Derby government wants as many people as possible to pack a public forum Thursday meant to generate new ideas for the city’s long-suffering downtown redevelopment zone.
The goal is to get a people-driven redevelopment plan in Derby, according to Mayor Anita Dugatto.
The forum, billed as a “community voices workshop,” is from 6 to 8 p.m. in the ballroom at 33 Elizabeth St.
The redevelopment zone is the stretch of land on the south side of Main Street along the banks of the Housatonic River from the Derby-Shelton bridge to roughly the former Lifetouch property on near the entrance ramp to Route 8 south.
Redevelopment in the Derby redevelopment zone has remained elusive, to say the least.
The city, under the previous administration, had a deal with Eclipse Development of California to proceed with a project, but it never got off the ground.
Dugatto, in her second term as mayor, has essentially started the redevelopment process from scratch.
She disbanded the city’s Redevelopment Authority. Her administration, using grant money, hired DPZ Partners to come up with a new plan for the redevelopment zone.
Dugatto also hired Leslie Creane, the former Hamden town planner, as her part-time chief of staff.
Last month the mayor and Creane appeared on “Navel Gazing,” the Valley Indy’s weekly podcast, to talk about the redevelopment zone and other land use issues in Derby.
They stressed the city’s approach to the redevelopment zone has changed. Instead of a developer dictating what he or she wants to build, the city is going to create a comprehensive plan that explains, in planning and development terms, what the people and business owners of Derby want.
An audio clip from the Valley Indy’s interview with the mayor and her chief of staff is posted below.
DPZ most recently worked with the Town of Bethel to create a 188-page master plan for that town’s downtown. Click here for a story from The News-Times.
Hamden, where Creane previously worked, underwent a similar process starting in 2007.
“It worked with the idea of getting people, regular citizens, the you and me’s of the world, getting them to come to meetings,” Creane said.
Thursday’s meeting will give people a chance to “talk about what their concerns are,” Creane said on “Navel Gazing.”
“What they like. What they don’t like. What they want to change. What they don’t want to change. Those two things are very important.”
The city has scheduled a planning “charrette” over several days in November. Those forums will build off ideas offered Thursday. Click here to learn about those design workshops.
“For the first time, the community is being asked to weigh in before any plan is made,” Dugatto said in a prepared statement. “You will guide the project from vision through design. You are in the driver’s seat.”
Click here for information from the Derby website.
The city is marketing the new downtown redevelopment effort as “Downtown Now! Derby’s Blueprint for Progress.”
“It’s an incredibly exciting process,” Creane said of Thursday’s forum. “The ideas for Main Street redevelopment will be a grassroots, resident and property owner, business-owner inspired process.”
Eventually Derby will have a plan — and a set of zoning regulations — for the downtown redevelopment zone. The report will also include economic development projections for the zone.
“These reports will sometimes just sit on a shelf, but (DPZ) has the highest percentage of built projects,” Creane said.
The video below is from the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. It shows the Derby redevelopment zone, along with an aerial tour of most of the Naugatuck Valley.
