Officials Mull Commercial District for Towson

For a new idea to improve downtown Towson, some officials and community leaders are looking at an old one.

County Councilman David Marks floated the idea of setting up a commercial district during a recent Tomorrow's Towson . Following a Bethesda model, the plan could increase revenue, as well as raise property owners' taxes, Marks said.

It isn't the first time such a district has been proposed, but coming from Marks, community and business leaders say the proposal is being studied anew.

Such a district would most likely be funded, at least in part, by taxing the property owners in it. Marks, a Perry Hall Republican, admits it is somewhat unusual to hear a Republican talking about new taxes.

"As a Republican, I believe in promoting a healthy business climate, and if there is strong consent among business owners that it is something that they would like to pursue, then it's something that I am very open to," he said.

The model Marks cites is Bethesda, where the Bethesda Urban Partnership handles maintenance, marketing and transportation management. Marks, a former Maryland Department of Transportation official and transportation consultant, has a long-term goal of seeing a , similar to the Bethesda Circulator.

The partnership is funded mostly through parking lot fees, which comprise 80 percent of its budget.

"People who come here are actually reinvesting in downtown Bethesda," said Stephanie Coppula, a partnership spokeswoman.

The partnership makes the rest of its revenue through sponsorship, trash fees and a small commercial urban district tax surcharge, which under Montgomery County law can't be more than 30 cents per $100 in property value. Other arrangements exist in Silver Spring and Wheaton.

In Baltimore, property owners in the Downtown Management Authority area (better known as the Downtown Partnership) pay additional property taxes (21.39 cents extra per $100 in assessed value) for increased services, such as sanitation, security and special events. Separately, parking taxes fund the Charm City Circulator bus.

Marks said it's too early to suggest a funding model for Towson, but he said he would like the involvement of the Baltimore County Revenue Authority, which manages parking meters and garages in Towson.

In 1992, the Baltimore County Council passed legislation sponsored by then-Councilman Doug Riley (who represented Towson) allowing for so-called "commercial district management authorities." There have been no attempts to create such a district since an early attempt in Pikesville was abandoned in the mid-1990s. Under that legislation, the county must get the consent of two-thirds of the property owners in the district to move forward.

It was another decade before someone recommended starting a district for Towson, when it came up after the 2006 urban design charettes, according to Bud Clark, president of Tomorrow's Towson.

Cindy Bledsoe, executive director of the Greater Towson Committee, said her organization started a study on the issue several years ago with the blessing of then-County Executive Jim Smith, and never finished it.

"It's been talked about off and on for a number of years, and typically it's come down to what is the right time to do it," she said.

After the chair of a committee on the issue in Tomorrow's Towson departed and was not replaced, "they sort of ran out of gas," Clark said.

The district would exist to handle things that government can't typically do or that property owners already pay for themselves, such as sidewalk maintenance, graffiti removal and security.

"This will be something in place for the entire district," Bledsoe said.

Nancy Hafford, executive director of the Towson Chamber of Commerce, was cautious in discussing the proposal and stressed the work the chamber already does. She hires inmates from the Baltimore County Detention Center and additional helpers to do some maintenance work.

She said the commercial district concept has "worked very well in a lot of areas," but agreed with Marks that now isn't the time to add a tax.

"I don't want to put any more strain on our businesses," she said. "A lot of these places are making it week by week, day by day."