If a business improvement district (BID) is to become a reality in downtown Chattanooga, the process probably needs to start over.
By that, we don’t mean proponents of bringing new services to a designated area of the city’s central core through a self-imposed assessment fee need to throw out the planning they did to reach the ordinance that failed to get a second from the Chattanooga City Council earlier this week.
But, to hear city council members and businesspersons, the process to create a BID in the first place was not inclusive enough, felt heavy-handed, did not have enough economic impact analysis from other cities, and did not require enough checks and balances.
To be fair, River City Company, which conceived the BID plan following a feasibility study, said it had gotten the support of owners of 67% of the assessed value of property within the designated BID area, and more than 50% of all property owners. And a first reading of the ordinance had passed the city council last week, though narrowly.
But Tuesday’s discussion went off the rails, with the public throwing verbal brickbats at the proposal (and others supporting it) and council members peppering the ordinance with amendments. When at the end of the discussion, Councilman Anthony Byrd made a motion to approve the ordinance, it died for lack of a second.