GOOGLE MAPS
A Google map image showing the scrap yard on Factory Street in Derby.
DERBY — City officials have met twice in closed-door sessions recently to get updates from their lawyer about the long effort to remove a scrap yard from the downtown redevelopment zone on Factory Street.
At this point, the parties just can’t agree on the value of the property — which was the same stumbling block in January 2021. The city’s negotiations date back to at least 2020.
Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration is willing to use eminent domain to take the property and pay fair-market value, but has yet to pull the legal trigger.
Meanwhile, Dominick Thomas, the attorney representing the property owner of 2 Factory St., said the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, from which the city is using funds for a purchase — or ‘take’ through eminent domain — is not willing to negotiate on the asking price. Thomas said two appraisals from the City of Derby severely underestimate the value of the property, a point with which the Dziekan administration does not agree.
Thomas said if Derby decides to go the eminent domain route, the matter will go to court and a judge will ask the sides to negotiate. Thomas said the parties could be doing that now, but said he hasn’t heard anything from the city in months.
Members of Mayor Rich Dziekan’s administration have said the scrap yard at 2 Factory St. is an impediment to potential developers looking to build in the redevelopment zone, which stretches along the Housatonic River from the Derby-Shelton bridge to the Route 8 south entrance map on Main Street (Route 34).
The concerns are that a large scrap yard, with large piles of twisted metal, isn’t something people want to live next to.
The property at 2 Factory St. has been a scrap yard for decades. It is owned by Andrew and Barry Jacobs, according to land records. A tenant, Rubino Brothers, Inc. operates the business.
On Tuesday, (Nov. 18) members of the Derby Planning and Zoning Commission met in executive session for an update from attorney John Marini, of Marino, Zabel & Schellenberg, the city’s corporation counsel.
Marini told The Valley Indy on Thursday that Derby hopes to use the land for public parking. With eminent domain, land can’t be taken unless it is for the public good.
“The discussion involved both the ongoing negotiation over the city’s potential purchase of 2 Factory Street for the purpose of creating public parking to support development in the area, and the possibility of utilizing eminent domain to acquire the property if an agreement cannot be reached at fair market value,” Marini said in an email. Eminent domain is a last resort, Marini wrote.
Walt Mayhew, Mayor Dziekan’s chief of staff, also said the administration is still negotiating.
“The city wants to acquire that parcel because it is a key component of the plans for redevelopment on the south side of Main Street. Negotiations are ongoing with the owner of the property, which we would prefer to settle amicably, and are hopeful a reasonable purchase agreement can be arrived at. If that cannot be attained the city reserves the right to take the property through eminent domain,” Mayhew said.
In January 2021, the city offered $915,000 to purchase the property. That offer was declined.
Thomas said the city’s appraisals do not take into account the fact the property is worth more because it is a pre-existing nonconforming use. A scrapyard use that isn’t easy to replicate elsewhere. Those facts are not recognized in the appraisals, so the appraisals are under-valued, Thomas said.
The Dziekan administration sticks by the appraisals. Thomas said he can’t get in a room with Derby officials and the DECD to explain the value of the property.
While the disagreement over the price has not changed in 365 days, The Valley Indy has learned that progress has been made in finding a new space for the scrap yard tenants elsewhere in the area.
The city is under some pressure to get something done with the scrapyard.
Earlier this month the state Department of Transportation awarded the $18.6 million Route 34/Main Street widening project — a major project downtown — to a construction company out of New Haven. The work is scheduled to start April 1.
Earlier this year, the state DOT announced a $12.6 million upgrade for the Derby train station (in December the state kicked in another $12 million to match the federal cash).
A $6.3 million refurbishing of the Derby-Shelton bridge is underway.
There’s currently an application pending in front of the Derby Planning & Zoning Commission for 105 apartments at the former Lifetouch property on Main Street. At a meeting this week the developer said he plans to start the project in the spring, assuming the P&Z gives a green light.
In February 2020 the P&Z approved plans for 203 apartments at 23 Factory St., next to the Lifetouch property and the scrapyard. But that project — a partnership between the Lepore brothers of Burlington (Lepore and Sons, LLC) and the family that owns Barretta Enterprises, a residential and commercial landscaping company at 23 Factory St. — has not moved forward.
Christopher Barretta, Sr., one of the principal members of the limited liability company behind the 23 Factory St. development application to Derby, has several criminal cases pending in court, including a case out of Shelton.
Barretta Enterprises LLC also has a tax appeal against Derby pending in Superior Court. Court records show a separate legal dispute pending between Barretta Property Management, LLC and a person identified as David Barretta over the alleged nonpayment of rent for a portion of 23 Factory St.
In an interview Thursday, Steve Lepore, of the Lepore brothers’ side of the partnership, said the Derby apartment project, which also includes 8,000 square feet of retail space, is still moving forward. He said he does not have a shovel-in-the ground start date.
“The Barrettas still own the property. As far as anything else, I do not have any comment with what’s going on with the Barrettas personally,” he said.
