Downtown Vegas businesses may boost their taxes

New taxes could be on the horizon in downtown Las Vegas, but only if some area business owners feel like paying them.

A feasibility study commissioned by City Council members on Wednesday aims to measure support for downtown “business improvement districts” — new tax areas run by a group of business owners to fund district-specific street, marketing and business infrastructure improvements.

Business district proponents, including entrepreneurs and advocates at the Downtown Las Vegas Alliance, say business owners would likely need support from a majority of neighboring businesses in order to create the new tax areas.

They say the city, which is already home to the Fremont East business district, would benefit from rising property values driven by district-funded investments in new street lamps, greener road medians and cleaner streets.

Terry Murphy, a longtime business district advocate and past president of the Alliance, said such districts have transformed the business climate in cities from San Diego to Washington, D.C.

She doesn’t see why a city of Las Vegas’ size should be any different.

“Basically, (the districts) allow businesses to decide to take on street improvements, transportation improvements,” Murphy said. “The business community downtown is very interested in looking at that. … I think the Arts District would really benefit from it.

“The cities typically fund the upfront costs and benefit from property value improvements later.”

Council approval for Las Vegas’ first-ever business district study counts as part of a much broader overhaul of the city’s 14-year-old Downtown Centennial Master Plan.

A $731,226 city-approved consulting contract will see Baltimore-based RTKL Nevada Corp. spend up to two years redrawing that blueprint and drafting a new three-pronged plan to reshape downtown.

First, consultants will put together a “stakeholder engagement plan” to bring eight City Hall departments and more than a dozen area business and nonprofit owners into the downtown planning process.

Second, they plan to sit down with each of those partners to study potential road improvements geared toward streamlining downtown traffic circulation and upgrading links between downtown and the rest of Las Vegas.

Finally, the company will conduct a series of outreach meetings and reports aimed at nailing down the city’s long-awaited business districts.

Action on Las Vegas’ new downtown plan came only hours before city leaders again delayed a final vote on a proposed $200 million downtown soccer stadium in Symphony Park.

That stadium would take up some 13 acres at the park, a little more than one-fifth of the 61-acre former Union Pacific railroad yard that counts as the single largest stretch of city-owned developable land in downtown.

Frequently touted as the heart of the city’s downtown redevelopment efforts, Symphony Park remains 90 percent empty, with only a pair of major tax-exempt nonprofits helping to attract the private, tax-paying development needed to pay down the city’s eight-figure investment in park infrastructure.

A business district-related bump in sagging redevelopment area tax revenues could help offset Las Vegas’ redevelopment tab in Symphony Park and other downtown areas.

City planner Robert Summerfield said he isn’t sure how much new tax revenue business districts might help pour into city coffers, nor how many districts area business owners would be willing to support.

He is certain that the city should go out of its way to find out.

“A lot has changed since the Centennial Plan was adopted in 2000,” Summerfield said Thursday. “There’s been a lot of growth. We want to try and capitalize on that energy.

“Improvements to a particular district would hopefully provide for increased revenues, but this is mostly about encouraging (business) participation.”

Las Vegas Arts District President Marc Abelman — who heads the board charged with promoting and developing one of downtown’s largest neighborhoods — said a business district would be a perfect fit for his corner of the city.

He has no idea if his fellow Arts District business owners would agree.

“The Arts District does stand to gain a lot from a (business improvement district),” Abelman said. “We’re artists, so we don’t have a lot of money and there is a need for financing to market and promote this area.

“But we don’t want to create resentment, so I think we have to get a majority of business owners on board. … I don’t know if we have that kind of support down here.”

City staff hope to begin implementing business district and other downtown plan recommendations over the next three to five years.

Representatives with the Fremont East business district did not immediately return requests for comment on how they spend district-specific tax revenues.

RTKL deferred comment on Las Vegas’ new downtown plan to city officials.

Council members signed off on the company’s contract without comment as part of the consent agenda.

Contact James DeHaven at jdehaven@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3839. Find him on Twitter: @JamesDeHaven.