BIA fee hike irks some downtown Falls shops
It’s unaffordable, owners say, as board argues it’s ‘not a time to go to sleep’
Some businesses in downtown Niagara Falls say a substantial increase in the fees they’re required to pay the Downtown Niagara Falls BIA (Business Improvement Area) couldn’t have come at a worse time while they struggle to survive the economic havoc of the pandemic.
But the Downtown Board of Management says it has to be more aggressive in promoting the area and says now is precisely the time to ramp up those efforts in a year when new vaccines could conquer the COVID-19 virus and tourists can once again pour into Niagara Falls.
A number of downtown businesses signed a petition in November, calling on city council to direct the downtown board to revisit a decision made at its annual general meeting earlier that month to increase its budget by 86 per cent, to about $400,000.
Amanda Macdonald, executive director of the board, told council that the BIA conducted a survey of its members on how the board was doing, and the grades it received in areas such as revitalization, marketing and promotion, and beautification weren’t flattering.
Macdonald said plans call for efforts to promote the area to be ramped up in 2021, with initiatives such as a new communications and social media strategy, a new website and new branding, a fall month-long Harvest Fest, concerts and — if provincial and federal funds are received — projecting images to tell stories on downtown buildings.
Rob Barranca, owner of the Back Alley Barber Shop on Queen Street, said the timing — when most business are closed to customers due to the lockdown and a number of businesses have packed it in — is all wrong.
“(Merchants) can’t afford it during a pandemic,” he told This Week.
He said he and some other businesspeople met virtually with Mayor Jim Diodati and other city officials on Jan. 18 to request the increase to be rescinded.
Developer Phil Ritchie, who owns a number downtown properties, wrote to city council to say he was unable to connect to the virtual annual general meeting due to technical problems, and to ask council members for a “reality check” on the BIA budget.
“An increase of this magnitude in the middle of a pandemic is reprehensible,” he said. “Many businesses in the district are fighting for economic survival.”
Steve Ichelson, vice-president with property manager Avison Young, told council his company is a member of 11 business improvement areas in Ontario, including Toronto. He said the downtown Niagara Falls BIA has by far the highest fee per square foot for businesses, and said other Ontario BIAS are lowering their fees during the pandemic, not raising them.
City Coun. Wayne Campbell, a new city liaison on the BIA board, said the status quo wasn’t working for the city’s downtown. “If you continue to do things the way you’ve always done things, you’ll always get the same results,” he told council.
Coun. Carolynn Ioannoni said the businesses opposed to the increase are major anchor businesses downtown.
“In the midst of a pandemic … this (increase) is staggering,” she told council.
But Ron Charbonneau, chair of the downtown board, insisted the budget process was transparent. He also said the board felt it’s important to ramp up promotion of the area to prepare for the pandemic’s end.
“The board felt the pandemic was not a time to go to sleep, it’s a time to go harder,” he said in an interview.
“Everybody believes in what we’re doing, but not everybody wants to chip in.”
Charbonneau said, as owner of multiple properties downtown, he’ll also get dinged for higher fees. “(But) we need to change and grow,” he said, noting the BIA hadn’t increased its budget in a decade.
“It’s going to make the street great again,” he said. “I’m so excited by the direction we’re headed in.”