ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

Date: December 18, 1998
Author/Local: P.Vaisbord/6304
RTS No. 00345
CC File No. 8300

TO:	Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
FROM:	Director of City Plans
SUBJECT:	Business Improvement Area (BIA) Program

INFORMATION

The General Manager of Community Services Submits this report for INFORMATION.

COUNCIL POLICY

Section 456 of the Vancouver Charter gives Council the authority to create a Business Improvement Area (BIA). Council may grant money to a BIA for planning and implementation of business promotion schemes provided that the money is recovered through a special property tax.

Council policies with respect to the establishment of a BIA include:

· October 14, 1997: A BIA may be established by Council Initiative; property owners and commercial tenants receive notification of the Initiative, and the BIA will not proceed if one-third or more of the tenants or owners, counted separately, are in opposition.

PURPOSE

This report summarizes recent Provincial changes to the BIA legislation, and advises Council of applications for BIA renewals, expansions, and new BIAs.

BACKGROUND

The City assists business districts by helping merchants to form BIAs, by helping with renewals and expansions, and by facilitating the annual BIA funding process.

Formation and expansion

Between 1989 and 1991, Council approved the first five Vancouver BIAs -- Gastown, Mount Pleasant, Downtown, Robson Street, and Kerrisdale. Since then, no further BIAs have been established. Other areas had indicated an interest in forming a BIA, or had tried but failed to complete the approval process. The areas included Yaletown, Chinatown, South Granville, the Entertainment District (Downtown Granville), Marpole, Collingwood, 10th Avenue, Almadene (10th and Alma), Denman Street, Davie Street, Fraser Street, Hastings Street, and Victoria Drive.

Until October 1997, the process for establishing a BIA required a petition of support from at least 50 percent of owners, and a tenant survey, before Council would consider hearing an application to form a BIA. Because the collection of signatures had apparently been an insurmountable task in most areas, no BIAs beyond the original five were approved.

In October 1997, Council approved simplifying the BIA process to proceed by way of a Council Initiative that does not require a petition. If Council approves a "Council Initiative", notices are delivered to all commercial property owners and tenants within the proposed BIA boundaries. The BIA will not proceed if one-third of the property owners, representing one-third of the assessed property value, or one third of the tenants, counted separately, oppose the BIA. The current process is attached as Appendix A.

An application for expansion of the Downtown Vancouver BIA under the new process was subsequently approved. The City has yet to approve a new BIA under this process.

New Legislation

In October 1997, Council instructed staff to request an amendment to the Vancouver Charter to provide the City with the funding flexibility and renewal provisions for BIAs similar to legislation which had already been approved in Section 233 of the Municipal Act. Pursuant to the City's request, the Charter has been amended to parallel the Municipal Act provisions, effective September 23, 1998. The relevant changes are as follows:

· Council may levy `a rate based on any factor determined by the Council'.

· Levy rates `may be different for different classes of business'(e.g. hotel, retail, office, etc.)

· Council may consider a BIA renewal term of up to and including 20 years.

Prior to the recent amendments, the Vancouver Charter required BIAs to renew their mandate every five years. Council is now empowered to consider longer renewal terms. The Mt. Pleasant BIA is up for renewal this year, is aware of the Charter amendments, and is requesting approval of a 10 year renewal term.

DISCUSSION

New BIAs

The new BIA formation process has generated considerable interest in the creation of new BIAs. Following the success of the Downtown Vancouver BIA expansion under the new process, fifteen other areas have approached staff for information and assistance in forming a BIA. These include Marpole, Commercial Drive, Collingwood, West 10th Avenue, Alma Village (10th and Alma), Cambie Corridor, Mid-Main, Fraser Street, the Punjabi Market, Kitsilano, Hastings Street, and Victoria Drive.

Four sponsor groups are currently seeking Council approval to commence operations as a BIA by April 1, 1999. The four proposed BIAs are Chinatown, Davie Village, South Granville, and Yaletown. The process in Chinatown is complicated by the existence of two competing BIA proposals for essentially the same area.

Renewals and Expansions

In addition to the four new BIA proposals, three existing BIAs are seeking Council approval for renewal and/or expansion under the new process -- Mt. Pleasant, Kerrisdale and Gastown. The Kerrisdale BIA is seeking to expand in mid term with a significantly increased annual budget which would require an amendment to its present 5-year funding ceiling.

The following chart summarizes the current expansion, renewal and new BIA applications:

BIA	Formation	Expansion	Renewal	Renewal Period
Kerrisdale		yes	no
Gastown		no	yes	5 years
Mt. Pleasant		yes	yes	10 years
Chinatown	yes			5 years
Davie Village	yes			5 years
South Granville	yes			5 years
Yaletown	yes			5 years

Staff will be reporting all of the above applications to Council shortly. The renewal and expansion applications will be consolidated in a single report. Each of the applications for new BIAs will be reported separately.

Funding Changes

The Charter changes and recent budget issues have resulted in requests for changes to the BIA funding process. These include the following:

· A request from the organising committee of the proposed South Granville BIA that the City calculate the levy for their area based on commercial floor area, not assessed property value (following from the September 23 Charter change).

· A request from the Downtown Vancouver BIA that the City consider changing the payment schedule from the present system of two equal payments per year, to permit one of the following: a) a single payment representing 100% of the BIA budget or b) two payments of 70% and 30% respectively to more closely track the BIAs' typical annual cash flow requirements.

Staff will report back on issues arising from the recent Charter amendments and from recent BIA requests.

CONCLUSION

Council will be requested to consider Council Initiatives for four new BIAs, as well as the renewal and/or expansion of three existing BIAs. As anticipated, Council's approval of a streamlined BIA process has encouraged more groups to attempt to form BIAs. The ultimate test of the new process will be whether the new BIA proposals are successful.

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(c) 1998 City of Vancouver