Planned Business Improvement District Discussed

Throughout a presentation on a planned Business Improvement District for downtown Chatham, FirsTEAManagement President David Biagini stressed that none of the details regarding his proposal are final.

A potential concierge service at the train station that would provide information about Main Street businesses and could potentially offer a variety of services, such as dry cleaning? It's a possibility. A BID nearly entirely run by its business-owning members, with government influence relatively low? Another option. A contribution rate of 2.3 percent of their property taxes for businesses within the district? Still another possibility.

But regardless of whether all of these potential options for the borough's planned BID will come true, they were discussed by business owners and Biagini in a presentation to the borough council at its Monday meeting. Biagini, who runs what Mayor Nelson Vaughan called "the most experienced downtown management firm in New Jersey," was hired by the borough two years ago to help work to set up the BID.

Biagini and several business owners who spoke at the meeting stressed the need for Chatham's Main Street businesses to remain viable in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Cafe Beethoven owner Andy Copp noted that municipalities such as Summit and Madison have full-time employees who work to market each of their downtowns. Chatham does not.

"We do face very tough competition from Summit, from Madison, from the Short Hills Mall," Kopp said.

Biagini said a BID would hopefully prevent the municipality from losing more and more of its market share to its neighbors. One of its potential elements, he said, would be the train station concierge.

A large number of people—about 1,500—use the borough train station daily. But because lots of them arrive at the station before Main Street businesses open, and come home after they close, they miss out on Chatham's downtown shopping area. A concierge service at the station that would promote businesses and provide some services from downtown businesses could allow those people to better take advantage of what Chatham has to offer.

It would also make Chatham's BID unique. Biagini said only two municipalities throughout New Jersey—Maplewood and Berkeley Heights—have placed similar concierge-type services in their train stations, and he said Maplewood's attempt has not been as successful as had been hoped.

The BID could also potentially be run as a private, non-profit entity, but would likely have a representative from the borough council on its board. If it settled on a 2.3 percent tax rate, its budget would be $63,000 per year—a relatively small amount, according to some business owners, that would also be "a beginning," as d.j. crater owner Richard Crater put it.

"I don't know if you've been in Summit recently, but that looks like a ghost town in the center of town," Crater said. "We don't want that to happen in Chatham."

Biagini said the standard tax contribution for New Jersey municipalities within a BID is 5 percent.

Business owners said the BID is essential for Chatham. Liberty Drug owner Al Brown said he has seen Chatham's downtown decline somewhat in recent years, and said the BID could help keep it on its feet.

If more people shop downtown, some said, the more the entire municipality will benefit.

"The success of the downtown is the easiest way to keep residential taxes lower," said David Cronheim, who runs the real estate brokerage firm David Cronheim Company at 205 Main St.

Even though the BID, as currently planned, would encompass Main Street businesses, Biagini said its bylaws could include provisions that would allow businesses along North Passaic Avenue or River Road to eventually participate.

The borough council will discuss an ordinance detailing the BID plans at its Feb. 8 meeting in further depth.