Downtown Louisville voters to see Business Improvement District plan

LOUISVILLE – The Louisville City Council has expressed its support for a downtown Business Improvement District (BID) by approving a one-time $45,000 grant to allow the Downtown Business Association (DBA) to pursue a November vote on the proposal.

“It’s a really positive thing,´ said DBA President Ronda Grassi. “We’re really excited about it.”

The council voted 5-1 to approve the grant.

“I think if you look at all downtown areas that are surviving with the competition of large-scale retail, they all have BIDs,´ said Mayor Tom Davidson.

Davidson said Louisville was following the good example set in Boulder – Downtown Boulder voters approved a BID in November.

A BID, authorized by state law, is a taxing district created by voters who own real or personal property in the specific geographic area of the district – except residential property owners or government and non-profit agencies.

The downtown Louisville BID mostly would manage a parking district, Grassi said. Whether or not the BID passes, a parking management board will be formed immediately, she said.

Grassi said the boundaries of the BID would be figured out in January. She noted that BIDs do not have to be contiguous. The BID would start immediately if passed in November. The mill levy has not been determined, but the BID would collect about $48,000 “if everything turns out the way we think it will,” Grassi said.

City council would appoint who is on the BID board, she noted, and city council has to approve any budget that the BID board comes up with. “The DBA is a separate entity from the BID board,” she said, adding that both entities would have many of the same members.

The DBA has a new executive director, Kate Shepard, working 20 hours a week “to make sure this happens,” Grassi said of the BID.

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