The committee, meeting Thursday at the Margaret Egan Center, voted to acquire the lot next to Al Dente's Restaurant for public parking, if certain conditions can be met.
One of those conditions is an easement through an adjoining lot so cars are not forced to back out of parking spaces and onto busy Bridgeport Avenue, said Minority Leader Vincent Ditchkus Jr., R-3.
"We do need parking down there,'' said the alderman, who did not attend the meeting. "It would be nice to have a parking lot between the houses and the businesses to separate them, but it is so built up there that it isn't going to happen.''
James Amann, the former state House speaker who helped create the committee 10 years ago and was recently made a "life'' member, said the meeting was productive.
"It went very well; we're moving forward,'' said Amann, who is a candidate for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination next year.
Members said it isn't clear how much, if any, of the promised state funds for the third phase might be lost in the economic crisis.
The portion now under way will continue the decorative brick paving stones, along with new benches, planters and street lights along Bridgeport Avenue from Naugatuck Avenue to the foot of the Washington Bridge.
An earlier phase beautified the intersection of Bridgeport and Naugatuck avenues and carried the decorative touches down Naugatuck Avenue.
The Devon effort began in the late 1990s with the creation of a small park overlooking the Housatonic River and a clock tower.
"There is some money left over from the earlier phases and if we can, we'd like to also go down Bridgeport Avenue the other way, toward the [Bridgeport Flyer] diner,'' Ditchkus said.
Economic Development Director Robert Gregory, whose office handles funding for the project, said decorative bricks may be purchased for $50 each. Each brick may be engraved with three lines of 11 characters each, the city official said.
Bricks must be paid for in advance and the committee reserves the right to reject any inscriptions, he said. Forms are available by calling 783-3230; the deadline for ordering and paying for the bricks is March 27.