Proposed district could pay for downtown Cape improvements

A group of downtown Cape Girardeau business owners and residents are looking into forming a new taxing district to fund area improvements.

A steering committee is now meeting regularly to determine boundaries for a community improvement district, public services needed in the area and ways to pay for them.

"This is a tool that can help our community thrive again," said Jim Maurer, chairman of community improvement district steering committee. "I have seen the benefits of redevelopment, and I want to see downtown Cape back to the way it was when I was a kid."

Establishing a community improvement district was the No. 1 goal of the Downtown Strategic Plan developed through the DREAM Initiative and adopted in July by the city council, according to Marla Mills, executive director of Old Town Cape.

Community improvement districts establish political subdivisions and give communities funding mechanisms for a range of services, including marketing, new business recruitment, beautification, transportation, security and other economic development projects, Mills said.

"We'll spend the next three to four months planning, then the next four to five months to educate the community and get input, then we'll readjust if we need to," said Maurer, who owns the Rhodes 101 convenience stores.

This drawing shows what the Cape Girardeau riverfront might look like if some DREAM Initiative proposals are implemented. (Provided by Old Town Cape)

The creation of a community improvement district requires the support of a majority of property owners in numbers and in assessed valuation through signatures on a petition. The petition must lay out not only the boundaries of the district but also a five-year plan for its operations, including services and funding, Mills said.

If enough support is gained, the city council can create the district and appoint a board of directors for the community improvement district. A board can put to the district's voters the option to impose a sales tax, property tax, special assessment or a combination.

The Downtown Strategic Plan says a half-cent sales tax, for example, could generate more than $200,000 annually in the Old Town Cape district based on sales tax totals provided by the Missouri Department of Revenue.

Cape Girardeau already has one community improvement district in place for the Town Plaza shopping center. The one-cent sales tax in place there since 2007 paid for parking improvements and upgrades to the building now occupied by National Asset Recovery Services Inc.

Mauer said a comparison of sales tax revenue from July 2007 to July 2009 in Cape Girardeau and in Town Plaza specifically showed the additional sales tax in Town Plaza did not hurt sales.

"There was a small decline, but the decline [in Town Plaza] was smaller than citywide," Mauer said.

This artist's sketch shows a university village that is a proposal under the DREAM Initiative. (Provided by Old Town Cape)

A Special Business District designation, which is similar to a CID, in the riverfront area has been in place for more than 30 years. Property owners in that area pay an additional 67.08 cents per $100 assessed valuation, and that revenue is used to pay for benches, lighting and parking lot improvements.

"That's how they accomplished that, by taxing themselves," Mills said.

If a new community improvement district is established and includes the riverfront district, the strategic plan recommends dissolving the Special Business District.

Other districts

In downtown St. Louis and Kansas City, community improvement districts have been used to fund streetscape and security improvements.

Springfield has two districts, one downtown and another on Commercial Street, where a three-eighths-cent sales tax was passed earlier this month. The revenue will fund a Commercial Street website, maps, street banners, a shuttle service, holiday lighting, landscaping and additional police patrols, said Springfield senior city planner Matt Schaefer.

Opposition to the Commercial Street district came in a variety of forms, according to CID manager Barb Baker of Springfield's Urban District Alliance.

"Only registered voters who live in the district can vote to approve the tax, and we had many business owners not happy that it was the residents making this decision," Baker said. "We also had property owners who didn't want to pay the tax but wanted the services, and then we had people who were not on the same page for what the money would go to. Some wanted street banners while others wanted trash pickup."

Springfield's downtown community improvement district was created in 1999 and was reauthorized in 2006.

"The renewal was easy because people saw all the services and liked all the good things we have downtown now," Baker said.

mmiller@semissourian.com

388-3646

Community improvement district steering committee:

Phil Brinson, Buckner Brewing Co.

Doc Cain, Port Cape

Lyle Davis, downtown resident

Laurie Everett, Annie Laurie's

Dave Hutson, Hutson's Fine Furniture

Frank Kinder, Red Letter Communications

Lindy Lysell, State Beauty Supply

Jim Maurer, Rhodes 101 Convenience Stores

Dennis Meyer, Meyer Supply

Jim Riley, Red Letter Communications

Jon Rust, Southeast Missourian and downtown resident

Kent Zickfield, Zickfield's Jewelry

Jim Mavers, Pastime Antiques, downtown property owner