Shenango Valley News

City of Sharon recently issued the following announcement.

The City of Sharon has developed a plan to implement a Business Improvement District in the downtown Sharon area.  Details regarding the plan are listed below, and a full PDF of the plan is available here.

 Pursuant to Pennyslvania’s Neighborhood Improvement District (NID) Act, Act 130 of 2000, P.L. 949, No. 130, Section 5, the City of Sharon will hold a series of public meetings concerning the establishment of a proposed Business Improvement District (BID) in downtown Sharon. The first public hearings will be held on Wednesday, August 4th, at 1:00PM and 5:00PM in City Council Chambers for the purpose of collecting input on the Preliminary Plan, dated July 1, 2021, from  interested property owners and business owners within the footprint of the proposed BID area. Following that meeting, and pusuant to the input received, a second series of public meetings will be held on Wednesday, September 8, at 1:00PM and 5:00PM in City Council Chambers for the purpose of presenting the Final Plan to the affected property owners and business owners. The details of, and process for approving, the Final Plan will be presented at all of the public hearings.

 The Plan generally includes all properties within the area bounded by, including those with a property line abutting:

• N. Irvine and S. Irvine Street between Columbia St. and West Silver St.
• W. Silver Street between Irvine St. and the Shenango River 
• McKelvey St. to River St. to Agate Way between Silver St. and Penn Ave. 
• Penn Ave to the northern property line of 297 Shenango St.
• The northern property line of 297 Shenango and Franklin St. to Railroad Street
• Railroad Street between Franklin St. and E Silver Street
• E Silver Street between Railroad Street and N. Oakland.
• N. Oakland to E. State Street
• E State Street to S. Sharpsville Avenue
• S. Sharpsville Avenue to Connelly Blvd.
• Connelly Blvd. S. Irvine Street
• In addition, properties with a Mercer County parcel number of 1-D-2, 3-D-56, and 3-D-57 are included within the boundary of the proposed BID district.

 While the improvement district proposed under this plan is technically a “Business Improvement District” as defined by Act 130 of 2000 (the Neighborhood Improvement District Act), the district will operate under the title of the Downtown Sharon Improvement / Main Street Area (SDI-MSA). As proposed by this plan, the SDI-MSA will be managed by the Downtown Sharon Partnership, an “Operating Council” of the Sharon Community Development Corporation, to be established as part of, but not exclusively for, this plan.

 The primary activities to be undertaken within the SDI-MSA are broken down into five primary categories. The list below defines these primary service categories and the secondary activities proposed under each:

• Safe-Clean-Green
  • Maintenance and Beautification Support
  • Social Service Support to Deal with Struggling Individuals 
• Physical Improvements
  • Downtown Physical Improvement Master Plan
  • Enhanced Downtown Amenities including a new “Downtown Square.”
  • Façade Improvement Program
• Economic Vitality
  • Support for the Retail and Restaurant Cluster
  • Planning and Implementation of an Entrepreneurial Development System
  • Assistance with Business Retention and Recruitment
  • Development of a Health and Wellness Cluster
  • Support for a “TBD” Major Downtown Commercial Project
• Promotion and Marketing
  • Preparation of a Professional Prepared Marketing Campaign
  • Expanded “General Image” Marketing
  • Expanded Retail and Restaurant Marketing
  • Marketing of the Health and Wellness Cluster
  • BID Support for WaterFire
• Administration of the Programs

As currently envisioned by this plan, the SDI-MSA includes 232 properties, all of which will be AFFECTED in some way by the BID-Main Street Plan. Of the 232 affected properties, 228 are considered BENEFITTED properties and will be asked to be full assessment rate payers. These 228 properties will have an opportunity to participate in the plan approval process as defined by the NID Act. Only the four (4) properties listed as owner-occupied residential properties will be exempted from paying the proposed NID fee.

 Properties will be assessed based on their pro-rated portion of the LAND VALUE, as provided by Mercer County tax records, of each individual parcel within the district compared to the total LAND VALUE of all properties within the SDI-MSA. As the SDI-MSA is seeking to raise $250,000 in year one, each individual property’s portion of the total LAND VALUE is applied against the $250,000 to determine each individual property’s assessment. By way of example, an individual property with a Land Value equal to one-tenth of one-precent of the total Land Value within the BID-MSA boundary will pay one-tenth of one-percent of the $250,000.

All 228 Benefitted properties will have the right to cast an objection to this Plan, in accordance with Act 130 of 2000, the Neighborhood Improvement District Act. If forty percent (40%) or more of the potentially benefitted properties (92 properties) have their property owners cast a vote in objection to this plan, the plan may not be approved by Sharon City Council and the BID process effectively stops. Should less than 40% object, the Sharon City Council may approve, but has the option to approve or not approve, the SDI-MSA plan at that point. A property owner will get to cast one ballot for each individually deeded property she or he owns. Thus, a property owner with ten properties would get to cast ten votes. Votes must be cast in accordance with the instructions stipulated in this plan and using the ballots provided to be considered a valid objection. 

 If approved, this plan will take effect on the date approved by Sharon City Council and will terminate on December 31, 2026. The SDI-MSA may be reauthorized by Sharon City Council to continue operation after December 31, 2026, subject to the conditions presented in Section 17 of this plan.

Original source can be found here.