Businesses to receive BID survey
— Photo by MARY MALONE A survey will be sent out next week to property and business owners in Sandpoint's Business Improvement District before the future of the BID is decided. The Greater Sandpoint Area Chamber of Commerce is contracted through the end of the year with the city of Sandpoint for administration and management of the BID, which includes maintenance of the downtown flower baskets.
SANDPOINT — A survey will be mailed to business and property owners in the Business Improvement District next week before City Council decides what the future holds, or if there is a future, for the BID.
City officials worked with Boise State University students in the public policy and community and regional planning graduate programs recently to develop the survey.
"We've had it completed since early November," City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said during Wednesday's City Council meeting. "But this was the downside of working with university — because it is a survey with people, it had to go through the university's institutional review board, so we have been waiting for that approval."
The students reviewed the structure and organization in the BID, as well as developing the survey with the purpose of obtaining feedback from property and business owners to determine whether there is a desire to keep the BID in place next year or dissolve it.
The chamber employee assigned to manage the BID operations resigned in August, after which the city and the chamber held a meeting to discuss the future of the BID and whether or not the chamber wished to continue with the agreement. During that meeting, chamber officials agreed to continue its role through the end of the year in order to ensure the continuance of some fall and winter programs, such as flower basket maintenance, tree lighting and decorations.
The BID is a public and private partnership in which property and business owners collaboratively contribute to the maintenance, development and promotion of the commercial district, which is bounded from Superior to Larch streets, and First to Sixth avenues. Some of the services include holiday lighting, spring clean-up, creation and maintenance of the BID website. Some capital improvements are included in the bid as well, such as mutt mitt dispensers and SPOT bus stops and bike racks. Businesses and property owners are subject to an annual fee by the city to cover the services provided.
Stapleton said the survey will need to be returned by the end of the year and can either be mailed back in a postage-paid envelope or completed online. Instructions to complete it online will be provided with the survey when it is mailed to the property and business owners. Each survey will have a unique code assigned to it so each business can only complete one survey.