By Ryan Packer
A proposal to create a Business Improvement Area, or BIA, for the 15th Ave E business district between E Denny Way and E Mercer is officially working its way through the Seattle City Council and looks poised to take effect starting next year. A BIA is an organization run by funds collected directly from local property owners to pay for ongoing improvements directly in the neighborhood. The move follows the failure of expanding Broadway’s BIA, which has been in place since 1986, to the rest of the business districts in Capitol Hill, a move that contributed to the demise of the Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce in 2019.
If approved, the 15th Ave E BIA is expected to raise $116,839 in 2022. The lion’s share of funds collected for the BIA would go toward street cleaning and upkeep during 6 days every week. The remainder would be spent on graffiti removal, neighborhood beautification efforts (think flowers) and staff time to advocate on behalf of the neighborhood. A yearly 15th Ave street festival would also receive funds from the BIA.
Most of the funds generated by the 15th Ave E BIA would go toward street maintenance and beautification.
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But the BIA could end up happening without a majority of property owners, to say nothing of individual business owners, signing on in support. In order to be approved, petitions from property owners in support of the proposal have to represent at least 60% of the total dollar amount that would be collected for the BIA. In this case only 15 petitions out of the 37 parcels that would be impacted have been submitted in support, but because those properties represent a high proportion of both the square footage that would be impacted and the property values of the parcels, that minority support translates to nearly 73% approval for the BIA, even though property owners representing 22 out of 37 parcels haven’t signed on.
Kaiser Permanente, which has signed on in support, represents 38% alone of that 73%.
The proposed boundaries for the 15th Ave E Business Improvement Area.
Its 180,568 square foot campus dwarfs any other property along the corridor. Without the health care consortium, signed petitions represent only a hair over 56%— not enough to clear the 60% threshold to approve the BIA. Because the health care provider represents more than 25% of the total assessment, City policy encourages the signature gatherers to meet a slightly higher threshold of 65% of total assessment, which they have reached with Kaiser on board.
The BIA would be levied on property owners, not directly on business owners. But several business owners along 15th Ave voiced concerns to CHS about the proposal. Smith owner Christopher Forcyzk was caught off guard when CHS called to ask his opinion on the proposal- he hadn’t heard about it from anyone else. “It actually just sounds like another tax,” he said. “It sounds like a hell of a lot of money to put on businesses during a time they’re struggling.” Forcyzk noted that his restaurant lost 24 of its employees when it shut down due the pandemic and is only now regaining its footing. He also questioned the priorities as laid out in the BIA proposal: “How does a street fest two times a year help local businesses?”
Olympia Pizza & Spaghetti House III and Harry’s Bar owner Harry Nicoloudakis echoed the concerns raised by Forcyzk and also had not heard about the proposal until he was contacted by CHS for comment. “I’m not for it,” he told me. “It doesn’t seem like something we need…people are trying to survive, a tax rebate would be better.”
CHS spoke to at least one additional business owner along the corridor who had not heard about the proposal. The city’s documentation notes that as of June 15, no property owner had submitted a petition opposing the creation of the BIA.
Danielle Hulton, the owner of Ada’s Technical Books & Cafe, is part of the committee that has been collecting signatures for the BIA. Hulton is calling the proposal a Community Improvement District (CID) to “reflect that it is for all of the community on 15th, not just the business community.” She has been working with the 15th Ave Merchants Association since Ada’s moved to 15th Ave E in 2013 and sees this as a positive next step for that group.
“If the Merchants Group is able to become a CID, we can more sustainably do things like the 15th Ave Street Festival in the future. And more immediately, we can have a more centralized group of folks to help fill vacant storefronts with small businesses, help folks access COVID-19 grants and funding, and help developments like the large Safeway, Kaiser, and Hunters Capital projects connect with the community and our needs/wants,” Hulton said.
Other businesses that have been leading the charge for the BIA include Rainbow Natural Remedies, Ike’s, Angel’s Shoe Repair, Board and Vellum, and Capitol Hill developer Hunters Capital.
Hulton suggested that the BIA as a political entity itself would be one of its biggest benefits. “Historically, BIAs in Seattle have had more clout when dealing with the city for grants and other funding,” she said. “I see real value in the CID both with day to day maintenance, and more importantly for me, in being able to have a seat at the table with the city when it comes to neighborhood grants and advocacy.”
In 2018, the neighborhood’s chamber of commerce backed down after a years-long fight against smaller Capitol Hill property owners over a planned expansion of the Broadway BIA that would have included the neighborhoods around Summit/Bellevue, Olive and Denny, Pike/Pine, 12th Ave, 15th Ave, and 19th Ave. The expended energy and flagging membership contributed to the chamber’s shutdown months later.
Many on 15th preferred to go their own way on a BIA.
“This is more neighborhood based, we know the players, we’ve already done a lot of homework, we are confident this will be beneficial for the community,” Rainbow Natural Remedies owner and of the 15th Ave East Merchants Association member Ross Kling told CHS at the time. “When you widen the net, you got more challenges that way. (…) It’s going to be pretty easy to sell. I don’t think there’s a lot of controversy within the 15th Ave East community. It’s just us.”
Councilmember Tammy Morales, who is shepherding the process to approve the creation of the BIA through the Community Economic Development Committee, did not respond to CHS’s request for comment on the proposal. That committee will hold a public hearing on the proposal on September 8 at 2 PM.
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