Funded by a group of Village property owners and residents, a steering committee has been reviewing various budget proposals with the hopes of forming a Business Improvement District (BID) in the heart of Pacific Palisades’but not everyone is keen on joining. During the group’s last meeting on January 25, Leland S. Ford, of Leland M. Ford and Associates, handed the group a letter on behalf of John Wilson and10 other property owners announcing that they ‘do not wish to participate’ in the BID process. Wilson, who was not present at the meeting, is a 6.5 percent shareholder of a multi-family trust operating under the landlord group Pacific Palisades Properties. This group is in the process of selling a 2.77-acre property on Swarthmore Avenue and Sunset Boulevard to developer Rick Caruso. ‘It’s a lot of money,’ said Ford, referring to the yearly assessments that would be imposed on each landowner in the business district. ‘We could be spending this money right now. I feel that we are paying for City services that we are not getting; it’s not trickling down.’ A BID is a City-supported financing organization consisting of property owners and is established within contiguous boundaries. BIDs raise funds through fees assessed to property owners to invest within the boundaries of the business communities they serve through services such as marketing campaigns, pressure washing of sidewalks, additional trash collection, tree trimming and other improvements. Steve Gibson of Urban Place Consulting, who has been hired by the Palisades BID committee to facilitate the process, told the committee that ‘BIDs are finding that for the private sector to maintain economic vitality and insure investment in their property, the private sector is having to step up more and more, to provide those services’but then they control the process.’ Ultimately, it’s a business decision, he noted. ‘I have to pass this on to my tenants and they have to raise their prices,’ Ford said in response, referring to his tenants that include Ralphs, Norris Hardware, Pharmaca and the Palisades Car Wash. ‘We are trying to get people to shop in the Palisades. Unlike property taxes, the money raised by a BID is controlled by a board of private property owners after a two-percent fee is collected by the City. This proposed BID includes both sides of Sunset from Carey Street west to Via de la Paz, including businesses on Monument, La Cruz, Swarthmore and Via de la Paz. Christian Irwin, vice president of Domino Realty (which now manages the Highlands Plaza on Palisades Drive) spoke in support of the BID: ‘What will force business people out, in my opinion, is a bad shopping area and that is what we are moving towards. ‘I sit on a BID in Brentwood Village,’ Irwin continued. The value we have added since we cleaned up that community has improved our property value and makes more consumers come there and shop’it’s a net benefit for everyone.’ ‘This is insurance to keep your values stable and keep your businesses [tenants] here,’ consultant Steve Gibson said. The group will meet again on February 22 to review additional budget scenarios that could include assessments based on a combination of factors, such as a building and lot square footage, or a frontage-only formula. Because a BID is a tax district, its establishment requires significant coordination with the City Clerk’s office, a public hearing process and approval by the City Council. Even if various deadlines are met, the BID committee may not become official until early 2014.
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