Longtime P&Z member to step down

After two decades, Stevens calls it a career to spend more time with family

DERBY — For Glenn Stevens, two decades as a member of the Planning and Zoning commission was enough.

Stevens told commissioners during their Tuesday night meeting it was time for him to step back, spend more time with his family and continue his volunteer work..

“It just came to a point in my career and my life that I need to take some time and step away,” he said.

“I’m sorry to see him go and I wish he stayed on,” Mayor Richard Dziekan said Wednesday. “With all the projects we have brewing downtown, his expertise would have been something we would have continued to rely on.”

Dziekan, who is home battling the effects of COVID-19, said he wished Stevens the best and understands his feelings of wanting to spend more time with his family.

“His experience makes him tough to replace,” Dziekan said. “Filling his vacancy will be one of my top priorities and I’m already putting out feelers.”

Once Dziekan comes up with a nomination, it must be approved by the Board of Aldermen. There also is a vacancy in the alternate position that must be filled.

Stevens, a Republican, was appointed to the commission by

Marc Garofalo, a former four-term mayor and current town/city clerk. Stevens said he spent 20 years on the commission serving under four administrations.

Dziekan, however, is not obligated to fill the position with another Republican since neither party has the five-member maximum on the commission.

During his two decades, Stevens was part of several major deliberations and rulings. Those include approving the sometimes controversial zone change that enabled the former Marshall Lane Manor rehabilitation and convalescent home to become the Apex International Education Partner’s Connecticut International Academy, which houses more than a dozen students from China attending private high schools in the area.

More recently Stevens was part of the approval process that turned the former Housatonic Lumber site on Factory Street into a development district on which Derby Downtown LLC hopes to build at least two four-story buildings with apartments on the upper level and retail outlets below.