(a) Upon the establishment of a business improvement district within the City, or in combination with a contiguous city, as authorized by Act 49 of the Public Acts of 1999, as amended, the cost of the whole or any part of a business improvement district project may be financed by the levying of special assessments against land or interest in land, or both.
(b) Before the City levies a special assessment benefitting property within a business improvement district, the City will approve the marketing and development plan developed by the business improvement district board, which shall detail all of the following:
(1) The scope, nature and duration of the business improvement district project; and
(2) The different classes of property owners who are going to be assessed and the projected amount of the special assessment on the different classes.
(c) If the City elects to levy special assessments to defray all or part of the cost of a business improvement district project, then the special assessments shall be levied in accordance with Section 9.1 of the City Charter and this chapter. In the event of any conflict between this section and the remainder of this chapter, this section shall control. The total amount assessed for business improvement district purposes may be made payable in not more than twenty annual installments as determined by the City Commission, the first installment to be payable not more than eighteen months after the date of confirmation of the special assessment roll.
(d) Notwithstanding any language in this chapter to the contrary, it is the policy of the City that the cost of any business improvement district project involving the installation, repair, replacement, reconstruction or reconfiguration of any street, sidewalk or public or private underground or above-ground utilities may be completely defrayed by special assessments.
(e) Under this section, any special assessment shall be levied against a parcel of land on the basis of the special benefits to that parcel from the total project. To the extent that a parcel is used for residential purposes, such parcel shall not be considered to be benefitted by a project for which special assessments are levied pursuant to this section. There is a rebuttable presumption that a business improvement district project specially benefits all nonresidential properties located within the district.
(f) Nothing in this chapter or this section shall be construed to require that any special assessment or benefit be determined on the basis of street front footage of a benefitted parcel of land. Instead, it is the policy and intent of the City to permit the use of any reasonable basis to determine the benefit to and special assessment against each parcel or class of parcel in the business improvement district.
(g) A business improvement district project financed by special assessments shall be reviewed by the City Commission every five years, unless special assessment bonds are outstanding.
(Ord. 4-00. Passed 3-21-00.)