The most prominent political issue of the last 30 years is that of Downtown Redevelopment.
I have been directly involved in this process for the last 6 years, and would like to relate what has transpired under my watch as Mayor.
In 2005, when we were first elected, there was already a developer in place. We immediately ordered the demolition of the Main Street buildings, which were falling in on themselves.
We held weekly meetings with the developer in an attempt to break the logjam, which brought the project to a standstill. After 2 years we realized the project, as designed by the developer, could not be built, either physically or financially, and that the developer was not willing to invest his own funds.
They were waiting for a 40 million dollar windfall from the state and city.
The Board of Aldermen and Redevelopment Agency decided to remove the city from a one sided agreement.
We were shouldering all the risk and the developer wasn’t willing to expend any of his own funds.
After we terminated the agreement with the old developer, and while the issue was being settled in Derby’s favor in the courts, we repackaged our project, and spent the next few years soliciting our site across the country, entertaining all interested developers.
We sat though presentations from those wishing sports complexes, hotels, and small parcel development, none that seemed to fit into the mixed-use plan of redevelopment residents were looking for.
There was talk about holding more roundtable discussions but since the agency offers the public the opportunity to speak at all their meetings, and we had heard nothing new over the course of the project, we didn’t want to waste more time.
From previous input to the agency, we knew we wanted the project to be mixed use.
This is what our Plan of Redevelopment states.
In the fall of 2010, Derby entered into an agreement with the existing developer, Eclipse
Development.
We used our bad experiences from the past to insure our new agreement would
favor the city.
We set up specific timetables, with consequences if these timetables are not
met.
We are currently toward the end of the one-year due-diligence period for the developer to bring in tenants to the site.
Contrary to popular political rumors, we do not base our redevelopment decisions
on political timing.
The decision to enter into a new developer agreement, with a fall 2011 timeline for the ending of the due diligence period, was voted on by the entire
agency — Democrats, Republicans and an Independent — back in September 2010.
The Redevelopment Agency, whose members serve 5‑year, staggered terms, is the authority over the redevelopment project. The project will continue regardless of the election.
We have made the best decisions regarding our redevelopment project based on the information we were presented.
We are cautiously optimistic that we finally have the right developer in place that is willing to form a true partnership with the city.
The writer is a Republican running for re-election as Derby’s mayor.
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