Downtown Business Improvement Area
Consultation has concluded
Given the economic impact of COVID-19 on the local economy, Sarnia City Council has requested at its Meeting held on July 13, 2020 that a re-vote be completed on the consideration of a Downtown Business Improvement Area (BIA). In light of this request, Commercial property owners have until Monday, September 21, 2020 to provide the Office of the City Clerk with an updated list of tenants, and eligible rate payers will have until Monday, October 19, 2020 to submit any objections to the formation of a Downtown BIA.
Despite the fact that owners may have submitted information that was requested in December of 2019, to initiate the original voting process, owners are required under the Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25, to resubmit a list of your commercial tenants to the Office of the City Clerk before Monday, September 21, 2020, so that an up to date list of eligible rate payers can be compiled by the City.
About the BIA
The proposed BIA would include all properties in the City of Sarnia indicated within the boundary of the map ("Schedule A") and as described in section 2.1 of the by-law.
The objectives of the proposed Downtown BIA Board of Management are:
- To oversee the improvement, beautification and maintenance of municipally-owned land, buildings and structures in the area beyond these that are provided at the expense of the municipality generally; and
- To promote the area as a business or shopping area.
If the By-Law is passed, the funds required by the proposed Downtown Business Improvement Area Board of Management may be raised by the City of Sarnia through the establishment of a special charge on rateable properties located within the boundaries of the Downtown Business Improvement Area, which charge would be added to the tax roll for the affected properties within the area.
Requirements
A notice of the intention to pass the by-law has been mailed to owners of property located within the proposed Downtown BIA. Under subsection 210(2) of the Municipal Act, 2001: owners are required within 30 days of the date of this notice to:
- Give a copy of the notice to each tenant of your property who is required to pay all or part of the taxes on the property; and
- Give the City Clerk a list of every tenant of your property and the share of the taxes that each tenant is required to pay and the share that you as the owner is required to pay.
A Listing of Tenants Form is provided in the Documents section. The Listing of Tenants Form must be filed with the Clerk's Office, 2nd Floor, 255 Christina St. N., P.O. Box 3018, Sarnia, ON N7T 7N2, clerks@sarnia.ca on or before 4:30 pm, Monday, September 21, 2020.
Objections
Persons responsible for all or part of the commercial taxes assessed against the property may have the right to object to the Municipal Council establishing the proposed area as a Business Improvement Area. The Sarnia City Council shall not pass this by-law if there are written objections from at least one-third of the total number of owners and tenants in the proposed Downtown Business Improvement Area and those persons are responsible for at least one-third of the taxes levied for purposes of the general local municipality levy on rateable property in all prescribed business property classes in the proposed Downtown Business Improvement Area.
A report outlining the results of this re-vote will be presented to Sarnia City Council at its Meeting to be held on December 7, 2020.
An Objection Form is provided in the Documents section. Please only return the Objection Form if you wish to object to the establishment of the proposed Downtown Business Improvement Area and the Downtown Business Improvement Area Board of Management. The Objection Form must be filed with the Clerk's Office, 2nd Floor, 255 Christina St. N., P.O. Box 3018, Sarnia, ON N7T 7N2, clerks@sarnia.ca on or before 4:30 pm, Monday, October 19, 2020.
For any questions regarding the above matter, please contact the Clerk's Office, clerks@sarnia.ca or 519-332-0330 ext. 3320.
