Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Image 1of/5

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 5
Elizabeth Murillo, a life-long Derby resident, was one of 58 people who used special keypads to answer questions about the direction Derby's downtown revitalization plan should take at a Community Choices Workshop at the Ballroom on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. less
Elizabeth Murillo, a life-long Derby resident, was one of 58 people who used special keypads to answer questions about the direction Derby's downtown revitalization plan should take at a Community Choices ... more
Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Image 2 of 5
Simone Mason attended the Downtown Now! Community Choices Workshop on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. The meeting allowed residents to help shape the direction for the downtown redevelopment project with a keypad used to answer a number of questions. Mason is not a Derby resident but said she would like to move to the city. less
Simone Mason attended the Downtown Now! Community Choices Workshop on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. The meeting allowed residents to help shape the direction for the downtown redevelopment project with ... more
Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Image 3 of 5
Steve Jalowiec, right, a lifelong Derby resident, Simone Mason, center, who plans to move to Derby, and Rosalie Cota, a Derby native,look at a projection screen for the next in a series of questions to answer on a keypad. The Downtown Now! Community Choices Workshop was held on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. to gather resident input for the towns redevelopment. less
Steve Jalowiec, right, a lifelong Derby resident, Simone Mason, center, who plans to move to Derby, and Rosalie Cota, a Derby native,look at a projection screen for the next in a series of questions to answer ... more
Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Image 4 of 5
Adam Pacheco, 32, who lives in downtown Derby, appreciated the opportunity to share his input during the Downtown Now! Community Choices Workshop was on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. The event let residents share ideas for the plan to revitalize the downtown area using a keypad, which provided immediate results to facilitators. less
Adam Pacheco, 32, who lives in downtown Derby, appreciated the opportunity to share his input during the Downtown Now! Community Choices Workshop was on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. The event let ... more
Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media
Image 5 of 5
Nancy Dobek and Andy Cota prepare to use a keypad to answer a number of questions that will help a design team create a master plan for the redevelopment of downtown at a meeting on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in Derby, Conn. less
Nancy Dobek and Andy Cota prepare to use a keypad to answer a number of questions that will help a design team create a master plan for the redevelopment of downtown at a meeting on Thursday Oct. 27, 2016 in ... more
Photo: Meg Barone / Hearst Connecticut Media

DERBY — Adam Pacheco foresees a day when he lives in a desirable neighborhood abuzz with thriving businesses and restaurants.

Pacheco, 32, lives in dilapidated downtown Derby, long in need of revitalization, but even after several failed attempts in recent decades, he envisions a transformation from eyesore to eye-catching.

The current effort, Downtown Now! Derby’s Blueprint for Progress, gives Pacheco hope that this time the area — particularly nearly 14 acres of public and private land on the south side of Main Street — will get a major overhaul.

“Obviously, this is preliminary, but there’s promise. Given the history of this city’s attempts to redevelop the downtown, this attempt seems to have the best opportunity,” he said.

“It’s gone farther than the others,” said Pacheco, one of about 65 people who attended Thursday’s Community Choices Workshop at The Ballroom. It was a follow-up to last month’s Community Voices Workshop, an effort by an outside, comprehensive design team to include the public in the design process.

Information gathered from residents, business leaders, politicians and other stakeholders at the first workshop was used to shape questions the team posed at the latest gathering.

Participants used electronic keypads to answer questions about the direction a revitalized downtown should take, and the results were posted immediately on a projection screen. Gianni Longo, president of New York-based GLA, a strategic plan and urban design corporation, asked the 58 keypad users to select the letter that best described their goals for the site, what kinds of businesses would make Derby’s downtown a regional destination, whether they want to attract independent companies or national chains, if they want a mix of housing and retail, and what age group they most want to attract to downtown.

Respondents said they prefer independent businesses, mixed use; they want to appeal to millennials and they want the redevelopment to protect downtown’s historic character.

Food was clearly on their minds. They overwhelmingly voted to have restaurants on the site; good news to Joseph LaPaglia, a former Derby businessman who now lives in Rhode Island. He wants to return and reopen Derby Pizza House and perhaps a food market downtown.

“That’s our dream. Nostalgically, I love this place,” LaPaglia said.

“Now they know at least what a portion of the population would like to see downtown,” said Rosalie Cota, 64, a lifelong Derby resident. “I really like that they’re approaching the people and giving them a say in our town.”

Longo said the public would have additional opportunity at a five-day meeting of stakeholders, from Nov. 14 to 18, to provide input that would help the design team create a master plan.

“We haven’t designed anything yet. We haven’t put pen to paper,” said Michael Weich, a project manager with DPZ Partners, an international urban design firm that Derby officials hired with a state grant to oversee the process. The actual designing would begin with the five-day gathering, he said.

“We don’t just draw pretty pictures,” Weich said. Realistic plans are to be derived by measuring the community’s ideas against land use, economic, environmental and infrastructure conditions.

“We have to make this a reality. ... You have a jewel of a site here that we hope doesn’t go to waste,” Weich said.

“It’s as transparent a process as we can do,” Longo said.

The five-day gathering will be at The Ballroom and the schedule is available at derbyct.gov. Results of the keypad survey are also posted on the website.