DOWNTOWN NEW CASTLE Officials: Landowners now hold the key

Eight property owners are looking into downtown business districts.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- With new streets, lights and lampposts, city officials say they've done just about all they can to help stimulate downtown and now it's up to property owners to get involved.
One way, officials say, is to form a business improvement district.
"The key is to get the group to set forth their vision of downtown," said John DiMuccio, city business administrator. "It has been driven by city hall for the last seven or eight years. There has to be a point and time when politicians and administrators let go. The only people who can create jobs are businesses."
Boundaries for the district would be set, and then all property owners within those boundaries would be required to pay a fee set by the group. That money, levied almost like a property tax, would be used for activities the group approves.
"A large number of them concentrate on safe and clean activities," said Bill Fontana, executive director of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, a state-funded, nonprofit group that assists cities with projects.
Some uses include enhancing public safety or hiring maintenance crews to take graffiti off walls, he said.
Other, more creative uses, could include advertising or making a payment to the city to provide a free parking day for shoppers, DeMuccio said.
But none of this can be done without the approval of a majority of the property owners in the district, Fontana said. The landowners must petition the city to form an authority, and if 40 percent of them object to it, it can be defeated, he said.
Worth the fee
In most cities, the property owners have found business improvement districts well worth the yearly fee they pay, Fontana said.
"With a city tax you may never use the police department or fire department you are funding," he said. "But with a business improvement district, not only should you expect to receive the value you pay, but in terms of returns, you should expect to receive more than what you put in," he said.
Robert McCracken, executive director of the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, said eight downtown property owners have formed a steering committee to look into creating a downtown business district.
"The feedback so far has been very positive," McCracken said. "It gives people a true say in where their money is going, and I think they like that."
They are now looking at possible boundaries for the district, he said.
Fontana notes that a business improvement district should be looked at as an ongoing downtown revitalization project.
"Downtown revitalization is not something you start on July 1, 2003, and end June 30, 2009," he said. "It's an ongoing commitment to the revitalization of a business district. The communities that are most successful are the ones with a written concept -- and believe they are doing this for the long-term."
cioffi@vindy.com