Modesto’s vote key in forming assessment district

Modesto provided the crucial vote that carried Tuesday’s election to form a downtown community benefit district that will require all property owners – including governments – to pay assessments totaling $700,000 annually to fund improvements.

The City Council formed the district after balloting among property owners showed 55 percent favored the district while 45 percent opposed it. As required by state law, the ballots were weighted based on property owners’ assessments. The bigger the assessment, the bigger the vote. The assessments are based on such factors as lot size and building square footage.

Modesto and its former redevelopment agency has the biggest assessment at $64,632 and the biggest vote. Stanislaus County is No. 2 with a $36,745 assessment and vote. The city, its former redevelopment agency, the county and the office of education provided almost half of the weighted vote in favor of the district.

But Modesto was the key. Without its support, the election would have failed even with the other local governments voting for it.

The district did not have popular support among property owners. There are 214 property owners within the district’s boundaries – which are roughly Seventh Street to Needham Street-Downey Avenue and G Street to L Street – and 125 of them cast ballots, with 76 voting no and 49 voting yes. Those 125 ballots represent $481,400 of the $700,000 in total assessments.

Mayor Garrad Marsh said he understands some people are not pleased with the outcome. But he said local government is part of downtown and will pay the assessments, and this is an opportunity to better the city center. The city, its former redevelopment agency, the county and the office of education will pay $117,836 of the assessments.

Council members voted 7-0 to create the district after the results of the balloting were announced. The council also held a public hearing before its vote, in which more than a dozen people spoke, with some speakers saying these districts have been a great success and others calling the assessments too expensive and saying the district is a misguided attempt to push the homeless out of downtown.

Ryan Swehla – with commercial real estate firm NAI Benchmark and one of the leaders in the effort to create a district – said community benefit districts have been successful in Tracy, Turlock, Stockton and Sacramento. “This effort is about taking our downtown to the next level,” he said.

Several speakers spoke about problems created downtown by the homeless and how a benefit district could address that.

Roberta Brown was one of several people from First United Methodist Church who spoke against the district. She said while the proposal sounds good and she supports a better downtown, she was concerned that her church would be paying more than $6,000 in annual assessments for services it did not want.

She also questioned how the district would deal with the homeless and whether its intent was to criminalize their behavior and push them out of downtown. She said when people talk about the Modesto community, it includes everyone, including “the people who live on our streets.”

Marsh said he is a member of the community benefit district steering committee and said the intent is not to criminalize or force the homeless out of downtown. He said committee members have talked about hiring the homeless to work on the cleanup crews. He added the city is working with the the county in its Focus on Prevention effort to find permanent solutions to homelessness.

The impetus to create the district came out of the Downtown Modesto Partnership – a group of property and business owners, downtown supporters, and the city and county. Some of those involved in the effort include Swehla, Gallo Center for the Arts CEO Lynn Dickerson and attorney Dave Gianelli. A nonprofit organization will be formed to manage the district. Assessments are expected to go out later this year, and the district is expected to provide services in 2016, which could include steam-cleaning sidewalks, enhanced security and marketing and promotions.

This story was originally published September 2, 2015 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Modesto’s vote key in forming assessment district."