DBIA chairman out as board slims down
Dave Madill, the owner of the downtown furniture store Knock on Wood and the long-time chairman of the Downtown Business Improvement Area board, has stepped down from the board.
He’s been chairman since 2011 and on the board for 12 years.
The move was necessary, he said: city council adopted a new bylaw for business improvement areas in September that reduces the number of board member positions from 13 to nine.
Co-chairman Alvin Schieck has also stepped down from the board, bringing the current number of members to 10.
The board has chosen Paul Bennett, coowner of Ashburnham Realty, as interim chairman of the DBIA until they elect a new board at the annual general meeting in June, according to a release from the DBIA.
Madill said it was rewarding to have served as chairman of the board.
“It’s a transparent, inclusive operation,” he said. “I’ve had a good run - two terms. I think we accomplished a lot.”
The downtown now has free WiFi and a couple of large new murals, for example, and has organized many new events such as Pulse (where George St. becomes a pedestrian mall for a Saturday in July).
Yet the DBIA has had a difficult relationship with city council recently. When council decided to put the new casino on Crawford Dr. instead of downtown, the DBIA and landlord AON Inc. appealed the decision to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB).
The DBIA was unhappy because it said it would lose business when the casino goes to the outskirts.
But there was never a hearing, because there was a settlement: the city will give the DBIA $150,000 annually, for the next 20 years, as compensation for lost business.
City council then passed its new bylaw to regulate how business improvement areas operate: the DBIA can appear before council as a delegation, but can't pass resolutions contrary to a
council policy and can't take part in an OMB or other tribunal unless certain commitments are met.
Mayor Daryl Bennett said in September that the new BIA rules are in keeping with those in other cities.
He pointed out in a report to councillors that the city of Toronto doesn't allow BIAs to take the city to the OMB or to object to decisions of council on any matters.
Coun. Dean Pappas, who runs Pappas Billiards downtown, said at the time the rules governing BIAs hadn’t been updated in years and it was time for a new bylaw.
Then a few weeks later, council voted not to allow the DBIA to increase levies it charges it members; Coun. Keith Riel said it was because the board didn’t explain to council where it would use that money.
But Madill said on Wednesday that the board is made up of passionate volunteers - and he wonders why city council wants to make it harder for them to improve the city.
“I think the mayor and council could do a better job encouraging volunteers to be involved,” he said.
The DBIA’s annual general meeting is scheduled for June 27 at Showplace Performance Centre.