Hartford Business Journal

34 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MAY 13, 2024 FOCUS | SMALL BUSINESS Tyche Planning & Policy Group has more than 30 municipal clients in Connecticut, which are marked on the company map, shown above. IMAGE | CONTRIBUTED Filling A Void Municipal development staff shortages offer upstart Vernon planning consultancy growth opportunities had literally nobody else that could serve those clients. So, we came to an agreement." Tyche, like Nike Since leaving CHA Consulting and forming Tyche on Jan. 11, 2021, the duo has increased their staff to six and now work with nearly 30 municipalities. Guszkowski said it was a family member who suggested the compa- ny's name, which refers to a Greek goddess and is pronounced like Nike. "Tyche was responsible for the fate and fortune of cities," he said. "We're a community and urban planning firm. We thought it was appropriate. My kid was a Greek and Latin scholar in college and came up with the name." In addition to being a member of the American Institute of Certified Plan- ners (AICP), Guszkowski is accredited by the Connecticut Association of Zoning Enforcement Officers, U.S. Green Building Council and Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure. He serves as a consulting town planner for the towns of Chester, Clinton, Deep River, Essex and Hampton, has served as economic development coordinator for Hebron and Willington, and as a planner with the Capitol Region Council of Governments. He also has written planning documents and special studies for more than 20 cities and towns in the state. D'Amato also is a member of AICP, and is certified as a Connecticut inland wetland agent and zoning enforcement officer. With Tyche, he serves as a consulting planner for towns that include Ashford, East Windsor and Tolland, and has assisted in drafting affordable housing plans, zoning and subdivi- sion regulations, and plans of conser- vation and development updates. Providing horsepower D'Amato recently took on his new role in the city of Hartford as zoning administrator, giving him the authority to issue permits when project reviews occur, he said. He's replacing Howard, who resigned April 26 to accept a position as director of the East Coast regional team for Grow America, a national nonprofit development organization. D'Amato will serve in the role until a permanent planning director is hired. Before her departure, Howard told the Hartford Planning & Zoning Commission that appointing D'Amato was part of her efforts to "set everyone up for success" after she left. She explained that 95% of the applications received by the Hartford city planning department require only a staff review. "Only 5 percent come before the commission," she said, while adding that the staff "is young and has a strong need to have technical experience." Tyche has provided consulting services to Hartford for more than By David Krechevsky davidk@hartfordbusiness.com J ohn Guszkowski and Michael D'Amato are, among other designations, certified planners. Guszkowski has more than 20 years of planning experience, while D'Amato has more than 15. But if you ask them about their three- year-old company, Tyche Planning & Policy Group in Vernon, they'll say they never planned to have their own business. "To suggest that we had some business savvy that allowed us to laser in on this niche and that we could then create all this work, it was totally not that," D'Amato said. Instead, their company, which primarily serves as a planning and regulatory consultant for municipalities, was born from their preference to remain in a small, focused operation. But that doesn't mean they don't have big clients. D'Amato, for example, was appointed in April to serve as zoning administrator for the city of Hartford, to help make up for the loss of Planning Director Erin Howard. The cities of New Haven and Waterbury have also tapped Tyche's services, which have been in demand amid a shortage of municipal plan- ners and other officials responsible for moving new development projects through the local approval process. Guszkowski, 50, and D'Amato, 34, previously worked for CME Associates, a Mansfield-based engineering firm that was acquired in January 2020 by CHA Consulting Inc., a larger full-service engi- neering consulting and construction management company. "We went from a two-person planning team and a small firm to a two-person planning team and a very large firm," D'Amato said. "From the beginning, it was very clear to us that the direction we were headed was very different from the direction the firm was headed. … So, we knew it wasn't a good fit." He and Guszkowski considered their options and "being on our own was, like, Plan D," D'Amato said. They nonetheless agreed it was the best opportunity, so they negotiated an exit that let them retain their municipal clients. "They weren't thrilled to let that revenue walk out the door," Gusz- kowski said of CHA Consulting. "But they also acknowledged that, out of a firm of 1,500 people, they AT A GLANCE Tyche Planning & Policy Group Industry: Planning consultancy Top Executives: Michael D'Amato & John Guszkowski, Co-Founders & Principals HQ: 215 East Main St., Vernon Employees: 6 Website: tycheplans.com Contact: 860-785-5449 John Guszkowski Michael D'Amato

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