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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 36 - Intention to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District Community Development Agency santa-ana.org/cd Item # 36 City of Santa Ana 20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701 Staff Report December 20, 2022 TOPIC: Resolution of Intention to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District AGENDA TITLE: Adopt Resolution of Intention to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District RECOMMENDED ACTION Adopt a resolution of intention to disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District and establish a time and place for a public hearing to be held by the City Council on January 17, 2023. 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. 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% of the BID assessment, approximately $100,000 per year. 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. At its regular meeting on October 26, 2022, by a vote of 6:0 (with one recusal), the Commission recommended to the City Council to dissolve the BID. Resolution - Intention to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana BID December 20, 2022 Page 2 3 1 3 7 Over the course of the year, 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 Commission and Council meetings. On November 15, 2022, the City Council voted to start the process to dissolve the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District (BID). The next step in the BID disestablishment process is for City Council to adopt a resolution of intention to disestablish the BID and set a public hearing. The public hearing must be held no less than 20 and not more than 30 days after the date of adoption in accordance the Streets and Highways Code section 36530. Thereafter, City Council may adopt an ordinance after holding the public hearing on the disestablishment. Notice of the disestablishment of the BID will be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the city, no later than 15 days after the ordinance disestablishing the area is adopted. All businesses in the Business Improvement District will be notified and their BID assessment will be removed from their business license tax bill for 2023 and thereafter. No known assets were acquired with the revenues of the assessments levied within the Downtown BID. Any remaining revenues derived from the levy assessments shall be refunded to the owners of the method and basis 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. Resolution Submitted By: Michael L. Garcia, Executive Director of Community Development Approved By: Kristine Ridge, City Manager Resolution 2022-XXX Page 1 of 3 RESOLUTION 2022-XXX A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA DECLARING ITS INTENTION 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, such funding has been generated through an annual levy of assessments on businesses located within the Downtown BID according to the formula described in Ordinance No. NS-1715; 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. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana as follows: Section 1. In accordance with section 36550 of the California Streets and Highways Code, the City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares its intention to disestablish the Downtown BID for the reasons discussed on record at the Santa Ana City Council meeting on November 15, 2022. Section 2. Notice is hereby given that on 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, a public hearing will be held by the City Council to consider an ordinance dissolving the Downtown BID, at which time any and all persons interested in or objecting to the proposed dissolution may appear and be heard. EXHIBIT 1 Resolution 2022-XXX Page 2 of 3 Section 3. Upon disestablishment of the Downtown BID, there shall be a proposal to dispose of any assets, if any, acquired with the revenues of the assessments levied within the Downtown BID. Section 4. Upon disestablishment of the Downtown BID, 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 5. The Clerk of the Council is directed to give notice of the above- referenced public hearing in accordance with section 36523 of the California Streets and Highways Code, which section requires publication of this Resolution in a newspaper of general circulation in the City once, for at least seven days before the public hearing, and the mailing of a complete copy of this Resolution by first-class mail to each business owner assessed in the Downtown BID within seven days of the City Council’s adoption of this Resolution. Section 6. This Resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council, and the Clerk of the Council shall attest to and certify the vote adopting this Resolution ADOPTED this ____ day of ______________, 2022. ___________________________ Mayor 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 EXHIBIT 1 Resolution 2022-XXX Page 3 of 3 CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTATION AND ORIGINALITY I, _________________, Clerk of the Council, do hereby attest to and certify the attached Resolution No. 2022-___ to be the original Resolution adopted by the City Council of the City of Santa Ana on _____________, 2022. Date: ___________________ ____________________________ Clerk of the Council City of Santa Ana EXHIBIT 1