Utilizing GIS to Create Special Improvement Districts and Improve Communities

1. Utilizing GIS to Create Special Improvement Districts and Improve Communities Rachel Pohnan Vince Matheney Environmental Planner/ Environmental Planner/ GIS Analyst GIS Analyst ms consultants, inc. ms consultants, inc. Ohio GIS Conference September 23 – 25, 2019 Hyatt Regency Columbus Columbus, Ohio

2. Let’s Consider You Are a Business or Resident in a Downtown Setting…  Do you or your community desire programs or services that are financially too difficult for the city to provide?  Do you wish to draw a new clientele to the area or boost the satisfaction of existing clientele?  Do you need help creating and implementing a long-term vision for your community?  Are you looking to increase the economic, physical, social, and civic value of a district? A SID may be for you!

3. What is a Special Improvement District (SID)?  An economic development tool that allows private property owners in a self-defined area to establish a program for services or improvements  Paid for with assessments on all properties in the defined area.  Governed by a private, nonprofit corporation created by property owners and run by an elected board of property owners  Government property and churches are exempt, but may contribute voluntarily

4. Shapes and Sizes of a SID  Can be any size or shape, but the properties must be contiguous

5. Types of Services CLEANING  Graffiti Removal  Sidewalk Washing  Flower Watering and Planter Maintenance  Landscaping  Paint Touchups  Snow Removal

6. Types of Services BEAUTIFICATION  Planters and Flowers  Street Lighting  Light Post Flags  Signage  Cigarette Urns

7. Types of Services SAFETY  Provide Directions  Unlock/Jump Cars  Public Safety Escorts  Offer Information on the City  In Contact with Law Enforcement

8. How is a SID Held Accountable?  SID decisions are made by its board of trustees  Must be property owners within the district  A SID is required to hold annual meetings and elections and provide written reports to member property owners each year  SIDs automatically terminate after 10 years  At that point, a SID may only continue if property owners circulate and sign another petition.

9. Timeline for Creating a SID •Calculate frontage, square footage, and property values •Create initial plan for services •Create assessment formula •Can be based on almost anything, as long as owners receive equal benefits •Determine management details Phase I •Petition property owners for approval •Ohio law requires 60% of all frontage facing the public right-of-way •Or 75% of the area of the District Phase 2 •Pass City Council ordinances to create the SID and levy the SID assessment •Send Assessment numbers to County Auditor for collection on tax bill •Elect the Board of Trustees Phase 3

10. What are the Benefits of a SID?  A safe, clean, and secure district  Cleaner and safer downtowns mean more customers  Increased occupancy rates in downtown buildings  Increased property values  Ongoing, coordinated marketing programs  Continuity in capital projects and future development  Well-coordinated special events  A consistent and positive image of downtown  Community benefits at no additional financial burden to local governments

11. How Can GIS Be Used in the Development of a SID?

12. Task: Develop an Automated Workflow to Calculate the Frontage of Parcels along the ROW within a SID Boundary  The Problem: Planners need to know the amount of frontage along the ROW to complete additional calculations. The process needed to be repeatable because developing the SID Boundary is a flexible process during early development.  How: Complete automation not possible. However, we were able to develop several small subtasks using Model Builder in ArcGIS

13. Getting Started:  What you need: Auditor’s Parcel Polygon Data, SID Boundary, Land Valuation Data w/Parcel ID  Other useful data: Street Centerlines

14. 1. Polygon to Polyline to Split Polyline Tool  Convert Parcel Polygons to Polylines  Split the Parcel Polylines at Vertices Right-of-Way Parcel Polygon

15. 2. Remove Interior Non-ROW Polylines  Manually Delete the Interior Non-ROW Polylines Right-of-Way Parcel Polygon

16. 3. Dissolve and Calculate ROW Frontage Dissolve the Split Parcel Polylines by the Parcel_ID to remove duplicates leaving a single polyline for each parcel.  Add a field to the Dissolved Polyline Layer for Frontage Calculation (Field Name: “FrontageLF”, Field Type: Double)  Calculate the length (FrontageLF) of each remaining Parcel Polyline (Python expression: !shape.length@feet!)  Right-of-Way Right-of-Way Parcel Polygon

17. 4. Join Frontage In the case of this example, the Auditor’s Database containing Land Values, etc. were in a separate .CSV file  Part I includes a join to join the original geography with the database to create an Parcel Layer that’s whole.  Part 2 joins the previously the Dissolved Split Polylines with Frontage Calculations to the Parcel Polygons with attribute information 

18. 5. Export Tabular Data to Excel Manually Export the Attribute Table to .dbf for use in Excel 

19. The Parcel Data Has Been Collected and Assessed Now What?

20. Petitioning Property Owners and Making Assessment Formula  Approach property owners within the proposed boundary to answer questions or address needs/wants  Client comes up with desired list of improvements and services  Work backwards to develop an assessment formula that gets enough money to carry out desired list  Assessment formulas differ for every project depending on wants/needs  % of Market Value  Size/Area of the Property  Features of the Property (i.e. Proximity to Landmark)  Approved assessment is reflected in the annual tax bill by the County Auditor  Start improving the district!

21. Questions? Rachel Pohnan rpohnan@msconsultants.com 330-258-9920 Ext. 12109 Vince Matheney vmatheney@msconsultants.com 330-258-9920 Ext. 12101