BID looks to include entire borough

The end of this year also marks the end of the five-year initial term for the Business Improvement District in the borough.

“We’ve been busy, but we want to do more. We think there’s a lot more that we can do for Souderton,” BID Chairperson Margaret Zglinicki, accompanied by BID re-authorization committee members, said at the Souderton Borough Council Feb. 17 work session meeting.

Under state rules, BIDs can be approved for a minimum of five years or a maximum of 20 years, after which there can again be a vote by the business property owners in the district to continue the BID, Zglinicki said.

The group is again proposing a five-year term, she said.

“We figure five years is a good number because we need to really prove ourselves periodically to the property owners,” she said. “We’re assessing monies, and we need to prove that we should exist.”

The new proposal is to expand the district, which now includes Main Street, Broad Street and some side streets, she said.

“We think that it would be better for Souderton to make the entire Souderton Borough the BID. Our reason for that is we want to market Souderton, not just Main Street and Broad Street. We think we can bring businesses in here. We think we can support the community better and so hence we want to increase the boundaries,” Zglinicki said.

The move would increase the number of properties paying into the BID, which would allow the rate being paid per property to be decreased, she said.

The business property owners in the district currently pay the BID 4.5 percent of the amount paid for school, county and borough property taxes, she said.

“We’re proposing that we bring that down to 3.95 percent,” Zglinicki said.

Harry Boardman, another of the BID representatives at the meeting, later said the current BID payment for the majority of the properties is $250 to $300 per year.

The assessment is for business properties only, not

residential. In order to do the expansion to cover the entire town, the BID is asking for the borough’s help in identifying which properties are business properties, Zglinicki said.

“We want to get much, much more focused on economic development. It’s an area that we haven’t really hit yet. It’s an important area,” she said.

The plans include hiring a part-time person whose sole job for the BID would be economic development, she said.

“We want to do a better job of marketing,” Zglinicki said.

The BID is already working with a marketing specialist on branding, she said.

“Not branding the BID, but branding Souderton. The idea is live, work and play here,” Zglinicki said. “We want to make people think, ‘It’s Friday night, what do we do? Let’s go to Souderton; I need to go shopping, what do I do? Go to Souderton.’”

Another focus is on beautification, including continuing the creation of public art in Souderton, she said.

“It’s just one of those things that makes a community

much more distinctive and interesting to come to,” she said.

In order to continue the BID, borough council must first authorize moving forward, after which the BID holds public meetings presenting its plans and a vote is held among the business property owners in the district, Zglinicki said. There is no voting ballot. Property owners who are opposed can vote no by sending in a written notice. Property owners who are in favor can, but do not have to, send a notice voting yes. If a property owner does not vote, it is considered to be a yes vote. The BID is approved unless 40 percent or more of the property owners send in a no vote.

Under the plan, the BID and Souderton-Telford Main Streets will merge into one organization called “Souderton Connects,” which will be entirely in Souderton, Zglinicki said.

Main Streets will set aside funding for a new organization to continue Telford programs, Boardman said.

Council member Dan Yocum, who owns a business property on Main Street, said the BID has done good things, such as expanding Third Friday activities and putting up café lights, but hasn’t done much to improve business overall.

When he asked the BID for help finding a tenant, he was told multiple times that wasn’t the BID’s job, he said.

“I had a commercial space and the BID offered nothing to help. That was enough to turn me off privately, but beyond that, if you go and talk to business owners that are not on the board of the Business Improvement District, I would say many, many of them are not in favor of the Business Improvement District,” Yocum said.

The property owners have the opportunity in the vote to decide, he said.

Souderton is on the verge of something great, Yocum said, but it is because of individual business people, not because of the BID.

“I love their ideas,” Yocum said about the BID later in the meeting, “but they’ve been saying that for five years and nothing has happened.”

Zglinicki said the BID has been cautious in its starting years, but now is ready to do more.

“I think we have the greater vision now, so we’re looking for a chance to roll that out to the community,” she said. “Let them vote. I agree with you. If 40 percent of the people don’t want it, then it should not exist.”

Council President Brian Goshow said there are businesses in the BID that do not actively take part in its programs and that the 11 or 12 percent no vote last time will probably be more than that in a re-authorization vote.

“I think the ‘no’ pushers are gonna push for more of a ‘no’ this time. I’m a little concerned about that,” he said.

Goshow also said the BID programs have primarily been geared toward the downtown retail corridor, questioning the advantages of expanding to include other areas and types of business, such as the industrial business he owns.

The benefits would be more wide spread, Zglinicki said.

“It is the town that we want to promote. The best way to do that is to include everybody,” she said.

Some property owners in the BID say they are being charged another tax, but he sees it a different way, Goshow said.

“No, it’s not a tax,” he said. “It’s like you’re part of a fraternity and you’re paying your fraternity dues, and for that you’re getting something for it and you control it.”

There are currently about 140 properties with about 200 businesses in the BID, Boardman said.

Expanding it to cover all the business properties in the borough would include about 240 properties, BID Coordinator Liz Peitzman said.

“For the relatively small amount of money assessed to the property owner,” said Charlie Crown, another of

“We think that it would be better for Souderton to make the entire Souderton Borough the BID. Our reason for that is we want to market Souderton, not just Main Street and Broad Street.”

“We want to make people think, ‘It’s Friday night, what do we do? Let’s go to Souderton; I need to go shopping, what do I do? Go to Souderton.’”

“I had a commercial space and the BID offered nothing to help. That was enough to turn me off privately, but beyond that, if you go and talk to business owners that are not on the board of the Business Improvement District, I would say many, many of them are not in favor of the Business Improvement District.” — BID Chairperson Margaret Zglinicki — BID Chairperson Margaret Zglinicki — Council member Dan Yocum

the BID representatives at the meeting, “this is the best bang for the buck.”

Borough council will discuss the BID re-authorization proposal at a March work session, then vote the first week in April on whether to authorize the BID to move forward with the vote, Goshow said. The vote will take place within 160 days of council’s authorization, Zglinicki said.