Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO: Standing Committee on Planning and Environment
FROM: Director of City Plans
SUBJECT: Approval of Council Initiative - Downtown Vancouver BIA Renewal
 

RECOMMENDATION

GENERAL MANAGER’S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

Council policy for the renewal of a BIA was approved on July 30, 1992 as follows:

A BIA is renewed (re-established) by Council Initiative process; property owners and commercial tenants receive notification of the Initiative, and the renewal will not be approved if one third or more of the owners, representing one third of the assessed property value, or one third of the tenants, counted separately, are in opposition. An outline of the process is attached as Appendix A.

Section 462 of the Vancouver Charter was amended on September 23, 1998 to permit BIA renewal terms of up to 20 years. On February 16, 1999, Council exercised its authority under the amendment by approving a ten year renewal term for the Mount Pleasant BIA.

SUMMARY

In 1998, Council approved a major expansion of the Downtown Vancouver BIA (DVBIA). For technical reasons, the expansion was implemented as a separate legal entity, the “Downtown Vancouver (Expansion Area) BIA”. In all other respects, the DVBIA has operated as one single BIA area. As intended, both BIA terms expire on March 31, 2000. If Council approves the DVBIA’s renewal application, the original BIA and the 1998 expansion area will cease to exist as separate legal entities, and will form part of the new unified BIA.

The DVBIA has recently completed an extensive planning and evaluation process resulting in the formulation of a 10-year business plan and budget to be put before its membership at its AGM in September. The DVBIA proposal includes a 10-year renewal term, a 10-year funding ceiling of $20,634,983 and a year 2000-2001 budget of $1.8 million. This budget is more than double the previous annual budget of $705,000. However, the BIA has been conducting outreach to property owners and businesses since April, and based on input received to date, is confident that the renewal and budget proposals are widely supported.

Due to a number of timing issues discussed in this Report, the Planning and Environment Committee will be meeting to consider the DVBIA’s renewal application later on the same day the DVBIA holds its AGM. If, at the AGM, there are any changes to the current proposal, there will be no time to amend this Report. If there are minor changes, staff will report these verbally to Council, but if there are more extensive changes, the BIA renewal application will have to be deferred to a later Committee meeting.

PURPOSE

The Downtown Vancouver BIA (DVBIA) has completed the first step in the BIA renewal process. The purpose of this report is to commence the second step, which is to approve a Council Initiative to renew the BIA, to forward the renewal application to the Court of Revision, and to approve the proposed 10 year funding ceiling.

BACKGROUND

On December 6, 1994, Council approved a five-year renewal term for the Downtown Vancouver BIA, expiring April 1, 2000. The original BIA boundaries are attached as Appendix B.

On January 20, 1998, Council approved a mid-term expansion of the Downtown Vancouver BIA to encompass Granville Street and Downtown South, and a smaller extension west of Thurlow Street including part of Coal Harbour (Appendix C). On March 24, 1998, Council passed a By-law designating the Downtown Vancouver (Expansion Area) BIA for a 2-year term expiring April 1, 2000. Council’s intention was that the previously-approved 5-year term of the DVBIA, and the 2-year term of the Expansion Area, would expire at the same time. At that time, property owners and businesses within both the original and expansion area would be notified of the renewal application. If Council approved the renewal, a new designation by-law would be prepared combining the original and expansion areas into a unified Downtown Vancouver BIA (Appendix D). No new boundary changes are proposed.

DISCUSSION

Renewal Planning

In November 1998, the Downtown Vancouver BIA commenced planning for the BIA renewal initiative, including formulation of a 10-year business plan and budget. The main work was conducted between November 1998 and June 1999 by the DVBIA’s five standing committees, made up of over 60 individual BIA members. The work involved review of member- and market-surveys, evaluating existing programs against priorities, and identifying program needs.

A business plan and budget was presented to the BIA Board and adopted in June 1999. The DVBIA is proposing a fiscal year 2000 - 2001 budget of $1.8 million, representing a levy rate of approximately 34¢ per $1,000 of assessed property value. A copy of the proposed Year 1 budget is attached for information as Appendix E. In the event that Council approves theDVBIA renewal at the Court of Revision, staff will report back for approval of the Year 1 budget along with all of the other BIAs’ 2000 - 2001 budget requests.

The proposed 10-year budget is attached as Appendix F. The proposed 10 year funding-ceiling of $20,634,983 reflects a 3% annual budget increase after Year 1, and is the sum of the projected annual budgets over 10 years.

Outreach Activities

Outreach to the general membership commenced in April 1999, with a DVBIA newsletter article regarding the upcoming renewal, followed by AGM notices and further articles in the June, July and August newsletters. The August newsletter specified the proposed budget increase and invited members to arrange a personal briefing. The newsletter is distributed to every property owner and business within the BIA.

In early July, the DVBIA began one-on-one meetings with key property owners to outline the process to date, explain the business plan and budget, outline the cost and benefits of new programs, and discuss the levy implications. This process has been ongoing through September, and has involved close to 50 property owners.

Based on member input received to date, the DVBIA is confident that the proposed 10-year renewal term, business plan, and 10-year budget are generally supported. The DVBIA formally applied to the City for renewal of its mandate on August 3, 1999. A copy of their application letter, a further letter outlining their outreach process, and documentation of outreach material, is attached as Appendix G.

In August 1999, the Downtown Vancouver BIA formally notified all of the property owners and tenants of its upcoming September annual general meeting (AGM). The notice stated that a vote would be taken on whether or not the BIA should renew its mandate for a third term, stipulated a renewal term of 10 years, and provided a copy of the proposed 10-year budget.

Staff Comments - Membership Outreach and Support

Staff are satisfied that the DVBIA has notified all commercial property owners and tenants within the proposed renewal area. There are 724 property owners representing 1,620 properties with a total property value of $5,332,358,510 within the combined BIA boundaries, and approximately 8,200 business tenants.

The DVBIA reports that, as of September 8, 1999, only one property owner, representing approximately 0.6% of assessed property value, has expressed opposition to the renewal proposal. That property owner objects to the length of the proposed renewal term and the amount of the proposed budget increase. One other property owner has stated an objection to the BIA funding mechanism generally (i.e. as a tax levy), but has not expressed opposition to the DVBIA renewal proposal. No businesses have contacted the BIA to express opposition to the renewal proposal.

As of the date of this Report, staff have received no telephone calls or correspondence from individuals expressing opposition or concern regarding the renewal proposal; however, the City’s BIA Coordinator was not listed as a contact in the DVBIA’s literature.

Timing issues

The DVBIA wishes to obtain Council approval of its Renewal application this Fall, if possible, so that planning for its new and expanded programs can begin now and be ready for implementation by the start of the fiscal year on April 1, 2000.

A Court of Revision date is scheduled for November 1. Because of the statutory notice period of 30 days prior to a Court of Revision, the latest date Council could consider the application to forward the DVBIA proposal to the Court of Revision is at its September 23, 1999 Planning and Environment Committee meeting. September 23, 1999 is also the earliest date that Council can consider this report and the Renewal application, because the DVBIA’s AGM happens to have been set for earlier that day. The DVBIA general membership must first approve their Board’s renewal proposal at the AGM before Council can consider the renewal application. The DVBIA is highly confident that the renewal and associated initiatives will be approved by the membership as proposed and outlined in this report - which will not be able to be revised between the AGM and the Planning and Environment Committee meeting.

Staff and the DVBIA have agreed that if there are simple changes to the proposal at the AGM, staff will report these verbally during their presentation to Council. However, if there are changes which are not straightforward, or require further deliberation of the members, the BIA renewal application will have to be deferred to a later Committee meeting. The DVBIA has been advised of this possibility and agrees that the Report will be pulled in the event the membership does not approve the renewal proposal. The DVBIA is also aware that consequential delays for amending and reprinting the Court of Revision notification packages could result in failure to meet the 30-day statutory notice period for the proposed November 1, 1999 hearing. The DVBIA has agreed to pay any reprinting costs should new information be required.

Notification

If Council approves the Council Initiative, staff will notify all commercial property owners and tenants within the proposed DVBIA renewal boundaries (Appendix D). This comprises all property owners and tenants within both the original BIA boundary (Appendix B) and the 1998 expansion area boundary (Appendix C).

CONCLUSION

The Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association is requesting that Council consider approval of its proposed 10 year renewal term and 10 year funding ceiling of $20,634,983.00, and has asked that their application be forwarded by way of Council Initiative to a Court of Revision. The results of DVBIA outreach activities indicate only minimal opposition at this stage in the process. Assuming support is given at their AGM, shortly before this item is dealt with at the Standing Committee meeting on the afternoon of September 23, 1999, staff recommend approval of a Council Initiative to renew the Downtown Vancouver BIA as proposed.

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