Derby Commission Rejects Telescope Mountain Zone-Text Change

DERBY – Members of the city’s planning and zoning commission Tuesday (Jan. 21) rejected a zone-text change that could have opened the door to high-density housing atop ​‘Telescope Mountain.’

Several commissioners said they were not anti-development – but they said almost no one liked what was being presented, especially the public.

The vote to reject the zone-text change was 4 – 2. Commissioners Albert Misiewicz and Raul Sanchez voted against rejecting the proposed change.

Summit Hill LLC owns four undeveloped parcels off Mountain and Summit streets nicknamed ​“Telescope Mountain.” State business records list the principal of the company as Eric Brennan of the John J. Brennan Construction Co. in Shelton.

Aside from deed-protected Osbornedale State Park and city-owned Witek Park, ​‘Telescope Mountain’ is among the last privately owned woods in Derby. The company purchased the parcels in 1998 for $120,000, according to Derby tax records.

The property is currently zoned ​“R‑5,” which allows one-and-two-family houses. The land also features steep slopes and rock ledges.

The company, through its lawyer, Dominick Thomas, asked the commission to allow them to rewrite the zoning rules for R‑5 in order to create a ​“planned residential development.” The zone-text change would have allowed for higher-density housing, such as townhouses, with four to 10 units per building.

Thomas argued that a planned residential development would involve much less disturbance to the site compared to the construction of traditional houses. Thomas also argued that the commission would have far more influence over what could be built in a planned residential development compared to their review powers under the existing R‑5 zoning.

The public didn’t buy it, as evidenced by the opposition at two public hearings, including one Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Arnold Holmes, a resident of the Summit Commons townhouses next to Telescope Mountain, said the zone-text change made no sense. He questioned the process, which involved the developer’s lawyer rewriting the zoning language for the commission to consider.

“Deny it. Simple as that,” Holmes said.

Neighbor Janet Mann said that while the developer has a right to make a profit, it shouldn’t come at the expense of the densely populated neighborhood surrounding Telescope Mountain.

The residents were joined in opposition to the zone-text change by Derby elected officials, including Mayor Joseph DiMartino, City/Town Clerk Marc Garofalo, Alderwoman Sarah Widomski and Alderman George Kurtyka, who said Alderman Ron Sill and Alderwoman Jessica Barrios-Perez were also in opposition.

Mayor DiMartino said in four years the city has approved more than 430 multi-family residential units in the city, which represents about 8 percent of Derby’s total housing stock. He said the city already tweaked its zoning rules to allow more high-density, multi-family developments downtown, part of the city’s effort to support transportation-oriented development (Route 8, Metro-North and bus lines are easily accessible downtown).

The mayor said the city’s 2023 housing plan shows Derby has one of the highest percentages of multi-family housing – 43 percent – in the area, and that statistic was collected before the approval of hundreds of units.

Meanwhile, no one’s building houses.

“During the same four-year period, Derby has approved zero subdivisions of one-or-two family detached housing developments,” the mayor said.

The situation has created an ​“imbalance in diverse housing opportunities – especially for families with children hoping to settle in Derby,” Mayor DiMartino said.

The mayor touched upon a thought that was repeated throughout the public hearings: Derby, a city that struggles financially, is already one of the most densely populated cities in the state. A proposal to alter the zoning to allow more density at the cost of single-family or two-family dwellings just doesn’t make sense, the public and elected officials said.

Garofalo pointed out the zone-text change would also impact two other properties in Derby: McConney’s Farm, across from the Housatonic River on Roosevelt Drive, and the former St Jude Church property on the city’s hilltop.

Potentially putting four-story townhouses on those properties is a bad idea, Garofalo said.

Thomas said several times during Tuesday’s meeting that his client will return with a plan to develop single and two family houses on the property – and that plan will involve much more site work, such as blasting and the removal of fill.

However, the developer will first have to submit a subdivision plan to the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission for approval. The commission could call for public hearings on those plans.

In rejecting the zone-text change, commissioners touched upon the confusing process generated by ​“planned residential developments.” 

The public was reminded repeatedly that only a zone-text change was being discussed, not a specific plan. Yet the zone-text change was only being proposed so that a site plan development could be submitted for a project not currently allowed.

While the majority of the commission rejected the proposed change, several members also said they realize that Summit Hill, LLC has a right to develop the property. They urged the developer to come back to the table with another proposal.

The early process that the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission used to bring the application forward was questionable under the state’s Freedom of Information Act. 

The concept for the project was discussed ​“informally” by the members of the commission and Thomas at a public meeting held in March 2024. 

However, the commission failed to tell the public what it would be talking about. The agenda simply said ​“informal discussion with Dominick Thomas on various subjects,” when, in fact, they were talking about a potential development application of 100 housing units on Telescope Mountain.

The DiMartino administration chided the commission for the discussion.

Last year Matthew Kauffman, a former Hartford Courant investigative reporter, told The Valley Indy that the commission’s use of ​“informal discussions” was a blatant violation of law.

Kauffman said agenda descriptions have to be detailed enough to ​“fairly apprise” the public about what’s happening. The state’s Freedom of Information Commission has backed that up in ​“countless rulings” and the law has been supported in court decisions, too.