An amendment to the Business Improvement District (BID) guidelines that could make it easier to pass is headed to City Council for review next week.
The idea behind a BID is that it would be an organization that could advocate and host programs and events that would draw people to the relevant area as well as providing other services.
While BIDs have flourished in neighboring Arlington, previous efforts to get one approved in Old Town Alexandria have faced an uphill battle. The proposed cost — last proposed as an extra $0.10 service district tax added onto the real property tax — baulked some business and property owners on King Street who say they’re already operating at a tight margin.
The Old Town BID is an old fight that resurfaces every couple years: most recently last spring and in 2017 before that. The major hurdle is that the BID is required to get 60% approval from commercial property owners in the Business Improvement District area. The new amendment, though, would exclude those who don’t respond to outreach efforts from that total.
According to the amended guidelines:
At least 60% of the commercial property owners in the Business Improvement Service District’s (BID) proposed area must sign the petition to show support; each applicable taxable property gets one vote. If the proponent group is unable to meet the 60% requirement due to the non-responsive applicable taxable property owners, the proponent group needs to send the petition to the non-responsive applicable taxable property owners via certified mail (or any mailing that provides the sender with a mailing receipt and verification that the mail was delivered or that a delivery attempt was made). Properties for which no response is received within 30 days of when the certified mail is sent may be excluded from the calculation for determining whether the 60% requirement has been met.
A memo from City Manager Jim Parajon said the change is the result of the Old Town Business Association finding a lack of responsiveness among property owners to the petition campaign last year.
“The OTBA has led the BID organizing effort in Old Town and initiated a petition campaign in early 2023 as required by the Guidelines in order to file a BID application with the City,” Parajon wrote. “Despite a lengthy petition campaign, OTBA has noted that a large proportion of the property owners have not responded to the petition. It has also been noted that while some business tenants who will absorb the additional assessment given the nature of their leases have been supportive of a BID, they have absentee property owners who have been unresponsive.”
Parajon said the guidelines would have additional outreach to unresponsive property owners specifically, but that if no respose is still obtained, they won’t be included in the total that the BID needs to secure 60% approval from.
“City Council directed staff to propose amendments to the Guidelines to allow for additional outreach to such unresponsive property owners in order to encourage them to engage in the petition process,” Parajon wrote. “The results from this additional outreach could then be a factor in making a determination as to whether a BID goes forward.”
The proposed change is scheduled for review at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, May 28.
