DERBY – A state board voted Tuesday (March 10) to award a $250,000 planning grant to the City of Derby.
The city will use the money to create a feasibility study and conceptual plan for the approximate 30 acres the city owns north of Osbornedale State Park on the border of Ansonia and Seymour near Fountain Lake.
Various Derby administrations have been trying since at least 1987 to develop the land. The grant application sent to the state indicates the city wants to see the land eventually used for advanced manufacturing, alternative energy, workforce development, and/or housing.
A press release from lawmakers representing Derby in Hartford said the land – called “Fountain Lake Industrial Park” – “could see as many as a dozen industrial lots and an expansion of Derby’s municipal tax base.”
“It’s huge,” the press release quoted Mayor Joseph DiMartino as saying.”Right now it’s just an empty, virgin lot. This grant will allow us to begin opening up manufacturing in Derby. We can work in partnership with Ansonia, and this could eventually be a job funnel for Derby High School students to get internships and move into full-time jobs.”
In an email, Linda Fusco, DiMartino’s chief of staff, said Ansonia successfully developed its side of the Fountain Lake area by using grant money to build a road and install infrastructure to prepare it for development.
Derby has a similar vision.
“This planning grant will allow us to talk with Ansonia about building off their road, tie into their utilities and, with the help of an engineering company, design a road with plans for utilities,” she said.
The money from the state is not yet allocated.
On Tuesday, elected officials who double as members of the board for the Community Investment Fund 2030 – a program of the state Department of Economic and Community Development – unanimously voted to recommend Derby’s planning grant be funded.
Derby was one of 38 projects endorsed with a total price tag of about $62 million.
However, Gov. Ned Lamont still has to put the Derby money on the agenda of the state bond commission, and then members of that commission have to vote to fund it. Click here for the bond commission’s schedule.
Derby qualifies for the money because it is an economically distressed municipality. Most of the city is already developed, except for designated park land. Derby officials have been saying for years the city needs to grow its grand list and lift the tax burden off the backs of residential property owners.
“Derby has been looking to develop this site and expand its tax base for some time, but there’s always a hump to get over, and that’s finding the money to do some preliminary site work and studies. Fortunately, the state came through today with this CIF grant,” said state Sen. Jorge Cabrera in a prepared statement.
State Rep. Mary Welander said the money will set up the property for future development.
“I am grateful to everyone at the state and local level who worked together to make this investment a reality,” she said.
State Rep. Kara Rochelle called the money an investment in Derby’s economic growth.
“Development of this site will also bring grand list growth, which can help stabilize or lower taxes. I am grateful for the strong teamwork between the state and local level to deliver this funding and invest in Derby’s future,” she said in the statement.
State Rep. Nicole Klarides-Ditria, a Republican, said the grant could be transformative for Derby and “highlights a continued investment in the small businesses and manufacturing industries that provide local jobs and opportunities for the entire community.”
The land near Fountain Lake is zoned “I-3,” according to Derby’s zoning map. “I-3” stands for “industrial campus district.”
The following uses are allowed in the industrial campus district, according to Derby’s zoning code:
* Manufacturing and assembly facilities
* Office buildings
* Conference centers
* Research or technical development facilities, including laboratories,
* Libraries
* Data processing
* Self storage and warehouse facilities
* Storage associated with manufacturing and assembly facilities
* Recreation facilities
* Continuing care retirement communities and related facilities in connection with such uses
Go to page 67 of this document to learn more about the zoning.
Roger Salway, the City of Derby’s economic development director, provided The Valley Indy with a scope of work detailing how the city plans to use the grant. Click here to read it.
“The project aims to design infrastructure to support up to 12 future manufacturing buildings lots, anchored by a proposed half-mile access road,” the project’s description reads.
Derby’s $250,000 planning grant for its Fountain Lake property was not specifically discussed during Tuesday’s meeting of the board of Community Investment Fund 2030.
However, board members Matt Ritter, a state representative from Hartford, and Martin Looney, a state senator representing Hamden and New Haven, both asked about funding planning grants in general.
Their comments indicated they want to make sure taxpayer money goes toward projects that become reality.
“We want to go to some ribbon-cuttings, not just look through grant applications all day,” Ritter said.
Matthew J. Pugliese, a deputy commissioner with the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, said planning grants are often given to projects that are early in the process and don’t have things like engineering and construction costs nailed down. A planning grant is meant to put those projects on the right path, armed with info that can help the project get more grants later.
The City of Derby plans to apply for additional grant money to move the project along.
Click here for a previous Valley Indy story on the grant application.
Tuesday’s meeting of the state’s community investment fund board is embedded below.