A couple of business owners attended the Aug. 21 town council meeting to express their concerns and opposition for the creation of the Downtown Parker Business Improvement District. 

Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) are publicly sanctioned and privately directed organizations that add public services within a geographic boundary through creating multi-year revenue through an assessment on local property owners, according to the US Federal Highway Administration. 

As Councilmembers Joshua Rivero, Anne Barrington and Brandi Wilks own businesses, they did comply with the voluntary disclosure requirements and under the Rule of Necessity were authorized to vote on the ordinance. 

The council unanimously approved an ordinance that declares the Downtown Parker Business Improvement District organized and provides for an appointed board to serve. 

The BID boundaries encompass the commercial area east of Parker Road along Mainnstreet to Pine Drive, however, the library is not included as there are non-local town or county properties included. 

“Residential is not involved,” said Tony Mango of Mango Mortgage Corporation. “It’s only commercial properties. If some of these mix-use properties come online, it would only be the commercial portion of the properties.”

Additionally, the BID will have no land use authority, therefore, the building heights and zoning is still up to the council. 

The BID will be a separate political subdivision and approves the operating plan and budget for the district for 2023-2024. 

“We do have an operating plan that’s been developed based on stakeholder input and local based services,” said Omar Castillo, a member of the Downtown Business Alliance. 

The budget for 2024 shows revenue and expenses of $150,000 with a revenue of $114,000 coming from a proposed mill levy and $36,000 coming from other sources, said Town Attorney Kristin Hoffman. 

The list of parcels to be included and a breakdown of the 2024 expenditures and anticipated revenues can be found on the Aug. 21 Town Council agenda, found at https://rb.gy/ortcw. 

The board of directors of the district consists of three property owners, one business tenant (non-property owners) and one Downtown Business Alliance member. Initial members are Tony Mango, Tony DeSimone, Bryan Zehnder, Omar Castillo and Denise Haack. 

In addition to maintaining maintenance activities like snow removal, the operating plan includes the services such as special and seasonal events, decorative lighting, public art, landscaping and pedestrian amenities. 

Several people, including those from the Downtown Business Alliance, provided public comment.

One resident said this felt like a money and power grab and two business owners were in opposition as they were worried about being annexed into the boundaries. 

“This feels to me a little bit like how to raise more money that maybe the town should have been responsible for,” said Kathy Zaffore, a business owner.

Residents who were supportive of the Downtown Business Alliance said a BID is going to help make downtown more desirable and that the town cannot have a vibrant downtown driven by volunteers alone as there is competition in surrounding communities. 

“A business improvement district and the funds that would infuse into the efforts would greatly increase our ability to continue to bring events to downtown Parker and allow opportunities for our small businesses to thrive and grow,” said Christina Guetin, a business owner. 

Property outside of the BID boundaries may be added after a petition is signed by the property owner(s), filed with the town and approved by town council after a public notice and hearing. 

Attorney for Spencer Fane, Tom George said properties can be noncontiguous by statute. Anyone within the boundaries of the Town of Parker could join the BID if it’s a commercial property. 

Property owners can also petition to be excluded from the boundaries and would go through the same process with the town and hearing. 

A petition could be a letter from a property owner to the town, said George. 

“The ordinance will establish the BID as an existing political subdivision,” said George. “It will have no taxation authority, no revenue or spending authority until we go to that TABOR election in November and only if the voters vote in favor of allowing the district to impose a property tax, collect the revenues and spend them.”

Councilmembers were supportive of the district, however, a few were torn. Councilmember Brandi Wilks said she wants to honor the BID moving forward but also the property owners who want to be excluded. 

Councilmember Laura Hefta said she wants to give property owners time to understand what BID is going to do for the downtown property owners. 

“It is with the utmost importance that we are competitive regionally,” said Councilmember Joshua Rivero. “If we are not competitive regionally, we will die downtown.”

Chamber Commercial Center Business

Council members also approved an ordinance which declared the Chambers Commercial Center Business Improvement District organized and provides for an elected board. 

This concerns 14 acres of commercial property located at the northeast corner of S Chambers Road and Hess Road. 

The project is being developed consists of 11 commercial lots, which are anticipated to total about 60,000 to 75,000 square feet of development. 

“The proposed BID does not contain any personal property at the time of the receipt of the petition, though it will contain both real and personal property once it’s formed,” said Town Attorney Kristin Hoffman. 

The ordinance approves the operating plan and budget, which can be found on the town’s agenda,  at https://rb.gy/ortcw. 

Public improvements include water, sanitary sewer and an internal road. 

“BID’s are created to encourage commercial investment in the city and they significantly lower the cost of financing public improvements which allows the project to be competitive in the region,” said Nicole Peykov, with Spencer Fane. 

The initial members of the board of directors of the district are Grant Nelson, Andrew Tritley, Joshua Brgoch, Thomas Clark and Dalton Horan.