The Hotel Canandaigua wrote a letter to Canandaigua City Manager Josh Goodwin recently to ask to enter into a licensing agreement for part of the adjacent (to the hotel) lakefront park and dock to be used for private parties and weddings scheduled for the Hotel Canandaigua. The licensing agreement would ask for that part of the park to be closed to the public Friday-Sunday May through October. The proposal was discussed at the Canandaigua Environmental Committee meeting on Tuesday, October 25.
At present, the council has received a letter from Hotel Canandaigua, and at Tuesday’s meeting, they discussed asking a representative from the Hotel to discuss the matter. One councilwoman, Canandaigua City Council Member Rene Sutton, spoke out against the proposal, commenting that details were incomplete for a decision to be made. She said the taxpayers pay for the park and should have full access to it. In addition, she added, “There are no outline of the area, how many people, what times per day, how many guests would be allowed, would there be music, what would be done to enforce access,” Sutton said.”… If the proposal includes people not being able to access the park when they want to, for the best part of the year, for the best part of the day, I’m opposed.”
According to the letter sent to the Canandaigua City Manager Josh Goodwin, the licensing agreement being asked for would involve only a part of the park, the picnic area, and the dock, both adjacent to the hotel property. No dollar amount for the licensing agreement was mentioned.
According to the letter written by Kim Pika, director of Sales and Events for the hotel, “ The Lakefront Park is the ideal location for hotel guests to enjoy a lakefront wedding ceremony. Hotel Canandaigua requests access to the Lakefront Park picnic area, specifically the waterfront section, to host wedding ceremonies. Hotel Canandaigua is anticipating wedding ceremonies will be conducted Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from May 1 – October 31, 2023. There will be one wedding ceremony per day. The expected guest count for the Lakefront wedding ceremonies is 150 people. The allotted time for the ceremony is 30 minutes. The Hotel Canandaigua event staff will require 90 minutes to set up the event, conduct the ceremony and break down the event.”
“ Hotel Canandaigua will provide and set up all requirements for the event. In addition, Hotel Canandaigua staff will return all public picnic tables to their original location. Hotel Canandaigua strives to provide guest experiences both on the oppropertyin the community and on the lake. For these reasons, Hotel Canandaigua requests access to the Lakefront Park dock. The dock will allow guests to access their watercraft easily. Furthermore, to better accommodate our guest’s experience, Hotel Canandaigua requests overnight docking.”
City Council has moved to invite a hotel representative to come to a future meeting to discuss the details before coming to a decision.
