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Carlisle property owners question DID expansion
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Article RatingCinda Shannon does not consider herself part of downtown Carlisle.
Yet now she finds herself being included in the expanded scope of a proposed Downtown Improvement District.
“I’m in a residential block,” said Shannon, a partner in Cole’s Bicycles and owner of the mixed-use property at 327 N. Hanover St.
“I see no benefit at all to me,” she added. “If it is going to benefit Carlisle, let everyone pay for it ... not just the business owners.”
Under DID, commercial property owners within the designated area would pay an assessment beyond the real estate tax to fund ramped-up marketing efforts, traffic safety upgrades and downtown beautification projects.
An early draft of the DID business plan included just the C-1 commercial district. This latest version expands the DID to “gateway” areas leading to downtown, including Hanover Street from Clay Street in the north to Noble Boulevard in the south.
Under the proposal, owners of commercial/retail and mixed-use properties within the C-1 district would pay 2.25 mils, while similar properties in the “gateway” areas would pay half as much, or 1.125 mils.
A mixed-use property is defined as retail on the first floor and apartments on the upper floors.
“I’m against the DID in its current form,” Shannon said. “Higher taxes help no one. Everybody is struggling to make ends meet. It is difficult all the way around for everyone.”
The latest business plan also extends the DID on High Street from Cherry Street in the west to the “point,” where East High Street intersects with Route 74, ending at the Hess Station.
The borough recently distributed copies of the latest DID plan to commercial property owners within the expanded district, including Bobbi Blosser, part owner of G.C. Blosser Inc., a beverage distributor at 222 E. High St.
Blosser confirmed she received the information but has yet to read it. When told of the proposed assessment, Blosser said there is no way the business could afford to pay an additional 1.125 mils.
“We would have to sell out and close,” she said.
Her business partner, Tom Oyler, downplayed the impact saying, “We need to look at it. We’re not sure what effect this is going to have on us.”
Blosser questioned the wisdom of proposed safety upgrades that would reduce traffic to one lane in each direction through downtown Carlisle.
“How are our guys supposed to make deliveries?” Blosser asked.
Right now, delivery trucks use the travel lane to service the restaurants downtown, keeping the passing lane open for traffic. Reducing the number of lanes to one could cause traffic tie-ups, Blosser said.
Currently, Hanover and High streets are four-lane state routes with two lanes in each direction. They intersect at the Square, where the Cumberland County courthouse is located.
Traffic consultant Dewberry-Goodkind recommends one travel lane on High Street from Cherry Street east to Spring Garden Street and on Hanover Street from Willow Street north to Penn Street.
Dewberry-Goodkind also suggests reconfiguring both streets to create a 10-foot wide median running down the center with dedicated left-turn lanes at key intersections.
Blosser saw no benefit in single lane traffic should a permanent raised median be installed. She believes this would impede the ability of traffic coming through the “gateway” areas to cross the opposing lane to access her driveway.
Steven Ewing of Ewing Brothers Funeral Home also received the packet of information.
“I scanned it and saw the increase in mils,” he said. “It certainly expanded the downtown area. I never thought we were downtown.”
The funeral home is at 630 S. Hanover St., five blocks away from the southern edge of the C-1 commercial district.
“I don’t see it having any benefit for Ewing Brothers because we are too far out,” Ewing said.
“To make sure everybody is carrying a fair load, why not just expand the DID out to the borough limits?” Ewing said. He suggested including Carlisle Commons and Wal-Mart in the DID.
Borough Councilman Perry Heath chairs the task force working to implement the DID. He confirmed the “gateway” on South Hanover Street ends at Noble Boulevard and does not include the Wal-Mart or Carlisle Commons.
“We would have a real hard time trying to define services that would have a direct benefit to a shopping center,” Heath said Tuesday. “It would be perceived as a money grab solely for the purpose of gaining the assessment, not for the purpose of giving services.”
There are already strong marketing programs in place for Wal-Mart and other chain stores in Carlisle Commons, so the DID is unlikely to generate additional foot traffic for the shopping center, Heath said.
He added the DID cannot fund traffic safety upgrades and beautification projects on private property.
“This is not solely about trying to spread the burden,” Heath said. “It is about providing services in return for the assessment.”
The public is invited to the Sept. 24 hearing on the DID to provide input on why shopping centers should be included in the DID, Heath said. The Point at Carlisle Plaza on East High Street is also excluded from the latest DID plan.
“If you want the DID to expand, than suggest to us what the services are,” Heath said. “We need people to come in and tell us that.”
Ewing said the task force has its work cut out for it in trying to convince property owners to support the DID.
“What is going to be the end result?” he asked. “Will this make downtown Carlisle a more pleasant place to shop? I highly doubt it.”
Heath said that if property owners take the time to study the latest plan, they would understand that while the DID may not directly benefit every single property owner, the collective effort would help revitalize the downtown and benefit the local economy.
“I’m not surprised there are people opposed to it,” Heath said. “That happens any time you ask people to pay out of pocket.”
The next step for DID is to hold the Sept. 24 public hearing. If there are no suggestions for substantial changes, borough council could vote on Oct. 9 to approve the business plan for “public review.”
If that happens, it would trigger a 45-day comment period, from October into November, during which property owners can file written objections to the DID proposal. Each parcel counts as one vote.
Under state enabling law, 40 percent or more of property owners need to file objections in order to defeat the proposal. If 60 percent of property owners do not file objections, these count as “yes” votes towards the DID, but council would still have to adopt an ordinance before the new assessment could take effect.
Heath said including the “gateway” properties increased the number of parcels to 355, from 248 in the C-1 district. Objections would have to be filed for 142 parcels for the DID to be defeated.
