Downtown St. Cloud BID Proposal Takes Step Forward

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- After a lengthy public hearing, the plan to create a Business Improvement District for downtown St. Cloud has received initial approval from the St. Cloud City Council.

Monday's meeting was the first of two required public hearings to create the BID.  The second public hearing will be on October 7th.

Nearly 20 people spoke in favor of it including representatives of the Greater St. Cloud Development Corporation, CentraCare, Granite Partners, Falcon Bank, U.S. Bank, St. Cloud State University, Berick's, Great River Children's Museum, Visit Greater St. Cloud, the Paramount Theater, and others.

Speakers talked about how a more vibrant downtown will help them to retain and recruit employees.

One downtown property owner spoke against the BID, saying he did not believe an added assessment would help to attract more people to the area. There was another written submission against the BID.

The proposal was approved unanimously by the St. Cloud City Council.

Other communities similar in size including Fargo, Sioux Falls, Rochester, and Duluth all have established Business Improvement Districts.

If it gets final approval, the added assessment to the district's property owners would be used to hire a firm called Block By Block which would provide services for things like cleaning, beautification, and safety.

Fifty-seven businesses and individuals have already pledged $750,000 spread out over five years to help offset the assessments, which is about 20 to 30 percent of the budget.

There would be two tiers with tier 1 on the west side of the Mississippi River receiving daily services, and tier 2 on the east side of the river getting services two or three times a week.

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Monday night's meeting focused on defining the boundaries, the range of services, and the length of the term of the Business Improvement District, which would be for five years.  The October 7th public hearing will focus on things like setting the assessment levels.

Business Improvement Districts have been proposed several other times in the past in St. Cloud, but this is the first time it has passed the first hurdle of the first public hearing approval from the city council.

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