Downtown dilemma Loveland’s downtown authority survives dissolution attempt

Loveland’s downtown is at a crossroads, with the city’s Downtown Development Authority taking a sharp turn in a new direction.
Felicia Harmon resigned from her 11-year post as director of the authority in November. In December, Loveland’s city council voted whether to dissolve the DDA. The organization survived the vote, but there will be major structural changes.
The DDA was founded in 1979 to revitalize the downtown district and encourage economic growth. The mission included analyzing economic changes, protecting property values, encouraging the district’s economic health, and planning, funding, constructing and operating public facilities.
The initiative to dissolve the DDA was spearheaded by City Councilman Kurt Loomis. He saw Harmon’s resignation as a good time to make a change, but he voiced some support for the outgoing director.
“She did a good job and became the focus of a lot of distractions and the point of discontent,” he said.
The DDA’s expenses created incentive for Loomis to initiate the disbanding and restructuring of the organization.
The purpose of a DDA is to take the tax dollars collected in one area of the city and apply the funds directly back to those specific parts of town that reap 100 percent benefit directly from their tax money, Loomis said.
This scenario works well, he noted, when you have a large-enough tax base that averages a couple of million dollars. Loveland’s tax base generates $55,000 for the DDA.
“Generally, DDAs don’t exist in small towns,” Loomis said. “They exist in larger towns where the tax base is significant.”
As the years have gone by, Loomis said, the DDA’s administrative costs have increased to $160,000.
“Not a single penny of that goes to the downtown,” he said. “Now we’re taking tax money to support the DDA.”
The DDA was using $160,000 of taxpayer dollars to direct the use of another $55,000 (from the tax levy). Among those numbers was the director’s salary of an estimated $45,000. All told, Loomis said, “The DDA used $1.7 million in administrative costs since its inception, and the Rialto cost $1 million to complete.” The Rialto Theatre was renovated last year.
Currently, the DDA will be allotted $55,000 from tax levies and a $60,000 allotment from the City Council for capital improvements.
“We need a planning commission, possibly volunteers, and someone to head this – otherwise it won’t get done,” Loomis said.
During the transition, Kathi Wright, administrative assistant to City Hall, will keep the DDA’s business in order by spending two hours each day answering messages and mail. Phone calls for the DDA will automatically be transferred to the Municipal Building.
One factor that saved the DDA from dissolution was its location in an enterprise zone, benefitting people who donate money to the area. By dissolving the DDA, the city would lose that benefit. The law outlining this enterprise zone, however, will be in effect only for three to four more years.
The DDA also owes the city $100,000 on a loan it borrowed for the Rialto project. This helped swing the vote to keep the DDA from dissolution.
“I felt uncomfortable that the DDA had borrowed money for the Rialto and by dissolving the DDA, the $100,000 would be lost,´ said Councilmember Jim Lamont. The loan is a conditional agreement and not binding.
“The Rialto needed financing and didn’t have enough money to pay for equipment,” Loomis said.
The agreement says they ‘may’ pay the money back.” Loomis doubts the city will ever see the money again.
Though the prognosis for the DDA is sketchy, there may be more than one person who is looking forward to the possibilities.”I’m excited,´ said DDA board chairwoman Linda Ligon. “It’s true that we’ve gone through a chaotic time. We’ve lost a strong director, and a council is needing to adjust the DDA for the future.”Ligon is hopeful, given the organization of the interview council to select a new director. It will include people from the City Council, the DDA Board, the Merchants Association, and Friends of the Rialto.
“When the committee comes together, they’ll also be forging a vision for the future of downtown, and the new director will be given that charge,” Ligon said. “Fluctuations bring out views, and it’s good to review and refresh.”Jan Brown, president of the Merchant’s Association, is anxious that something is established to keep development of downtown on track.
“The city will continue to grow to the outside and ignore downtown business development unless there is something established,” she said. “The DDA is a way to keep the downtown strong.”
She cited the improvement of old buildings and the securing of Aims Community College in the area as a plus.
“There’s been a lot of squabbling over downtown, too,” Brown said.
Harmon’s salary and the City Council’s allocations have been sources of struggle.
“There never was a job description for the DDA director,” Brown said. “This is a time for a new strategy and an opportunity to structure a less expensive deal.””I believe in the DDA, but not in the way it has been run,” Brown said. “The city needs to be involved with what’s happening in the city, not only on the interstate.”
The DDA changes have been a great surprise to Bryan Sennett, chairman for Friends of the Rialto. He watched the DDA help lift the downtown out of a great lull in the 1980s. “The DDA has been an integral part of change in the downtown area,” Sennett said.
The Rialto Theatre was a project spearheaded by Harmon nearly 11 years ago. The theatre needed reconstruction, and the plan was to refurbish the building and create it as a draw for the downtown area.
Friends of the Rialto is a group of volunteers who help to raise funds for the theatre. There has been criticism that the DDA was too involved with the theatre business and not involved enough with downtown issues.
Despite the turmoil, Sennett sees the DDA as a positive force with a good path.
“Maybe the DDA can do the same things with less money,” he said.
The DDA was a focal point and a place for people to retrieve information. He is concerned that the Rialto funding will have to be an entirely different format, however.
“I am looking forward to getting the new director in and going. We are also looking forward to booking this season,” Sennett said.
The Rialto will celebrate its first anniversary Feb. 15.Mayor Treva Edwards is an advocate for a vital downtown area.
“The DDA has served well for revitalizing the downtown area,” Edwards said. “Now we need to look for new directions to go.”
To her, it’s important there be a broad base of input making decisions concerning the downtown.
“It’s important that a number of merchants help decide,” she said.
Edwards has gathered a number of ideas from other communities she plans on sharing with the organized group to follow the DDA. Among those ideas are festivals, celebrations, and community open houses along the downtown. Edwards describes this as “Taking the best of a small town, which is the downtown, and bringing the people to it.
Dassow said he is not pro or con concerning the DDA. He is most interested in seeing the development of the downtown, whatever vehicle that may be.
“In the past, the DDA and the merchants have had a difficult time working with one another,” Dassow said.
“The merchants see that the DDA has done nothing to help them,” he added. Dassow explained that the director had a vision that by restoring the Rialto it could serve as an anchor and draw for the downtown, making it more viable.
“The merchants haven’t seen a benefit from the Rialto yet, six months after its opening and all the money spent on it,” Dassow said.
Councilwoman Kathy Gilliland is in strong support of the downtown area.
“It needs to be the core and center of the city,” she said.
She said that at one point the downtown did almost die.
“With the hard work of the DDA, the downtown did come back, and there are businesses moving in,” she said.
Gilliland added, “We still don’t have yet what we need.”
For Gilliland, what the city needs is a stronger, more vital downtown.
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