(Left to right) Derby Parking Enforcement Officer Daniel Reid and Derby Mayor Rich Dziekan outside the Derby parking garage on March 31.
DERBY — A refurbished Derby parking garage remains the city’s white whale after Mayor Rich Dziekan’s request for a $9.1 million state grant was rejected. However, the city has a chance to apply again for the much-needed money, and the mayor is touting new security measures at the downtown garage as a win.
Problems
Various Derby administrations have been trying to find a permanent fix to the many problems at the Thompson Place parking garage, where chunks of concrete fall from the ceiling; cracks are big enough to expose rebar, and; oily liquid leaks onto vehicles. Mayor Dziekan noted the garage is structurally sound, despite the repairs needed.
Mayor Tony Staffieri’s administration explored putting parking garage repairs out to referendum, but ultimately decided not to because the city was already dealing with $31.2 million in sewer repairs, which are now costing single-family home owners $256 per year in capital fees.
So, with other needs pressing, Derby, an economically distressed city, has been taking “Band-Aid” approaches with the garage, such as installing netting and covering holes with steel plates.
The garage, built in the 1970s, pulls in $100,000 in revenue, and is usually about 80 percent full, according to the Dziekan administration. Business and nearby apartments rent spaces.
Rehabbing the garage will cost upward of $9 million, so the administration submitted an application for a grant to the state’s Community Investment Fund. The effort was detailed on page three of the latest issue of “The Derby Town Crier,” a taxpayer funded, $13,000 newsletter.
Back in 2010, the leaders of the now defunct Derby Parking Authority told The Valley Indy a refurbishment of the parking garage would cost $1.5 million. At the time of the interview, they touted lighting improvements and spending thousands on cosmetic repairs.
State Says No, At Least For Now
Jim Watson, a spokesman from the state Department of Community and Economic Development, told The Valley Indy that his department sent out a letter on Monday telling Derby the grant application would not be funded. Watson pointed out there were more than 190 applications asking for more than $1 billion — but there was just $98.5 million available.
Watson said 28 projects were recommended for funding. Gov. Ned Lamont has to put those projects on the agenda of the State Bond Commission, and those projects have to be approved at a meeting scheduled for April 6
But hope is not lost for Derby’s aging parking garage: the city can apply again on May 1.
Adventures In Open Government
A wrinkle related to the grant: the Diekan administration has refused to share the grant application with the public, even though the application seeks to use public money.
In Connecticut, government documents are open unless the government can point to an exception in the state’s Freedom of Information Act.
The Valley Indy, in an attempt to reference a primary source document to a related story about the parking garage last week, asked Walt Mayhew, Mayor Dziekan’s chief of staff, for a copy of the grant application. Mayhew immediately forwarded the request to Natasha R. Nau, the city’s new consulting grant writer.
In an email, Nau said “we do not provide copies of our grants externally,” but was willing to be interviewed to answer questions or to copy and paste portions of the grant for a reporter.
The Valley Indy called Tom Hennick, the public information officer for the Connecticut Freedom of Information Commission. Hennick did not answer the Derby situation specifically, but said that, in general, if a grant application was submitted to either city hall or a funding agency, the grant application is public under state law.
The Valley Indy asked Nau if she was denying a reporter access to a public document.
Nau replied in an email that grants “contain proprietary information that assist towns/cities in competing against others for funding” and denied access for a second time.
The Valley Indy asked if the grant had been submitted to the state or to Derby City Hall — but didn’t receive an answer.
Meanwhile, Mayor Dziekan twice told The Valley Indy on Friday that he would instruct Nau to release the application.
Mayhew contradicted the mayor on Friday in an email, saying “Your “request” has been received and forwarded to the corporation counsel for review.”
John Marini’s law firm is Derby’s corporation counsel. The Valley Indy exchanged messages with Marini, who informed the publication on Monday that Derby had not been awarded the $9.1 million grant.
The Valley Indy still doesn’t have a copy of the rejected grant, three business days after asking.
Derby Has Chance To Learn About FOI From Neutral Party
Derby’s troubles with transparency come after The Valley Indy reported in February that the Derby tax board was coming very close to violating the FOI Act by communicating the public’s business through group emails.
Before that, Derby officials played hot potato with a simple request to verify a resignation letter.
Derby officials have a chance to learn about the FOI Act during two virtual FOI seminars scheduled with Hennick on April 6.
The FOI seminars are happening about four years after the Dziekan administration promised to do so if The Valley Indy agreed to drop a FOI complaint against the former Derby building inspector.
The official, who later resigned, didn’t want to share information about a roof collapse with a reporter out of concern the information would make a downtown building owner look bad. In that scenario, the inspector had threatened to slow walk any information requested.
The Parking Garage Is Now Safer
Rejected grant applications and self-inflicted FOI injuries aside, there are good things to report regarding the old parking garage.
The Valley Indy met with Mayor Dziekan last week to check out new lighting and security cameras installed in the structure.
The Derby parking garage is behind the Derby Senior Center, so many seniors park there during the day. Last year, in a Valley Indy interview with Derby seniors about the failed attempt to merge with the Ansonia Senior Center, Derby seniors said they hated parking in the garage. They didn’t feel it was safe, they were afraid of tripping over busted concrete, and they complained about dripping water staining their vehicles.
Dziekan said at night the parking garage was attracting unwanted activity, to say the least. Someone defecated in a stairwell, mattresses were found in the structure, and drunken folks presumably from the Elizabeth Street bars were using the garage as a urinal.
The new lights and cameras are meant to deter such activities.
“We improved the lighting and increased the number of security cameras, which will help us out,” Mayor Dziekan said. “Some late nights here we’ve been getting some issues.”
Mayor Dziekan said the cameras capture good quality audio and video.
“If somebody is going to be doing any shenanigans, we’ll catch them and we’ll prosecute them,” the mayor said.
The improvements are being paid for through $28,381 in ARPA money.
The garage is important to downtown Derby because it supports local business. It’s within walking distance of Main Street/Route 34, which is currently in the middle of a state-funded widening project. The Derby-Shelton bridge is also being rehabbed, and the construction of 105 apartments is underway at the former Lifetouch property on Main Street. The Derby Board of Aldermen & Alderwomen granted the $16 million project a tax break as described in the city’s tax abatement ordinance.
In February 2020 the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission approved plans for 203 apartments at 23 Factory St., between the Lifetouch property and a scrapyard. But that project has not moved forward.
The Valley Indy last contacted one of the investors in January 2022. He said they were still moving forward with the project but couldn’t give a construction start date. Mayor Dziekan said last week there is a dispute between the investors and that some type of sale may happen.
Dziekan said the city is still in negotiations with the owner of a property that houses a scrap yard in the city’s redevelopment zone on the south side of Main Street. Dziekan said the city wants to see the property relocated. The sides have not been able to agree on a price.
