TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to sign the petition on behalf of the City of Long Beach as the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Long Beach which owns certain properties located within the boundaries of the proposed Uptown Property and Business Improvement District (UPBID); and
Authorize City Manager to sign the subsequent ballot in support of establishing the Uptown Property and Business Improvement (UPBID). (Districts 8,9)
DISCUSSION
The State of California Property and Business Improvement District Law of 1994 (Section 33600 et seq. of the California Streets and Highways Code), and Article XIIID of the California Constitution (Proposition 218), enables the City to create a property-based assessment district allowing property owners to voluntarily assess themselves for various services beyond those provided by the City, including enhanced maintenance, public safety, beautification, marketing, and economic development programs.
Property owners of record along Atlantic Avenue between Market Street and Artesia Boulevard, and Artesia Boulevard between Atlantic Avenue and Gundry Avenue, have petitioned the City for creation of a business improvement district, i.e., the Uptown Property and Business Improvement District (UPBID). The new property and business improvement district shall be comprised of property owners within the proposed boundaries, as described later in this report. The attached UPBID Management District Plan (MOP) (Exhibit A) details the boundaries of the UPBID, the amount and method of assessment for each parcel, and the improvements and activities for which the assessment funds will be used.
If established, the UPBID shall commence on January 1, 2014, for the initial period January 1,2014 through December 31,2014, and the City Council will annually review and consider approving renewal of the levy, budgets and reports as submitted by the UPBID, for a period of five years. The assessment methodology will generate approximately $199,769 in revenue during the first year. Located within the proposed UPBID boundaries are 42 parcels that are owned by the Successor Agency. The total proposed assessments for these parcels during the first year is $30,640; a detail of each parcel assessment is found in the MOP.
The Uptown Property and Community Association (UPCA) will govern the UPBID, and shall serve as the Owners' Association per the California Streets and Highways Code Section 36651. The UPCA Board of Directors will be comprised of a majority of parcel owners paying the assessment, and they will adhere to the Ralph M. Brown Act requirements. Pursuant to the Streets and Highways Code, Section 36650, the UPCA will also provide an annual report to the City. The Successor Agency would pay its assessment as a Parcel Owner until such time as the Successor Agency's parcels located within the UPBID boundaries are transferred, or, for the duration of the UPBID in the event the Successor Agency is still in possession of the parcels in question prior to expiration of the UPBID.
This matter was reviewed by Assistant City Attorney Charles Parkin on February 28,2013 and by Budget Management Officer Victoria Bell on March 18, 2013.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
Formation of the UPBID is projected to be complete by late July 2013, so that submission to the County Assessor's Office for FY 2014 can be accomplished prior to the August 9, 2013 deadline. Successor Agency action is requested on April 2, 2013, in order to request approval from the Oversight Board and the Department of Finance in a timely manner.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed assessment for all Successor Agency owned parcels in the UPBID is estimated at $30,640 annually. If approved by the Successor Agency and Oversight Board, the Department of Finance (DOF) could choose to deny the approval and disallow inclusion of the assessment on a future Recognized Obligation Payment Schedule (ROPS). If the Department of Finance does not authorize assessment payments, the UPBID would not receive assessments from Successor Agency owned parcels, approximately 15 percent less revenue than it has budgeted. This could mean a reduction in the anticipated level of service or a delay in the delivery of services to future years until future assessment revenue is available.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER