Explanation
BACKGROUND: In 2003 the Discovery District Development Corporation asked Capitol South Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation to initiate an effort to work with Discovery District property owners to create a Special Improvement District (SID) on the east side of downtown. Property owners were surveyed and overwhelmingly were in support of seeing a proposal to create a SID. One of the first actions required by Chapter 1710 of the Ohio Revised Code is to have not less than 60% of the property owners within the District sign a petition that states they are interested in forming a SID.
City Council must then accept the petitions and the Articles of Incorporation of the Discovery Special Improvement District of Columbus, Inc., an Ohio not-for-profit corporation organized pursuant to Chapter 1710 of the Revised Code.
City Council is also being asked to also approve the inclusion of City owned property as part of the Special Improvement District.
Emergency action is required to allow the Discovery Special Improvement District of Columbus, Inc. to continue the establishment of a Special Improvement District in a timely manner.
FISCAL IMPACT: No funding is required for this legislation.
Title
To approve the Discovery Special Improvement District of Columbus, Inc. Petition and Articles of Incorporation and the inclusion of the properties owned by the City of Columbus in said district; and to declare an emergency.
Body
WHEREAS, Chapter 1710 of the Revised Code, effective September 29, 1994 provides for the creation of Special Improvement Districts (SIDS), by non-profit corporations governed by trustees elected by the property owners for the provision of special services in a designated district; and
WHEREAS, the property owners located on the east side of downtown have initiated a petition to create the SID and have filed the petition with the Columbus City Council along with the Articles of Incorporation of the Warehouse Special Improvement District of Columbus, Inc. an Ohio non-profit corporation, created pursuant to Chapter 1710.02 of the Revised Code; and
WHEREAS, Section 1710.02 (E) further excludes the property owned by the municipal corporation unless the municipal corporation specifically authorizes its property to be included in the district; and
WHEREAS, the Clerk of Columbus City Council finds that the property owners per the signed Petition, if authorized by this Council represents 60% of the front footage of the property located in the SID, all as provided by Section 1710.02 of the Revised Code; and
WHEREAS, emergency action is requested to allow the process of creating the Discovery Special Improvement District to move forward in a timely manner; and
WHEREAS, it is the determination of the Columbus City Council that the SID is a valuable tool for continuing to further economic development and a means of continuing to revitalize the downtown area; and
WHEREAS, an emergency exists in the usual daily operation of the City of Columbus in that it is immediately necessary to approve the Petition and the Articles of Incorporation for the Discovery Special Improvement District of Columbus, Inc., all for the immediate preservation of the public health, property, safety and welfare; NOW, THEREFORE,
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS:
Section 1. That the Petition for the creation of the Discovery Special Improvement
District of Columbus, Inc. and the Articles of Incorporation of the Discovery Special
Improvement District of Columbus, Inc., now on file with the Clerk of the Columbus
City Council, and incorporated herein as attachments, are hereby approved.
Section 2. That the properties of the City of Columbus abutting upon the streets
described in the Petition are hereby authorized to be included in the district.
Section 3. That for the reasons stated in the preamble hereto, which is hereby made a
part hereof this Ordinance is declared to be an emergency measure and shall take
effect and be in force from and after its passage and approval by the Mayor, or ten
days after its passage if the Mayor neither approves nor vetoes the same.