Politics & Government

BOT Holds Off on SID Ordinance, Workshop to Be Held

Last night's meeting showed that some issues with the SID ordinance need work.

The Board of Trustees (BOT) decided to schedule a special workshop to deal with the Special Improvement District (SID) for Tuesday, December 6 at 8 p.m. at Village Hall.  This came as a result of Monday night’s Board of Trustees meeting.

On the docket is Ordinance 2011-25, which calls for the creation of a SID in South Orange.  The BOT decided not to act on the ordinance after a lengthy discussion about multiple concerns they felt needed to be worked out.

A committee had met from April of this year until October to determine if a SID should be enacted.  The committee be created, however, many business owners are .

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The ordinance if passed would create a district management corporation.  Some of the powers given to the corporation would include the ability to manage a staff, apply for grants, borrow money from private lenders and government agencies, pay for advertising for the businesses in the district, organize special events in the district and can take control of certain properties. 

Some issues brought up at the meeting were by Trustee Janine Bauer who questioned some of the items listed in the SID’s duties.  Among them were the duties to “fund the improvement of the exterior appearance of properties in the district through grants or loans” and “fund the rehabilitation of properties in the district.” 

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She questioned whether these duties would conflict with the Main Street South Orange’s FRONTS Façade program.  The program is a matching grants program that helps business and property owners improve their public faces.

Village Counsel Steven Rother said that the duties outlined in the ordinance were state mandated for a SID to have.

Village President Alex Torpey asked what the roles of other downtown organizations in town, such as Main Street South Orange and the Chamber of Commerce, would be in the SID.

Rother explained that in many instances, organizations like those would be morphed into the actual SID.  The organizations would have to amend their organizational documents and bylaws to fit the requirements of a SID.  The board of the organization would need to resign then so that the BOT could appoint a new one. 

This scenario would give the SID an automatic non-profit classification.  According to Rother, applying for that classification on its own could take “anywhere from 18 months to two years.” 

The ordinance, as written, outlines a board of eleven members.  Included will be one trustee, four property owners, four business owners or operators, one resident who is neither a property nor business owner and one member of the Parking Authority.  The Village Administrator or a designee will be an ex officio non-voting member.

The Board of Trustees will decide all the members of the board with the exception of the Parking Authority member.

The corporation will automatically terminate on December 31, 2016, unless the Board of Trustees decides not to do so. 

Bauer asked whether business owners would have a chance to vote on the future of a SID when it came time to decide if the SID should continue.  She pointed out that the committee recommended that the owners be allowed to vote.

Trustee Mark Rosner said that he and Trustee Michael Goldberg felt that it would be better that the Sunset Clause of the SID be decided by the BOT. 

“Some of the fears that were discussed at the committee level were that the executive director would spend the last year campaigning to keep his position instead of working on the SID,” said Rosner.

Rother also added that the language in the ordinance allows the BOT to shorten the length of the SID if they felt that needed to be done.

Any money collected by assessments of business shall be used solely to benefit the district.  Any business owner who doesn’t pay the assessment will be treated as if property taxes weren’t paid.  In addition, the Village will submit quarterly payments to the corporation.

The trustees questioned how they influence the services provided by the SID.  Rother said that through the budget is how they help influence them as the BOT must improve the SID’s budget.

The corporation must be audited every calendar year, no later than the end of April.  In addition, an annual report must be provided to the Village President and Board of Trustees.

Bauer asked how Main Street’s committees will be incorporated into the SID.  She doesn’t envision the SID being as interested in some of the functions of Main Street.  She said that she doesn’t see the purpose of the SID being the middleman between downtown and the Planning Board. 

Rosner said that he hoped that some volunteers would stay on with the SID.  The trustees will also be looking into contracting out some of Main Street’s services, should they choose to morph them into a SID.

Rother said that there are four exhibits that needed to be completed before the ordinance could be moved forward.  They are the district designation prepared by the committee, the designation including information required by N.J.S.A. 40:56-68b, an estimate of the first year expenses prepared by the committee and a projected first year assessment based on that estimate.

The BOT hopes to have those exhibits done by the meeting on December 6.


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