Derby officials announced Wednesday they’re teaming with a Miami-based firm to come up with a new plan for the city’s redevelopment zone.
The zone is 14 acres downtown off Main Street along the Housatonic River.
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company (also known as DPZ Parters) will use a $445,000 grant Derby received from the state to come up with a “credible, detailed development plan for the revitalization of the long dormant” zone, according to a press release Wednesday from Derby City Hall.
“The ultimate goal of this project is to create a path for development — one that residents can rally behind — that best positions the City for private investment,” Mayor Anita Dugatto said in the prepared statement.
Breathing new life into the redevelopment zone has been a challenge for Derby, to say the least.
The zone is a political hot potato, with mayoral candidates and their slates often making redevelopment there a cornerstone of their election platforms.
Two “preferred developers” have come and gone in Derby in seven years, and in 2009 the city agreed to pay $1.75 million to one of the developers to settle a breach of contract lawsuit.
Countless plans have been dangled in front of the public, only to fade from view.
Eclipse Development, a California firm, spent a year trying to get a project in Derby off the ground, but was not successful. They called it a day in April 2013.
DPZ is based in Miami. It was founded in 1980 by husband and wife Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.
DPZ differs from a traditional commercial developer like Eclipse because they specialize in urban planning and code writing — along with architecture.
The firm essentially designed the unincorporated town of Seaside, Fla. from scratch by creating the community’s zoning code and architectural style. The Jim Carrey flick “The Truman Show” was filmed there.
The company is closely associated with the “new urbanism” movement in community planning — that is, focusing on creating walkable communities tied to bus and train lines (as opposed to residential subdivisions that rely on automobiles to get around).
Click here for the DPZ Facebook page.
The company’s two principals wrote a book, “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of Nation,” explaining the philosophy.
They also founded the Congress For the New Urbanism, a nonprofit group that touts the strengths of transit-oriented development and smart growth. The Congress For the New Urbanism found its inspiration in New Haven, according to a Wikipedia entry.
According to the city’s press release, DPZ was chosen by a bipartisan selection committee. Eleven firms from across the U.S. were considered.
“The committee reviewed the proposals, rated them on criteria that reflected the project’s objectives, and interviewed the top six firms to further evaluate their approach,” according to the prepared statement.
The city panel concluded DPZ “had the right mix of highly qualified sub-consultants and a unique approach to the project; their implementation record was likewise impressive.”
The complete press release is embedded below.
