They want more restaurants and more shopping options downtown.
They want future commercial development in the city to focus on the downtown and the train station.
They want open space preserved.
They want cruddy properties cleaned up.
Those are some of the takeaways from the City of Derby’s “public engagement report,” a 48-page document recently posted on the local government’s website.
The report was prepared as part of the update to the Derby Plan of Conservation and Development, a document meant to guide future land use policies in the city.
In March, the city used consultants to organize three forums — and two additional “stakeholder” meetings — to get input from the public.
The forums’ organizers sought public input on four general land use discussion topics:
- Conservation, “green places” and recreation
- Public works, infrastructure, transportation and public services
- Commercial development and city centers
- Housing
Within those topics, people were asked: “what is good now, what is not working and what are some strategies to overcome what is not working?”
Nearly 200 people participated in the forums, and 83 people participated in a related community survey posted on the city’s website.
Answers were then analyzed and categorized, with common themes grouped together in the report, prepared by the Land Use Law Center at Pace University and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.
The report is embedded below. The article continues after the document.
The desire to improve the downtown business district jumps out as a theme in the document. Variations on the theme were mentioned 61 times — and that’s not counting the people who said the parking garage (also downtown) needs to be fixed or the people who said the city’s crumbling sidewalks need to be addressed.
“Participants see a great need for more shopping downtown, with small shops and more retail, such as a shoe store, outlet stores and a pet store,” the report concludes.
The public also wants more restaurants to open downtown. But, at the same time, they said the downtown business district needs more parking.
Derby residents like Witek Park, and they like Osbornedale, which is state-owned. They also adore the city’s Greenway along the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers — but want to see it improved with plantings.
And regarding the Housatonic, Derby residents want better access to it downtown.
Right now the land is dominated by under-utilized properties in a stagnant redevelopment zone from the Derby-Shelton bridge to the Route 8 entrance ramp on Main Street. The report also suggests moving the city’s sewage treatment plant from the redevelopment area.
Several people said they want better access to the Derby train station. A trolley system of some kind was suggested. And they want better train service, according to the report.
The answers the public provided are all over the map, as one might expect when people are asked to express their opinions.
Some other topics that were repeated a few times in the report:
The proliferation of multi-family housing is seen as a detriment and contribute to blight. People want to see an expansion of senior housing (one of the “stakeholder” meetings was held at the Derby Senior Center, according to the report).
“ … some participants preferred less multifamily housing in the City, and others recommended encouraging more owner-occupied and high-income housing in the City,” the report states.
The term blight makes 24 appearances in the report. The public wants long-dilapidated properties to be addressed. Roosevelt Drive is mentioned specifically.
The city, both under former Mayor Anthony Staffieri and current Mayor Anita Dugatto, have made strides in the battle against blight in Derby, but is still dotted with problem properties.
Consolidating or regionalizing services with other municipalities to save money is also a popular idea, according to responses in the report.
Regionalizing Derby schools — an idea that’s been pursued and abandoned several times — pops up in the report, too.
“To improve schools, participants recommended whether it should be regionalized or downsized,” the report states.
And the public wants the city to attract companies that can create local jobs, perhaps by providing tax incentives to lure new business and investment.
The website survey, by the way, asked participants where they sought information about Derby. More than half the respondents cited the Valley Independent Sentinel.
The nonprofit, online-only news source was cited more than all the other sources combined.
The Valley Independent Sentinel is far and away the most read news publication in Derby, Connecticut, according to this poll (not done by us).
Posted by Valley Independent Sentinel on Thursday, July 30, 2015
In a prepared statement, Mayor Anita Dugatto said the report will be used in the ongoing effort to improve Derby.
“In addition to identifying areas that need improvement, residents also provided a lot of great ideas on how to capitalize on Derby’s assets,” Dugatto said.
Art Gerckens, president of the Derby Board of Aldermen, said it was good to see open space preservation and protecting the environment are high priorities for city residents.
He said he was also pleasantly surprised by several ideas suggested by residents, such as moving the city’s sewage treatment plant.
“I found it interesting to see that some suggested moving the treatment plant away from the redevelopment zone,” Gerckens said in an email. “After all, who wants their residence or shopping to be done in the shadow of the plant? Interesting concept, that makes me wonder if this radical idea could gain momentum.”
The plethora of comments about the lack of access to the city’s waterfront and the comments about downtown Derby didn’t surprise Gerckens, nor did the comments about housing.
“With regard to housing, we’re on board with what the public wants,” Gerckens said. “We need more senior only housing, less multifamily housing, and a no-nonsense approach towards blight.”
The city has taken down three blighted buildings, Gerckens said, in addition to creating a formal blight committee and a new “clean and lien” program.
The larger update to the plan of conservation and development should be finalized by the spring of 2016. Parts are currently under review and revision by the city’s planning and zoning commission.