What is your vision for Derby’s next 20 years? Although not a question you hear every day, it is a question that city leaders want you to consider and weigh in on.

The City of Derby recently began to create a plan to identify policies, projects and opportunities to lead the community to efficient and attractive development over the next 20 years. What big ideas do you have for Derby? Is there something you wish were different about affordable housing, public transportation or other key community issues?

The Vision Derby 2040 process is like creating a roadmap to guide our future land use, transportation, housing, parks, streets and other public infrastructure. It will consider the challenges and opportunities that we can reasonably expect to face. Certainly, our goals are to continue to be a community of choice and to retain our “small town” culture of patriotism, community pride, and neighbors helping neighbors.

You can get involved by taking the survey at www.VisionDerby.com. At this website, you can also join the email list to be notified of upcoming public meetings and key project developments. Paper copies of the survey are available at Derby City Hall and the Derby Welcome Center.

I hope you will send your confidential response to our survey. It asks questions to learn what you think about Derby streets, the community’s image and ability to attract and retain residents, things for visitors to do, broadband availability and cellular signal strength, the business environment, signs in commercial areas, stormwater management and many other community issues.

We kicked off this project in May with a public open house, and then in June we held stakeholder meetings to hear from key business and community leaders. Coming up on September 10-12, the public will be invited to participate in a Design Studio, which means you can interact with professional urban planners as they draw and develop ideas for Derby. You can just watch them, or you can give them tips and advice about what they’re designing and how you think it would (or would not!) work in Derby.

I hope you will join in this community planning process. Everyone’s opinion matters, and now is the time to weigh in at www.VisionDerby.com.

Kathy Sexton
City Manager