopping plazas; they provide feedback to the town on plans that have a sustainability effect. This volunteer organization continues to address issues concerning the environment and the health of the planet. Anyone interested in volunteering can go to their website for more information or to subscribe to their newsletter.

In 2025 The Town of Penfield partnered with Color Penfield Green to launch the

Penfield Pollinator Pathway Program, which encourages residents to establish

corridors of healthy, native habitat and food sources for butterflies, moths, bees,

and other pollinating insects, as well as birds and wildlife.