A map from a 2016 agenda packet of the Derby Board of Aldermen.
DERBY — City government and the Regional Water Authority are working on a deal that could see a 50-foot-tall, 1‑million-gallon water tank built on city-owned land near the entrance to the Derby High School/Middle School campus off Chatfield Street in west Derby.
A memorandum of agreement between the utility company and the city is expected to be on the agenda of a Derby Aldermen subcommittee Thursday (Sept. 27). The matter could be discussed in executive session, a private meeting allowed under state law if government entities are discussing real estate deals.
The Regional Water Authority has been trying to find a location for a water tank in Derby for years.
Company officials see it as a public safety issue, as does the Derby Fire Department.
Derby’s water pipes are old and deteriorating. When they break, water pressure drops dramatically. The city’s west side is vulnerable because there is no backup water source, officials have said.
The fear is that a water main break during a major fire in west Derby could result in a complete loss of water for half the city — a huge risk for places such as Griffin Hospital.
The hospital lost water after a water main break in Ansonia in 2011 (the property borders both cities). The situation caused a panic, the hospital’s CEO, Patrick Charmel, told Derby officials at a public meeting in 2013.
“Our hospital was filled with patients. There were procedures going on throughout the hospital. Luckily, water was restored before anyone was harmed, but I can tell you, it was a very scary situation,” Charmel said at the time.
In 2013 Regional Water wanted to put a 2‑million-gallon water tank atop “Telescope Mountain,” an area off Mountain Street.
But neighbors came out in force against the proposal, saying the project, which would have required at least three weeks of rock blasting and about 750 truck trips during construction, was too intense for the densely populated area. They compared construction to a mining operation.
Company officials kept searching, with the city pointing them toward city-owned land near Chatfied Street and Coon Hollow Road, where there is less housing.
In 2015, the water company started exploring whether the Chatfield/Coon Hollow property could support a 1‑million-gallon water tank.
In August 2016 the Derby Board of Aldermen gave the company permission to do test borings on the property. The project dropped from the radar until after the Nov. 2017 election.
Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration has been talking to the water company about the location for several months. The Valley Indy first reported on the negotiations in April.
The negotiations involve three entities — Derby government, the water company, and Saint Peter & Saint Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Derby government owns about 1.8 acres of open space between Chatfield Street and Coon Hollow Road that is being considered for the 1‑million-gallon water tank.
The church owns about an acre of undeveloped land at the intersection of Coon Hollow Road and Chatfied, next to the city-owned land.
The city has been looking at acquiring the church’s land as a potential parking lot for the former VARCA building, which the city inherited when the business closed earlier this year.
The city envisions using the VARCA building as a regional senior center, along with a long list of other potential uses.
Complicating any potential deal — the city-owned land being considered for the water tank apparently carries a Depression-era deed restriction preventing it from being used as anything other than a public park.
How all these issues will be resolved remains to be seen, but more light should be shed in the coming weeks. Any deal needs the approval of the full Board of Aldermen, the city’s legislative body.
Any water storage facility would still face a review by the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission, a spokesman for the Regional Water Authority said Thursday.
At a Planning and Zoning meeting Tuesday, members acknowledged a “CGS 8 – 24 referral.” If a local legislative body is considering disposing or acquiring land, state law requires the legislative body to check in with the local planning and zoning body.
The agenda Tuesday specifically referred to the Regional Water Authority building “a water tank on property that is adjacent to the high school … and to construct a municipal parking lot (on property nearby).”
