Downtown Parking and Business Improvement: PBIA in Progress

                Bellingham’s downtown is noted as the heart of the city. To keep this ‘heart’ figuratively pumping, the city relies on clean-up, landscaping, security, a voice for property owners and a smooth parking and traffic system, among other things. With the introduction of downtown Bellingham’s Parking and Business Improvement Area (PBIA), there could now be enough funding to make these necessities possible.

                According to the downtown Bellingham website, a PBIA is a local self-help funding mechanism that allows businesses and property owners to establish a special assessment district to raise money in order to promote economic development and facilitate merchant and business cooperation, meaning higher property values and more business traffic for downtown Bellingham. According to The International Downtown Association, there are over 1,200 business improvement districts throughout the country.

                In order to fund the PBIA, downtown property owners would be assessed a yearly fee of two-tenths of a percent, 0.2%, of the value of their improved property. Improvements include beautification via litter pickup, graffiti removal, and landscaping. In addition, ambassadors would be made available to address concerns, and private security stationed to handle disturbances such as unnecessary loitering or overnight property security.

                “The whole idea of this happening in Bellingham is pretty neat,” downtown resident Curtis Cordova said. “It really makes you feel like people care about our community and want to do everything they can to make it better.”

                Cordova, originally from Spokane, noted that his parents are property owners in the Spokane area, which has seen dramatic and successful changes thanks to a PBIA in place there. At first, his parents were skeptical of yet another fee to pay, but it was easily worth the hassle to see the changes and added peace of mind thanks to security improvements, he said.

                One of the top downtown property owners, Jim Bjerke, who owns Pacific Continental Realty on Magnolia, is fully behind the effort. He estimated that his contribution to the project would be close to $10,000.

                However, not everyone is in the same boat as Bjerke. West-Lind Construction owner Rick Westerop already pays numerous fees as a developer, and is in charge of taking care of his properties, so he wouldn’t see much benefit from the improvement area, he said.

                To initiate the PBIA, property owners who would pay 60 percent of the total improvements from the project must sign petitions supporting it. Following that, the petitions would be sent to City Council to create an ordinance to bring about the creation of the improvement area.

                Frequent downtown shopper Alex Bommarito said he would love to see the PBIA come to fruition. “I’m always downtown, it’s a great place. It’d be awesome to make a great place even better, because I do notice things like occasional trash and the leaves that cover the sidewalks.”

                Parking, as a part of the name of the proposal, is a rather large issue for downtown, and has been for decades. However, due to disagreement on a solid solution, parking improvements were left out of downtown Bellingham’s PBIA proposal altogether. According to the downtown Bellingham website, the parking issue is not being overlooked, but the focus of the project has been beautification and security.

                The PBIA would have formal staffing in the way of a director, landscape and maintenance supervisor and staff and an elected advisory board made up of property owners that would choose and vote on various improvement projects, according to the downtown Bellingham website.

“I really like the idea that the board would be made up of actual business owners,” Western student and frequent patron at The Black Drop Coffee House Karin Cross said. “I wouldn’t want someone making decisions about my community who wouldn’t see the effects firsthand.”

                The Parking and Business Improvement Area would encompass a 50-block area, including all of the Central Business District, sprawling to Whatcom Creek, as well as all of Holly and Ellis streets. Meetings concerning the PBIA will continue throughout the year, with no set dates or times as of yet.

Downtown Noise Causing Uproar

                With numerous clubs and bars such as The Royal, The Grand Avenue Ale house and The World Famous Up & Up, late-night noise in Downtown Bellingham is a given, and it’s no surprise that it is making waves with downtown residents.

                Downtown residents have raised quite an uproar about the racket generated by these social establishments, and debates regarding noise complaints and how to deal with them fairly have recently escalated for Bellingham’s Entertainment District.

                City of Bellingham Municipal Code 10.24.120 outlines in detail the noise ordinance in place for the established Entertainment District downtown. Though it governs both public establishments and private persons, Western junior Alex Taylor said he feels there is not enough enforcement on the latter.

                “Initially, I wanted to live downtown,” Taylor said. “Had I known the noise could get so loud, I would have probably found a place on South Campus.” Taylor said that it isn’t just the weekends that are bad. With various “happy-hour” promotions, late-night noise is a usual occurrence even mid-week, he said.

                According to the ordinance, "It is unlawful for any person to cause, or for any person in possession of property to allow to originate from the property, sound that is a public disturbance noise.” Taylor also stated that the current ordinance airs on a rather subjective side, as it is up to an officer’s sole discretion whether or not an individual or establishment is breaking the law with the noise it is producing.

                Over the past two years, changes to Bellingham Municipal Code regarding noise levels have been the topic of multiple City Council debates. With the passage of these updates, multiple complaints about a particular noise disturbance must be logged before Bellingham Police can respond.

Western junior Jessie Wixom, who used to live downtown but moved away because of similar noise issues, was not a fan of this idea.

                “Just because an individual or party doesn’t receive multiple complaints doesn’t mean it should go unattended to,” Wixom said. “Sometimes people just won’t make the call to police, but are still just as frustrated as the one person who did, so the disturbance just goes on.”

                A proposed addendum to the ordinance would allow Bellingham police officers to carry decibel meters to determine whether or not noise complaints are valid, however this has since been tabled, and it is not certain whether it will return to consideration. The threshold set in place by the ordinance is 85 decibels, though according to a study done at Purdue University; even merely a telephone dial tone can surpass that.

                Bellingham’s Downtown Alliance for Music & Nightlife, or B’DAMN for short, is a non-profit, third-party organization that represents musicians, artists, promoters, venue owners and other professionals with an interest in the Central Business District’s nightlife.

                According to its website, B’DAMN strives to better the relationship between the downtown nightlife community and local government and law enforcement agencies. “We believe that the majority of these issues stem from a lack of communication between these parties; this is a gap we hope to bridge,” is the mantra posted on B’DAMN’s website.

                Downtown resident and B’DAMN member Nathan Schaller said he could not agree more with the statement given by the organization.

                “I really don’t agree with how harshly people come down on the noise complaints downtown,” Schaller said. “I’m almost positive that if we had a better means of communication [with local law & government agencies], we could easily avoid a lot of this bullshit.”

                Schaller also said that he had been in trouble with Bellingham Police on more than one occasion for noise-related issues. He said he felt confused by the lack of strict enforcement, as he noted he had been a part of seemingly much more “peace-disturbing shenanigans”. Schaller said he has been with B’DAMN since just after it was founded in 2007.

                To date, there is no set period for the revisions to the noise ordinance. City council continues to discuss ways to handle the issues in the most effective way possible. Council is open to, and encourages, public opinion on anything pertaining to the ordinance.