Staff updates commission on Mission Street plan: businesses to fund BID after PBID petition fell short; council vote expected by December

At the July 9 Daly City Small Business Commission meeting, a city staff member updated commissioners on multi-year efforts to improve the Mission Street corridor and explained why staff and stakeholders are shifting from a property-based improvement district (PBID) to a business-funded business improvement district (BID).

The staff member said the PBID exploration included outreach and assessment modeling beginning in 2023 and extensive engagement with property and business owners as well as regional partners including ABAG and Eden Housing. "After conducting many workshops...we found that the level of property owner participation wasn't there to confidentially advance a PBID formation," the staff member said, explaining that the petition phase did not advance.

To preserve momentum, the steering committee of business and property owners backed moving to a traditional BID model in which businesses — not property owners — would pay an assessment tied to business license collection. The staff member described a range of possible assessment formulas: by business category, building square footage, frontage or lot size, and said the steering committee will work to make the method equitable.

"So it's now...the businesses are saying, you know, we're okay with taxing ourselves for that instead of having the property owners pay that assessment fee," the staff member said, adding that business license collections are the city mechanism for assessments while property-based assessments are collected by the county.

Commissioners and staff discussed governance and timing. The staff member said the steering committee could become the official BID board if members elect to take on ongoing responsibilities, including meetings and minutes. On process, staff outlined council steps for forming the BID: first reading, second reading, a public hearing and then a council vote. Staff projected a council vote by December and said the public will be invited to weigh in during the public hearing.

Commissioners also raised operational questions about district boundaries and needs. Staff noted the corridor is long and narrow, that the northern end adjacent to San Francisco faces higher levels of homelessness and public-intoxication issues, and that the southern end is more interested in event marketing tied to the Top of the Hill Festival. Staff said the Grocery Outlet anchor is scheduled to open Sept. 10 and could draw more activity, but parking and other infrastructure constraints remain.

Staff gave a cost example for common services to illustrate budgeting: a quoted cost for periodic power washing was roughly $25,000 per service, so recurring quarterly service would require reverse-engineering per-business assessments to reach that operating budget.

Why it matters: Switching to a BID would change who pays assessments and how funds are governed; council approval is required before any assessment can be imposed. The steering committee and upcoming council hearings will determine formulas, boundaries and priorities for BID spending.

Next steps: Staff will continue stakeholder outreach, the steering committee will refine assessment options and staff expects the council review process to start later this year with a vote possible by December.