Derby Officials To Again Consider Adding Alderman’s Property To Blight List

A subcommittee of the Derby Board of Aldermen Thursday recommended a property owned by an elected official be placed on the city’s blight list.

However, the property will not get added to the blight list until a majority vote of the full Board of Aldermen. That vote could happen later this month.

The property at 40 Gilbert St. is owned by Alderman Stephen Iacuone.

Blighted properties are neighborhood eyesores that have been left in a state of disrepair. Owners of blighted properties face potential fines of $100 per day if they do not clean up or fix the issues.

Property owners who do nothing once their properties are declared blighted run the risk of the city taking possession of the property.

Iacuone and his attorney, fellow Aldermen Barbara DeGennaro, have argued there are extenuating circumstances that should keep the property off the blight list.

The property and multi-family house suffer from serious flooding problems and is uninhabitable due to a failing city drainage system, DeGennaro has said.

The city has been in negotiations with DeGennaro and Iacuone to find a solution to the flooding problem without seeing the issue become a court case.

However, city blight inspectors point out the property and house have maintenance issues not related to flooding, such as an overgrown yard, broken windows and a broken rain gutter sitting in a heap outside the front door. 

Flooding is an issue for others in the neighborhood and neighbors have called City Hall to complain about 40 Gilbert St. specifically, officials said.

The property has been bouncing between a Aldermanic subcommittee and the full Board of Aldermen since September. Click here for more background information.

On Nov. 14, Andrew Cota, the city’s retired police chief and part-time blight officer, wrote an e‑mail to then-Board of Alderman President Ken Hughes saying that the city’s lack of action either way on 40 Gilbert St. was creating the impression Derby elected officials were protecting one of their own. Click here for more on the issue.

The subcommittee voted Thursday 3 – 1 to make the blight recommendation to the full board.

After listening to the details of the property and the city’s blight law as described by Cota and Derby building official David Kopjanski, Hughes, Scott Boulton and Jay Benanto voted to make the blight recommendation to the full Board of Aldermen.

Art Gerckens voted no.

Hughes said the property should be on the city’s blight list based on the expert opinion of the city’s blight officers and the city’s building department.

Not placing the property on the list gives the impression of favoritism, he said.

The question isn’t flooding, or what the city did or did not do about drainage. The question is — is it blight or isn’t it?,” Hughes said.

Gerckens said he voted against 40 Gilbert St. and three other properties that were sent to the full Board of Aldermen for consideration for the blight list.

Gerckens said he was not given time to review the supporting documents for the properties under consideration. He said he had no information whatsoever for 40 Gilbert. St.

I realize blight is important but I want to know the facts before I vote,” Gerckens said.

An e‑mail seeking comment was left with Iacuone. A voicemail seeking comment was left with DeGennaro.

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