Would property owners pay to improve Modesto’s downtown?

Are property owners willing to spend some of their own money to improve downtown?

That’s the question a group of people with ties to downtown Modesto are trying to answer. They have hired a consultant to gauge property owners’ interest in forming a community benefit district, in which the owners would pay an assessment to fund downtown improvements.

Those improvements could include cleaning streets, gutters and sidewalks more frequently; planting more trees, shrubs and flowers; adding more security; dealing with panhandlers and vagrants; and marketing and promoting downtown. The services would supplement and cannot replace services provided by the city.

The City Council on Tuesday will be asked to support the effort.

A city report states that downtown business and property owners in August started discussing how to pay for the service gaps they saw in downtown. Those people include attorney Dave Gianelli, Gallo Center for the Arts CEO Lynn Dickerson, Greens Market owner Ann Endsley and Never Boring Design President David Boring.

“I think we can move the need more with this than anything else we can do,” Boring said.

City officials say downtown has tremendous potential and some major assets, such as its restaurants and stores and the Gallo Center. But it also empties out in the evenings when workers in government buildings, law firms and offices go home. It also has too many vacant storefronts, and businesses have complained about the homeless who panhandle and create other nuisances.

Modesto is trying to revitalize downtown but is limited because of its budget challenges and the state doing away with redevelopment agencies, which let cities spend property tax money to improve blighted areas, such as downtowns.

Josh Bridegroom, the city’s downtown planning manager, said this is a grass-roots effort, though he and Mayor Garrad Marsh have taken part in the discussions.

The group hired the San Diego-based consulting firm of New City America, at a cost of $30,000, to survey property owners’ interest in forming a community benefit district and what types of services they want. Modesto paid $15,000 of the survey cost.

New City America President Marco Li Mandri said surveys were sent to about 500 property owners in early October in an area bounded by Highway 99, N and G streets and Needham and 17th streets. The surveys are due Friday.

Li Mandri said he expects to have the results by Thanksgiving week. He said his firm will look at not only how many property owners support forming a community benefit district, but whether they are concentrated in particular areas. He said that’s important in forming the district’s boundaries if this proposal becomes a reality.

He said he could not say how much money the district would bring in annually because that depends on the size of the district and the types of services property owners want.

Li Mandri said if the survey shows there is enough support to move forward, the next step would cost $50,000 and include a petition drive to gauge property owners’ support and a mail-in ballot to create the district. He said Modesto also would need to pass an ordinance allowing formation of the district.

He said all property owners within the district – including churches and government agencies – would pay the assessment, which would vary based on such factors as the size of the parcel and building. He said the community benefit district would be controlled and operated by the property owners through a nonprofit set up for that purpose.

Community benefit districts are used in the Northern San Joaquin Valley. Property owners in Turlock, Stockton and Tracy have formed them or similar assessment districts to pay for downtown improvements, according to New City America.

Modesto has a Downtown Improvement District, which takes on such projects as removing or painting over graffiti, according to its website. But the DID has an annual budget of less than $200,000 and is limited in what it can do, said Boring, who serves on the DID board. The DID is funded by assessments paid by members.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in the basement chambers at Tenth Street Place, 1010 10th St.

This story was originally published November 1, 2014 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Would property owners pay to improve Modesto’s downtown?."