The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutItem 05 - Adopt Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District Community Development Agency www.santa-ana.org/community-developent Item # 5 City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Staff Report February 7, 2023 TOPIC: Adopt Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District AGENDA TITLE: Second reading of an Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District RECOMMENDED ACTION Place ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District on second reading and adopt. DISCUSSION On February 6, 1984, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. NS-1715 pursuant to state law, creating a Business Improvement District (BID) in Downtown Santa Ana. The BID was established as a means of providing the Downtown business community with the funding to promote events and create promotional materials, increase the security presence, enhance maintenance of the downtown shopping corridors, and implement streetscape improvements. The BID is funded through an additional charge on the business license tax for those businesses within the BID boundary. On October 6, 2003, the City Council appointed the Community Redevelopment and Housing Commission (CRHC) as the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District Advisory Board. As the BID Advisory Board, the CRHC, now known as the Community Development Commission (CDC), is responsible for making recommendations to the City Council on the expenditure of revenues derived from the levy of assessments, on the classification of businesses, as applicable, and on the method and basis of levying the assessments, including the annual budget. The City Council activated the current BID on July 1, 2013. To administer the activities of the BID, the City executed operating agreements with Downtown Inc. and the Santa Ana Business Council in an effort to address the needs of the two business associations. Each association received 50 percent of the BID assessment, approximately $100,000 per year. Adopt Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District February 7, 2023 Page 2 3 2 2 5 At a regular meeting of the CDC on October 26, 2022, by a vote of 6:0 (with one recusal), the CDC recommended to the City Council to dissolve the BID. Over the course of 2022, downtown businesses held several town hall meetings to express their dissent for the BID. Several protest forms were submitted to the Clerk of the Council and many merchants expressed their dissention for the BID and its operations at the CDC and City Council meetings. On December 20, 2022, the City Council adopted a resolution of intention to disestablish the BID and set a public hearing for January 17, 2023. At the January 17th Public Hearing City Council approved the first reading of the ordinance, and the two operating agreements with the business associations were terminated. BID levy assessments also terminated as of January 1, 2023. All businesses in the BID have been notified and their BID assessment has been removed from their business license tax bill for 2023 and thereafter. Any remaining revenues derived from the levy assessments shall be refunded to the tenants based on the method that was used to calculate the assessments levied in the fiscal year in which the area is disestablished. FISCAL IMPACT There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this action EXHIBIT(S) 1. Ordinance Submitted By: Michael L. Garcia, Executive Director of Community Development Approved By: Kristine Ridge, City Manager Ordinance No. NS-XXX Page 1 of 3 ORDINANCE NO. NS-XXX AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA TO DISESTABLISH THE DOWNTOWN SANTA ANA BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT WHEREAS, on February 6, 1984, in accordance with California Streets and Highways Code Section 36500 et seq., the City of Santa Ana adopted Ordinance No. NS- 1715, by which the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement Area was established (“Downtown BID”) as a means of providing the Downtown business community with funding to promote and market the Downtown area; and WHEREAS, the City Council appointed the Community Development Commission to serve as the BID Advisory Board to make recommendations to the City Council on the expenditure of revenues derived from the levy of assessments, on the classification of businesses, as applicable, and on the method and basis of levying the assessments; and WHEREAS, at its regular meeting on October 26, 2022, by a majority vote, the Community Development Commission recommended that the City Council dissolve the Downtown BID; and WHEREAS, at its regular meeting on November 15, 2022, by a majority vote, the City Council approved the recommendation to dissolve the Downtown BID; and WHEREAS, Section 36550 of the California Streets and Highways Code authorizes the City Council to disestablish a business improvement area by ordinance after adopting a resolution of intention prior to conducting a public hearing on the ordinance; and WHEREAS, on December 20, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution 2022-___ (“Resolution”) declaring its intention to disestablish the Downtown BID and setting a public hearing to consider such an ordinance for January 17, 2023, at 5:45 p.m. or as soon as possible thereafter, in the Santa Ana City Council Chambers, 22 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, California; and WHEREAS, the Clerk of the Council provided notice of the above-referenced hearing in accordance with Section 36523 of the California Streets and Highways Code, by publishing the Resolution in a newspaper of general circulation in the City once, for at least seven days before the public hearing, and by mailing a complete copy of the Resolution by first-class mail to each business owner assessed in the Downtown BID within seven days of the City Council’s adoption of the Resolution; and WHEREAS, the City Council, at the time and place set for public hearing, heard any and all persons interested in or objecting to the proposed ordinance dissolving the Downtown BID. EXHIBIT 1 Ordinance No. NS-XXX Page 2 of 3 NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. The recitals above are each incorporated by reference and adopted as findings by the City Council. Section 2. In accordance with Section 36550 of the California Streets and Highways Code, the Downtown BID is hereby disestablished. Section 3. Upon the effective date of this Ordinance, any remaining revenues derived from the levy of assessments, or any revenues derived from the sale of assets acquired with the revenues, shall be refunded in the manner required by Section 36551 of the California Streets and Highways Code. Section 4. The City Council finds and determines that this Ordinance is not subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections 15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines because it will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, as there is no possibility it will have a significant effect on the environment, and it is not a “project,” as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines. Section 5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares that it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions be declared invalid or unconstitutional. Section 6. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days after its adoption. Section 7. The Clerk of the Council shall certify the adoption of this ordinance and shall cause the same to be published as required by law. ADOPTED this _______ day of ___________, 2023. _________________________ Valerie Amezcua Mayor EXHIBIT 1 Ordinance No. NS-XXX Page 3 of 3 APPROVED AS TO FORM: Sonia R. Carvalho, City Attorney By:_________________________ John M. Funk Chief Assistant City Attorney AYES: Councilmembers ______________________________________ NOES: Councilmembers _______________________________________ ABSTAIN: Councilmembers _______________________________________ NOT PRESENT: Councilmembers _______________________________________ CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTATION AND ORIGINALITY I, _____________, Clerk of the Council, do hereby attest to and certify the attached Ordinance No. NS-____________ to be the original ordinance adopted by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana on _______________, and that said ordinance was published in accordance with the Charter of the City of Santa Ana. Date: ________________ ____________________________________ Clerk of the Council City of Santa Ana EXHIBIT 1