Agenda Index City of Vancouver

POLICY REPORT
INFORMATION

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director of City Plans in consultation with the City Clerk and the Director of Legal Services

SUBJECT:

Disclosure of Personal Information - BIA Program

 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

There is currently no Council policy regarding disclosure of property and business owner information provided in conjunction with the Business Improvement Area (BIA) Program.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Report is to recommend the adoption of Council Policy to permit the release of property and business owner information to BIA applicants, opponents, and established BIAs in compliance with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

BACKGROUND

The current BIA process is described in Appendix A. At two key points in the process, property and/or business owners may wish to canvass other merchants and owners:

· groups proposing a BIA are required to provide information about the proposal to property owners / businesses who would be within the BIA boundary; and
· under the Council Initiative process, people who wish to oppose the application are required to register their opposition by writing to the City Clerk, or by addressing Council at the Court of Revision. Opponents may wish to solicit support to defeat the proposal.

In the past, the City has made available lists of property owners and business tenants to groups wishing to start or oppose a BIA. The City has also provided periodic updates of the lists to established BIAs for the purpose of maintaining current membership mailing lists. When an established BIA wishes to expand, the City provides the BIA with a list of property owners and business tenants in the proposed expansion area.

DISCUSSION

The lists of property owners and business tenants routinely provided by the BIA Program may contain personal information such as individual names and residential addresses. Since the application of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act to municipalities in 1994, the City has been reviewing its practices involving disclosure of personal information. To ensure that disclosures made under the BIA Program comply with the Act, staff have drafted a policy to guide the disclosure of information in this context.

Under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, the City is permitted to release this personal information if this is necessary for operating a legally authorized program. The Vancouver Charter provisions relating to the establishment of a BIA are silent regarding release of information related to a BIA Petition or Initiative, and there is no other City by-law or policy in this regard. The Manager, Corporate Information & Privacy has recommended development of formal policy to govern distribution of lists for BIA activities. The City's BIA Coordinator recommends that lists of property owners and business tenants be provided to groups wishing to establish or oppose a BIA, and to established BIAs for maintaining their membership mailing lists, and for contacting property owners and businesses in proposed BIA expansions.

The City has provided lists to BIA applicants because early dialogue with property owners and businesses is essential to ensure that a proposal is understood and supported before it is forwarded to the Court of Revision. The City also provides lists to established BIAs for the purpose of updating their membership mailing lists. This is to ensure that new property owners/businesses in the BIA receive notice of annual general meetings and other events which might affect their interests. It would be unfortunate if the City was no longer able toprovide this information, as the ability to contact affected parties is integral to the BIA Program. Recent experience and interest in forming new BIAs suggests that the BIA vehicle is of considerable potential benefit to commercial areas.

Staff believe that copies of the property owner and business lists should routinely be made available to groups interested in establishing a BIA, and also, in fairness, to groups opposed to the imposition of a BIA levy. A qualifying group would be any five or more individuals acting in concert for the same purpose who are commercial property owners or business tenants within the proposed or established BIA.

If Council mandates the release of property owner and business lists in conjunction with the BIA program the following information a) would and b) would NOT be provided:

1. Information which would be provided:

a) Property Owner Lists (districtations from tax roll)
· Street address of property
· Coordinate (tax roll) number and tax account number
· Taxation class (i.e., class 5 - light industrial, class 6 - commercial, or mixed use)
· Name of property owner(s). This may be a company name or a personal name.
· Mailing address of property owner (where there are multiple owners, only one address is given). This may in some cases be a personal, i.e., residential, address.
· Taxable assessed value of the property
· Share of total assessment (decimal figure)
· Approximate annual BIA levy for the property

b) Business Owner Lists (from Permits and Licenses data)
· Street address of business
· Name of business license applicant (may be a business name or a personal name)
· Mailing address of business owner. This may in some cases be a personal, i.e., residential, address.
· Description of business, e.g., Retail Dealer.
· Status of business license, e.g., issued, renewal, out of business, etc.

2. Information which would NOT be provided:

· Telephone numbers of property owners or businesses
· Information regarding non-class 5, -class 6 properties (e.g., no residential properties)
· Taxes or charges other than BIA levies
· Tax account or business account arrears or other confidential information.

A draft policy regarding the release of personal information related to the establishment and operation of BIAs in the City of Vancouver is attached to this report as Appendix B.

CONCLUSION

To facilitate implementation of the BIA Program, staff recommend making lists of property owners and tenants available to BIA applicants and other groups affected by the BIA process.

- - - - -

APPENDIX A

PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHING OR EXPANDING A BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREA (BIA) - on file in the City Clerk's Office

APPENDIX B

PROPOSED POLICY REGARDING RELEASE OF PROPERTY AND BUSINESS OWNER INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT AREAS (BIAs) IN THE CITY OF VANCOUVER

a a) To a group applying, or expressing an intention to apply, to establish a BIA;

b) To a BIA society, for the purpose of maintaining a current mailing list of BIA members;

and

c) To a group wishing to contact affected property and/or business owners within a proposed BIA or BIA expansion area, or prior to a proposed BIA renewal, for the purpose of opposing the BIA application.

2. The lists of businesses and property owners referred to in Section 1 shall include information sufficient to identify and contact the owners of the properties andbusinesses, and shall include the street address of the property or business, name(s) of the property owner(s) or business/business owner(s), and property/business owner mailing addresses if available. Subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, other information reasonably required for the establishment and ongoing administration of a BIA may be provided, including assessed property values and calculations of BIA levies for individual properties.

3. For the purpose of this policy, a `group' means:

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