Election 2011: City Candidates on Darien Town Center

How do you think the Darien Town Center issue should be dealt with during the next City government's term? What else do you think should be done to promote business development in Darien?

Mayor

We need to stop the bleeding at the so-called Town Center. There’s no need to try to Band-Aid or cover up mistakes of the past. That’s not leadership. A half-million dollars a year to buy more time on a poor decision is a costly option. Who we get to take over the debt on this land is a crucial decision. We don’t have the luxury of making another mistake. It needs to be done, but a quick sell to anyone who will take it at fire-sale prices before a mayoral election is not leadership. We need to treat this the same way as a bidding process. I’d rather use every dollar of next year’s budgeted interest payment as an incentive to attract the right businesses. We can’t just sell it for a song and wait until the buyer decides the economy is right to develop the land. 

The economy threw us a curve ball that stopped our plan in its tracks, but with the sale of the Shell property to Chase Bank we are seeing some turnaround occurring. We were working with two well-known developers who told us they could only promise a bank and a fast food restaurant, with no plans for any other businesses on the site, so we decided to wait for the economy to turn around.  We purchased the Shell property in 2006 for $1.6 million. Chase has given us a letter of intent to purchase the property for $2 million. The council feels this will be the beginning of the rest of the 2.5 acres to be developed. At the outset when the city decided to purchase the property, we knew no developer would bundle the three properties together in one development because of the environmental issues on the three properties—two gas station sites and a dry cleaning establishment in the existing strip mall. The Shell property has received EPA approval, and we are expecting EPA approvals on the two other parcels this summer.

We are currently working with a number of businesses to bring into Darien and hope to be able to make those announcements in the near future.     

Ward Two Alderman

First of all, I think it should be one of the first priorities to address since it has cost taxpayers millions of dollars since it was purchased, and there is currently not a holistic plan to produce a long term solution. I think we should consider hiring an outside broker to help us attract the right economic entity and right "fit" into our community. This would bring in professional resources to help do marketability, feasibility studies, etc. to get us back on track. Being cost conscious, we would have to structure any broker agreement in a way so as to not pass any commissions or fees onto the citizens of Darien.

I think building professional relationships goes a long way in attracting ideas and venues to communities. Benchmarking and meeting with other town officials with similar economic backgrounds and challenges can foster creativity and promote business development. We have a huge opportunity ahead of us, so getting a perspective of the big picture, including a SWOT analysis, will help us determine how we can be more competitive with our neighboring communities, both now and in the future as our demographics may change. I would also like to ask that we as a community do not forget about our current businesses that are struggling. We need to promote and incentivize people to “spend in Darien.”

First it’s important to understand that those in power during the period from 2003-2007 orchestrated the Town Center purchase. Hindsight being 20-20, it is counterproductive to criticize past decisions to which you played no part. We have a $6.5 million financial obligation created by that purchase. The city spent $1.5 million out of city funds, borrowed another $4 million and the interest on the bonds is $1 million.

Since joining the city council in 2007 I have seen several developers' presentations, all of which have included a bank or a pharmacy as the anchor tenant. None came anywhere close to paying us what we invested. Therefore I feel we need to develop the property ourselves.

The second part of your question was regarding what we should do to promote business: I feel we need to create incentive programs advertised on our website and through our Chamber of Commerce that entice new business to come to Darien and existing businesses to stay and grow. I presented ideas to this point in both 2008 and again in 2009. I will continue to push for incentives in the future.

Ward Four Alderman

I feel the City Council’s next step for the development on 75th and Cass would be to either update the existing strip mall and/or work with a developer to update the rest of the parcels based on what types of businesses would like to become part of the development. The current City Council and city staff have done a great job promoting the Darien Town Center; I look forward to continuing the process that the city staff has in place today.

The concept of the Darien Town Center has been a point of discussion and contention for about 10 years. Over this time span, the concept has failed to grasp any roots of any nature and has made backward progress. If the idea of a Darien Town Center is to ever come to fruition, then the concept has to be re-drawn with new ideas and new input and new design because the old concept at this point is unworkable. At this point, it is my opinion that there are really two parts to the Town Center issue. The first is the intersection of 75th and Cass, and the second is the development of a Darien Town Center. For many years now, this intersection has really been disgraceful, and the corner of Cass and Plainfield is just as bad. I understand that there are serious economic constrains for the city, but I find it hard to believe that nothing can be done to make the intersections look less disgraceful. One bench and a crooked garbage can is the best we can do since the property was purchased? The city could not spare some shrubbery? A planter? A sign? I am sure the residents and the business would all benefit from and appreciate something more. That is the least we deserve, and after that, let us re-work the Darien Town Center concept into something achievable. Both of these actions will make Darien more attractive to business development.