CHCA board to hear Business Improvement District proposal

by KATIE WORRALL

Tom Ivory, president of the Chestnut Hill Business Association, has been invited by the Chestnut Hill Community Association Executive Committee to speak at the CHCA board of directors meeting on Thursday, October 23, at 7:30 p.m. at the Chestnut Hill Library, 8711 Germantown Ave.

Ivory will discuss the CHBA’s proposal to establish a Business Improvement District, in which a 12 percent surcharge would be added to property taxes of commercial property owners within boundaries that extend along Germantown Avenue between Cresheim Valley Drive and Rex Avenue and unit blocks of side streets where commercial properties are located. The money would pay for improvements to the physical appearance of the business district, strengthening the local economy and security and parking circulation.

Ivory told the executive committee members that a city ordinance is needed to establish a BID and that because City Council discusses budget issues at its first session after the new year, the district councilperson will not introduce legislation until after January 27. There is a 30-day period after the legislation is introduced when objections can be raised.

Asked by CHCA president Maxine Dornemann if the rent would be increased for tenants of commercial property owners, Ivory said that he and CHBA executive director Suzanne Biemiller estimated that the BID would cost each commercial property owner an average $300 per year. He said if the BID is approved, businesses would no longer pay extra fees for holiday lights and hanging baskets. The money would include a fee for a retail consultant who would do a block-by-block analysis of what the rents should be and what businesses are needed.

Ivory explained that the fees would be collected by the BID, rather than the city, and if it does not work, it will “go away” in a year. The BID would be controlled by a board made up of nine voting members, two of whom are from the Business Association.

Proposals call for a representative of the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation and that of the remaining six, two would come from properties below the 8100 block of Germantown Avenue, two above that block, including Bethlehem Pike, one property owner with property assessed over one million dollars, and one property owner of property assessed at under one million. The BID board will reflect the thoughts of the property owners, he said.

Dornemann said that she and Ivory had discussed ways for the Business Association and the Community Association to partner on Physical Division issues pertaining to the business district. “When businesses come into committees, they are never intended to be adversarial. We are looking for ways to be less adversarial,” Dornemann said. “ I do believe that we either swim together or sink together.”

When CHCA vice president of operations Douglas Doman commented that he and treasurer Chris Kemezis would like to know what community projects would be included in BID by January, when Community Association and Community Fund begin working on the fiscal 2004 budget, Ivory said that there should be a lot of cross-over between the Community Association and the Business Improvement District so that the community is not speaking with a fractious voice when it deals with City Hall or Harrisburg.

During the discussion, in which Dornemann wanted a motion to support the BID that evening and committee member Tia Burke thought a motion was premature, past president Stewart Graham said that since Ivory’s presentation last week was the first given to the Community Association, a presentation should be made to the board for informational purposes this month so that the subject is not new to them when they vote on the proposal next month.

The executive committee will vote on the proposal in November. It was pointed out during the discussion that whether or not a Business Improvement District is established is important to the Community Association not only because of partnership issues but also because its nonprofit entity, the Chestnut Hill Community Fund, owns two commercial properties.