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Proposal makes a bid for downtown

JANESVILLE — After two meetings with downtown property owners, Janesville’s Downtown Development Alliance is moving forward with plans for a Business Improvement District.

Supporters said the BID’s $199,500 budget would provide:

-- $21,700 for beautification and maintenance.

-- $30,000 for recruiting new downtown tenants and professional marketing.

-- $17,800 for events and celebrations, including an annual downtown event that would become a tradition.

-- $50,000 for signs to direct people downtown and landscaping.

-- $80,000 for personnel, rent and expenses.

The BID would create credibility for downtown investors and sustain funding for the future, said Larry Squire, who sits on the alliance and is president of Johnson Bank in Janesville.

“It would show investors that we have a vision and believe in the success of the downtown,” he said.

The alliance will file a petition with the city Monday to start the formation of a BID, which could be in operation Jan. 1, 2009.

But the BID will not move forward without making concessions to concerns raised at the group’s first public session in June.

The downtown group originally proposed a BID with a first-year budget of $209,000. It would assess commercial, manufacturing and mixed-use properties at $2.80 per $1,000 of assessed valuation. The minimum assessment was to be $350, with a maximum of $3,500.

But in the three weeks since the first meeting, the minimum assessment was lowered to $275, and owners of multiple properties will pay the full assessment on their highest-value property and get a 10 percent discount for other properties.

And the BID’s first-year budget was cut to $199,500, of which $81,500 would come from city coffers and $118,000 from assessments on property owners.

BID task force members said the decrease in the minimum assessment creates a better funding bell curve. The owners of the five properties with the highest assessments will contribute 14 percent of the budget, while the 68 properties assessed at the minimum will add 15 percent.

The group met with property owners again Wednesday to lay out the revised plan, which affects 182 properties that carry an assessed value of about $45 million. Houses, vacant lots, standalone parking lots and governmental and tax-exempt properties are not included in the BID.

Public concerns were few and primarily centered around downtown property owners paying for benefits some feel they should be covered by their property taxes. Opposition also has come from property owners who say they can maintain their properties without any help or further assessments.

“If this BID fails, it would send the mission that this sector is not ready, not for real,” Squire said.

A BID can be defeated if a petition is signed by owners of properties representing more than 40 percent of the value of the property to be assessed in the district. That happened to a similar BID proposal in 2003.

Chad Karl, chairman of the BID task force, said now is the time for the downtown’s private sector to show its commitment.

The public sector will contribute by building downtown parking structures to address a long-time concern of downtown property owners, he said.

“The downtown has improved and is improving, but there are a lot of small businesses that are just hanging on,” he said before the meeting. “Given the circumstances we face nationally and locally, how long can they hang on? Do we wait until 2010 and then say we’ve got an even bigger problem?

“My philosophy has been like Wayne Gretzky, who always skated to where the puck was going, not where the puck was.”

The district’s boundaries recently were altered to include the Hendricks Development Group’s project at the former Connors Supply parcel near Five Points, a move the development group sought.

“If you look at all the vibrant downtowns in Wisconsin, they all have BIDs that increase property values and decrease vacancies,” said Mark Membrino of the Hendricks group. “We certainly support that in Janesville and would like to think people can look at the benefits and not just the cost.”

Wisconsin has 82 BIDs, 29 of which are in Milwaukee.

The Hendricks group has been a major player in the revitalization of downtown Beloit, which in the 19-plus years since forming a BID has seen a average annual growth in district property values of 10.5 percent, said Kathleen Braatz, executive director of the Downtown Beloit Association.

Within the Beloit BID, more than 300 buildings have been rehabilitated and the area has seen a net increase of nearly 900 jobs, she said.

The Janesville city plan commission is expected to hold a public hearing on the BID proposal in August, and the city council will be asked to vote on it in September. Janesville’s city manager would appoint BID board members, the majority of whom must be downtown property owners.

BID BUDGET

The total budget of $199,500 would be funded by assessments on property owners ($118,000) and the city of Janesville ($81,500).

The money would pay for:

-- Beautification and maintenance: $21,700.

-- Recruitment and marketing: $30,000.

-- Events and celebrations: $17,800.

-- Signage and streetscapes: $50,000.

-- Personnel, rent and expenses: $80,000.