HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 30 - Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement District Community Development Agency
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Item # 30
City of Santa Ana
20 Civic Center Plaza, Santa Ana, CA 92701
Staff Report
January 17, 2023
TOPIC: Public Hearing to adopt Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana
Business Improvement District
AGENDA TITLE:
Public Hearing: Consider an Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana
Business Improvement District
RECOMMENDED ACTION
Approve first reading of an ordinance to disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business
Improvement District.
DISCUSSION
On February 6, 1984, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. NS-1715, pursuant to
state law, creating a Business Improvement District (BID) in Downtown Santa Ana. The
BID was established as a means of providing the Downtown business community with
the funding to promote events and create promotional materials, increase the security
presence, enhance maintenance of the downtown shopping corridors, and implement
streetscape improvements. The BID is funded through an additional charge on the
business license tax for those businesses within the BID boundary.
The City Council activated the current BID on July 1, 2013. To administer the activities
of the BID, the City executed operating agreements with Downtown Inc. and the Santa
Ana Business Council in an effort to address the needs of the two business
associations. Each association received 50 percent of the BID assessment,
approximately $100,000 per year.
On October 6, 2003, the City Council appointed the Community Redevelopment and
Housing Commission (CRHC) as the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement
District Advisory Board. As the BID Advisory Board, the CRHC, now known as the
Community Development Commission (CDC), is responsible for making
recommendations to the City Council on the expenditure of revenues derived from the
levy of assessments, on the classification of businesses, as applicable, and on the
method and basis of levying the assessments, including the annual budget.
Public Hearing to adopt Ordinance to Disestablish the Downtown Santa Ana Business
Improvement District
January 17, 2023
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At its regular meeting on October 26, 2022, by a vote of 6:0 (with one recusal), the
Commission recommended to the City Council to dissolve the BID.
Over the course of the year, downtown businesses held several town hall meetings to
express their dissent for the BID. Several protest forms were submitted to the City Clerk
and many merchants expressed their dissention for the BID and its operations at the
Commission and City Council meetings.
On December 20, 2022, the City Council adopted a resolution of intention to
disestablish the BID and set a public hearing for January 17, 2023. Upon the approval
of the resolution and ordinance, the two operating agreements with the business
associations will terminate.
BID levy assessments will also terminated as of January 1, 2023. All businesses in the
BID have been notified and their BID assessment has been removed from their
business license tax bill for 2023 and thereafter.
Any remaining revenues derived from the levy assessments shall be refunded to the
owners of the method and basis that was used to calculate the assessments levied in
the fiscal year in which the area is disestablished.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no direct fiscal impact associated with this action.
EXHIBIT(S)
1. Ordinance
Submitted By: Michael L. Garcia, Executive Director of Community Development
Approved By: Kristine Ridge, City Manager
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 1 of 3
ORDINANCE NO. NS-XXX
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA ANA TO DISESTABLISH THE DOWNTOWN SANTA
ANA BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
WHEREAS, on February 6, 1984, in accordance with California Streets and
Highways Code Section 36500 et seq., the City of Santa Ana adopted Ordinance No. NS-
1715, by which the Downtown Santa Ana Business Improvement Area was established
(“Downtown BID”) as a means of providing the Downtown business community with
funding to promote and market the Downtown area; and
WHEREAS, the City Council appointed the Community Development Commission
to serve as the BID Advisory Board to make recommendations to the City Council on the
expenditure of revenues derived from the levy of assessments, on the classification of
businesses, as applicable, and on the method and basis of levying the assessments; and
WHEREAS, at its regular meeting on October 26, 2022, by a majority vote, the
Community Development Commission recommended that the City Council dissolve the
Downtown BID; and
WHEREAS, at its regular meeting on November 15, 2022, by a majority vote, the
City Council approved the recommendation to dissolve the Downtown BID; and
WHEREAS, Section 36550 of the California Streets and Highways Code authorizes
the City Council to disestablish a business improvement area by ordinance after adopting
a resolution of intention prior to conducting a public hearing on the ordinance; and
WHEREAS, on December 20, 2022, the City Council adopted Resolution 2022-___
(“Resolution”) declaring its intention to disestablish the Downtown BID and setting a public
hearing to consider such an ordinance for January 17, 2023, at 5:45 p.m. or as soon as
possible thereafter, in the Santa Ana City Council Chambers, 22 Civic Center Plaza,
Santa Ana, California; and
WHEREAS, the Clerk of the Council provided notice of the above-referenced
hearing in accordance with Section 36523 of the California Streets and Highways Code,
by publishing the Resolution in a newspaper of general circulation in the City once, for at
least seven days before the public hearing, and by mailing a complete copy of the
Resolution by first-class mail to each business owner assessed in the Downtown BID
within seven days of the City Council’s adoption of the Resolution; and
WHEREAS, the City Council, at the time and place set for public hearing, heard any
and all persons interested in or objecting to the proposed ordinance dissolving the
Downtown BID.
EXHIBIT 1
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 2 of 3
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA ANA,
CALIFORNIA, DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The recitals above are each incorporated by reference and adopted
as findings by the City Council.
Section 2. In accordance with Section 36550 of the California Streets and
Highways Code, the Downtown BID is hereby disestablished.
Section 3. Upon the effective date of this Ordinance, any remaining revenues
derived from the levy of assessments, or any revenues derived from the sale of assets
acquired with the revenues, shall be refunded in the manner required by Section 36551
of the California Streets and Highways Code.
Section 4. The City Council finds and determines that this Ordinance is not
subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Sections
15060(c)(2) and 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines because it will not result in a
direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, as there is
no possibility it will have a significant effect on the environment, and it is not a “project,”
as defined in Section 15378 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Section 5. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, phrase or portion of this
ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this ordinance. The City Council of the City of Santa Ana hereby declares that
it would have adopted this ordinance and each section, subsection, sentence, clause,
phrase or portion thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections,
subsections, sentences, clauses, phrases, or portions be declared invalid or
unconstitutional.
Section 6. This Ordinance shall become effective thirty (30) days after its
adoption.
Section 7. The Clerk of the Council shall certify the adoption of this ordinance
and shall cause the same to be published as required by law.
ADOPTED this _______ day of ___________, 2023.
_________________________
Valerie Amezcua
Mayor
EXHIBIT 1
Ordinance No. NS-XXX
Page 3 of 3
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Sonia R. Carvalho, City Attorney
By:_________________________
John M. Funk
Chief Assistant City Attorney
AYES: Councilmembers ______________________________________
NOES: Councilmembers _______________________________________
ABSTAIN: Councilmembers _______________________________________
NOT PRESENT: Councilmembers _______________________________________
CERTIFICATE OF ATTESTATION AND ORIGINALITY
I, _____________, Clerk of the Council, do hereby attest to and certify the attached
Ordinance No. NS-____________ to be the original ordinance adopted by the City
Council of the City of Santa Ana on _______________, and that said ordinance was
published in accordance with the Charter of the City of Santa Ana.
Date: ________________ ____________________________________
Clerk of the Council
City of Santa Ana
EXHIBIT 1