The Downtown Victoria Business Association wants to expand its boundaries to provide services to businesses outside its current catchment.
The association is asking the city for permission to extend its boundaries by several blocks from Chatham/Caledonia streets to Bay Street in the north, from Blanshard to Cook Street to the east, and to include Kingston Street and the Oswego Hotel in James Bay.
Jeff Bray, executive director of the DVBA, said the proposed boundary changes reflect a broader area that many consider to be downtown, and comes after some businesses in the 800- to 1000-block of Fort Street, outside the current borders, expressed interest in joining.
The association advocates on behalf of retailers and restaurants, highlights independent businesses and provides programs for downtown businesses, like a clean team, which collects litter, removes graffiti from private properties and safely disposes of needles every weekday.
“So businesses started to get together to say, ‘We really want to be part of the DVBA. We understand there’s a levy. How do we become a part?’ ” he said.
Property owners within the boundaries pay a levy based on the assessed value of their property. For example, the levy for the DVBA itself, which rents office space in Centennial Square, is about $140 annually.
The city will send notices to impacted property owners, and at least 50 per cent of owners with at least 50 per cent of the taxable assessment to be added to the catchment must oppose the changes to prevent the proposed expansion.
The city collects the levy from property owners and disburses the money to the business association. The expansion would result in a proposed budget of $1,694,000, which comes from the levy.
There are 775 properties currently within the boundaries.
