DERBY – Informal discussion or not, three neighbors at a public meeting said they oppose a “miniature Quarry Walk” to replace farmland on Great Hill Road.

Rick Dunne, who lives nearby, called the project “insanity.”

“There’s no logic to this project. There is no need for this project. It is not consistent with the city’s plan of conservation and development,” Dunne said.

Members of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission met Oct. 20 to have an “informal discussion” about the “Block property – 38 Great Hill Road,” according to the meeting agenda.

A formal application has not been submitted to planning and zoning. 

Ultimately the commission opted not to discuss the proposal in depth, and instead tabled the matter.

However, more than 130 pages of documents – including a traffic study, drone imagery, conceptual plans, and a feasibility study – were submitted in connection to the concept.

The drone imagery showing the land in its current state is embedded below.

The feasibility study was prepared for the Eddy Alan Block Irrevocable Trust, the entity that owns the land, referred to in Derby as “Block’s Farm.”

According to the submission, the conceptual plans call for:

  • 240 apartments in five buildings
  • 20 townhouse condos
  • 26 two and three family houses
  • 27 single family houses
  • A 10,000 square-foot community building “for a daycare center, small convenience store, (and) gymnasium”
  • A 4,800 square-foot walk-in medical center
  • A 14-acre public park to be donated to Derby

The property is 62 acres, according to the feasibility study.

To make the above happen, the applicant would first request the planning and commission to change the zoning from “industrial campus district” to “special development district.”

The mix of uses caused Ray Bowers, another Derby resident from the area, to call it a “miniature size Quarry Walk.”

Quarry Walk is a mixed-use project on about 30 acres in Oxford with more than 100 residential units and more than 200,000 square feet of commercial space and medical offices.

Quarry Walk is on Route 67, a road that connects Interstate 84 to Route 8 and, in the area around Quarry Walk, sees more than 13,000 vehicle trips a day, according to a 2015 report from the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. 

While Derby is a small urban city with about 12,000 residents, the Great Hill Road area is rural, with Osbornedale State Park serving as a 350-acre buffer from the rest of Derby.

Bowers said 38 Great Hill Road is surrounded by “R-1” zoning. That is, single-family houses on about an acre of land.

While 38 Great Hill Road is not currently zoned residential, “none of the (uses) include five-story apartment buildings, three-family homes, gyms, restaurants, clinics and convenience stores. I don’t know why you want to drop basically a miniature size Quarry Walk in the middle of an R-1 zone,” Bowers said. 

He suggested the land be rezoned to R-1 to match the rest of the area.

Bowers compared the mixed-use development at 38 Great Hill Road to the plan to build housing atop “Telescope Mountain” at the end of Summit Street.

The planning and zoning commission rejected that proposal Oct. 13, and Bowers said he hopes they do the same with the Great Hill Road concept.

“That project is as ridiculous as this one is and I hope you do the right thing here and do not let this go forward,” Bowers said.

Bowers also cast doubt on the traffic plan submitted on behalf of the property owner, which concluded the impact on traffic in the area would be minimal.

“If I read the traffic study right, you are going to have 200 cars a day going up Silver Hill and Great Hill road. Right now it’s seven to 10 during the morning rush. So we’re going to multiply that by 20?” Bowers asked.

Dunne said the concept is better suited for downtown Derby and the city’s redevelopment zone along the Housatonic River on the south side on Main Street.

He also said the commission should rezone the land to R-1 to match the rest of the area.

Dunne said the Great Hill Road/Derby Neck/Silver Hill Road area has some of the most expensive land and highest residential taxpayers in Derby.

“And they are going to be looking right at this multi use facility, this event facility, a walk-in clinic and a deli? It is a bit of an insanity. This is not Quarry Walk,” Dunne said.

Informal Discussions Criticized, Again

Dunne and Derby City/Town Clerk Marc Garofalo took exception to the fact 38 Great Hill Road was on the PZC meeting agenda as an “informal discussion.”

Garofalo called informal discussions “inherently unfair” to the public because it leaves them out of the discussion.

Members of the commission also struggled with the idea of informal discussions, as seen in this video:

In March 2024, Mayor Joseph DiMartino issued a statement objecting to an agenda item at the PZC that said “informal discussion on various subjects.” 

The mayor said the listing wasn’t transparent because it hid what properties the commission would be discussing.

Great Hill Road was actually one of the informal discussions during that meeting, and the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission later said the procedure — especially not publishing locations — violated open government laws.

Dunne said “informal discussions” could be used against the city should a developer appeal a rejected proposal to Superior Court.

“This, in my opinion, is a trick,” Dunne said. “It’s a trick to get you, as a commission, on the record in advance of an application. And make no mistake, you have the entire application in front of you – except for the page that says application.”

Dunne is the executive director of the Naugatuck Valley Council of Governments. His agency will be asked for input should a development application be submitted. Dunne announced at the Derby meeting he was recusing himself should that happen.

Dunne, and David Kopjanski, a former Derby building official who serves on the planning and zoning commission, said informal discussions should happen between a developer’s team and select members of Derby City Hall staff, such as the city planner, the zoning enforcement officer, and a city lawyer, if needed.

The goal should be to let the applicant get a sense of what’s possible in a given zone.

Dominick Thomas, a lawyer appearing on behalf of the Great Hill Road property owner, said he was just following the Derby zoning regulations.

Page 80 of the zoning regulations call for an “initial concept review” between the applicant and the commission when a special development district is being proposed.

The goal of the initial concept review is “to determine additional information required for submission for preliminary reviews and approvals,” according to the regulation.

“I was trying to comply with your regulations. That was our purpose,” Thomas said.

Thomas said he had attempted to arrange a meeting with city hall staffers but couldn’t get a response. He said he will try again.

Garofalo said informal discussions should not happen and he suggested the concept be removed from the zoning regulations.

“I would also recommend that you write it out of the regulations. All it does is cause commotion,” Garofalo said.

About The Zoning

The land at 38 Great Hill Road is zoned I-C, or industrial campus.

Potential uses allowed (after review and approvals) include:

  • Manufacturing and assembly facilities.
  • Office buildings and conference centers.
  • Research and technical development facilities, including laboratories, libraries, data processing and publication.
  • Self-storage and warehouses, including storage associated with manufacturing and assembly.
  • Recreation facilities.
  • Continuing care retirement communities and related facilities.
  • Cannabis establishments.

Creating a special development district, or SDD, could allow a use not currently allowed. The SDD gives the commission the power to tailor a proposal, such as potentially exempting existing setbacks. 

Click here for a complete explanation.