Business Improvement District Committee, Chamber No Longer Supporting Downtown Initiative

UPDATE: 12:05 p.m. The Chatham Business Improvement District Advisory Committee, which has worked to craft a Main Street business improvement initiative for the past two years, has withdrawn its support for the plan.

"In light of the last-minute opposition now expressed by some businesses and property owners against the proposed Chatham BID ordinance, the Chatham BID Advisory Board wishes to avoid a protracted controversy and instead recommends that the Borough Council no longer consider its passage at this time. Alternatively, our Board recommends that Chatham businesses invest in individual self-improvement measures and voluntarily support organizations that promote the business community on a collective level," read an initial draft of a statement from the advisory committee this morning.

The statement continued: "With this recommendation, the Chatham BID Advisory Board completes its assignment and we thank the Borough for the opportunity to participate in its BID feasibility study."

The Chamber of Commerce also announced it was withdrawing its support for the BID in a letter Chamber Board President Andy Copp and Chamber Executive Director Carolyn Cherry sent to media outlets this morning. Copp is a member of the BID Advisory Committee, which had worked with New Jersey BID consultants FirsTEAManagement in an attempt to formulate the parameters of a Main Street initiative.

"After getting the feedback that was sought for so long, we feel that energies would be better spent elsewhere and that the Council should vote no on the BID ordinance," the letter read.

Property owners within the planned Main Street district, which stretched from the Passaic River to Lafayette Avenue, would have been required to pay 2.3 percent of their property taxes toward the BID. In turn, the BID would use that money to help promote business downtown.

The advisory committee had floated the idea of placing a concierge service at Chatham Station that would provide commuters with information about local businesses.

The committee said in its draft statement that it had enlisted property owners representing 30 percent of the total assessed value of Main Street properties to give the BID a three-year trial, and had not encountered much opposition to the BID in the two years it had developed the plan.

But numerous downtown business owners spoke out against the planned BID over the past three weeks, saying they felt the proposed tax they would be required to pay if the BID were created would be detrimental to their businesses.

They also said they were unsure how it would help them going forward.

"I'm not opposed to promoting my town," F. Gerald New owner Paul Norbury said at a Borough Council meeting Feb. 8, during which many business owners voiced opposition to the plan. "I'm opposed to doing it with my tax dollars."

Council members have said they would not support the BID if it did not have widespread support among business owners.

Councilman James Lonergan, who is the liaison between the Borough Council and the Chamber, said that support for the initiative has appeared tenuous in recent weeks, and said as much today.

"If [support] is weak, there's no reason to push it through," he said.

The council is scheduled to discuss the matter—and could potentially vote on a BID ordinance—at its next meeting on March 22.