City Council Passes BID

The Burlingame City Council Monday night voted 5-0 in favor of the Burlingame Avenue Business Improvement District (BID), an issue that has sparked controversy in Burlingame and has heated up council meetings during the past month.

The passage of the BID requires each business to pay an annual fee for funding joint projects such as marketing, maintenance and events.

While some business owners are enthused by the outcome and think working together is the best way to improve business on Burlingame Avenue, others believe paying an additional fee in an already challenging economy stands to hurt local businesses.

"Tonight you vote on the BID and, first of all, I ask that you reject the BID,"said Michele Porrazzo of Aida Opera Candies on Burlingame Avenue, adding that, in addition to hurting business, the BID was not fully explained to local merchants. "BID held meetings for six months to a year without notifying local businesses."

She said it is unclear how the assessment will be spent and questioned if businesses will leave the Chamber of Commerce due to the BID.

BIDs are public/private partnerships formatted to provide services and to create viable business communities.

Businesses under the BID assessment were allowed to file protests. Protests were weighted based on each business's square footage and location. If the protests reached a majority of the total assessment, the BID would not be approved.

According to a staff report by City Attorney, Gus Guinan, Zone 1 consists of businesses located on the ground floor of Burlingame Avenue. They will pay $125 per year plus $100 if the business is 500 square feet and $50 more for each additional 500 square feet.

Zone 2 includes businesses on the ground floor of district streets not including Burlingame Avenue. These businesses pay $100 each year, $80 if they are 500 square feet and $40 more for additional increments of 500 square feet.

Zone 3 consists of all businesses above or below ground level. They all pay a basic annual fee of $100. El Camino Real, Chapin Avenue, California Drive and Howard Avenue border the district.

As of the Sept. 7 city council meeting, 216 protests had been received.

"Staff has completed a gross count of all 216 unverified protests to determine the dollar amount of the entire [group]," Guinan said. "Staff made three separate counts of the total protests received."

A main source of discord, mentioned at both Aug. 16 and Sept. 7 public hearings regarding the BID, was that the mailing lists used to contact businesses about the assessment were incomplete or inaccurate.

Isabelle Christopher of Too Cute, a children's store on Burlingame Avenue, said information businesses received was incomplete, and some received no information at all. Also, she said businesses protesting without licenses were discounted, regardless of their inclusion in the assessment.

""I don't understand because they were being assessed by the business address and not the business license," Christopher said.

However, Guinan said that the staff made adjustments for these discrepancies and revised the total assessment to $91,170, down from an initial assessment of $99,100. Regardless of the adjustment, the unverified protests totaled $40,225, only 44 percent of the assessment and not enough to strike down the BID.

The staff report continued to say that once staff went through the protests for validity (signed by owner, duplicates, etc.), they found a total protest of $28,600, or 31.3 percent of the assessment.

"I really just hope that we can all work together," said Karen Frances of Plum Studios on Lorton Avenue, a staunch supporter of the BID. "I think you have to first get everyone on the same page."

Elections for the BID District Advisory Board will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 8:30 a.m. at the Burlingame Women's Club.