Caldwell Considering 'Special Improvement District' For Bloomfield Avenue

Caldwell, NJ – Change may be coming to Bloomfield Avenue in Caldwell.

During its April 5 meeting, the Caldwell Borough Council introduced an ordinance that would create a “special improvement district” for the Bloomfield Avenue corridor.

Ordinance #1319‐16 would also designate a “district management corporation” with special powers – the Downtown Caldwell Partnership - to oversee its administration.

The potential law would require a “special assessment” that would be imposed and collected by the borough with regular property taxes. Tax-exempt properties or single-family and two-family residences would be excluded from the mandatory special assessment fee, the ordinance states.

These payments would then be transferred to the Downtown Caldwell Partnership. Collected funds would be used to “promote the economic and general welfare of the District and the Borough of Caldwell.”

The special improvement district would run the length of Bloomfield Avenue and include businesses on adjacent side streets, including Brookside Avenue, Park Avenue, Roseland Avenue, Smull Avenue and Washburn Place.

“The [council] considers the Bloomfield Avenue corridor as an integral and vital area tied to the economic and social success of the borough,” the ordinance reads. “The creation of a Special Improvement District and designation of a district management corporation will promote economic growth and implement, foster and encourage commercial development business vitality, expansion and self‐help, and improve the business climate and otherwise be in the best interest of the property owners in the district and in the Borough of Caldwell.”

Read the full ordinance here.

The council will hold a public hearing and final vote for the ordinance during its May 17 meeting.

DOWNTOWN CALDWELL PARTNERSHIP

Under the terms of the potential law, the Downtown Caldwell Partnership (DCP) would have the powers to:

• Adopt bylaws for the regulation of its affairs and conduct of its business and to prescribe rules, regulations and policies in connection with the performance of its function and duties
• Employ such persons as may be required and to fix and pay their compensation from funds available to the DCP
• Apply for, accept, administer and comply with the requirements respecting an appropriation of funds or a gift, grant or donation of property or money
• Make and execute agreements which may be necessary or convenient to the exercise of the powers and functions of the corporation, including contracts with any person, firm, corporation, governmental agency or other entity
• Administer and manage its own funds and accounts and pay its obligations
• Borrow money from private lenders and from governmental entities
• Fund the improvement of the exterior appearance of properties in the District through grants or loans
• Fund the rehabilitation of properties in the District
• Accept, purchase, rehabilitate, sell, lease or manage property in the District
• Enforce the conditions of any loan, grant, sale or lease made by the DCP
• Provide security, sanitation and other services to the District, supplemental to those provided normally by the municipality
• Undertake improvements designed to increase the safety or attractiveness of the District to businesses which may wish to locate there or to visitors to the District, including but not limited to litter cleanup and control, landscaping, parking areas and facilities, recreational and rest areas and facilities, pursuant to pertinent regulations of the Borough
• Publicize the District and the businesses included within the District boundaries
• Recruit new businesses to fill vacancies in, and to balance the business mix of, the District
• Organize special events in the District
• Provide special parking arrangements for the District
• Provide temporary decorative lighting in the District
• Advise the Mayor and Council, from time to time, on the control and regulation of: (a) The distribution and location of movable furniture, sculpture or pedestrian traffic control devices, landscaping and other facilities belonging to the Special Improvement District, as the case may be, and not otherwise located or fixed by the plans and specifications; (b) The uses to be permitted within the Special Improvement District property by occupants of abutting property, any transit or telephone utility, concessionaires, vendors and others to serve the convenience and enjoyment of pedestrians and the location of such uses; (c) The issuance of permits to conduct any special activity consistent with the broad purposes of the Special Improvement District.

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