By Jorge Casuso

February 16 -- The private sector should determine the makeup of half of the new Bayside Board that will be in charge of new assessments to boost safety and maintenance Downtown, the Bayside Board decided Thursday.

The board also will recommend to the City Council that the boundaries of the Downtown Business Improvement District be expanded and that restaurants, offices, hotels and multi-family residences pay assessments based on the benefits they derive from the enhanced services. In the past, only retail businesses have paid assessments.

After an extended debate, the board opted to recommend a model of governance similar to that used by the CVB -- half of whose members are appointed by the City Council, half by the Chamber of Commerce and one seat is held by the City Manager.

The proposed change came after property owners said they would be reluctant to pay new assessments unless they were given a greater say in the make-up of the board, which is currently composed of 11 members chosen by the council.

“The property owners who are going to pay have said loud and clear that they are not going to pay unless they have a role in the process that is not at the mercy of the council,” said board member John Warfel.

Before voting to recommend the CVB model, the board rejected an alternative presented by Progressive Urban Management Associates, the consulting firm helping hammer out a new model for the Bayside District Corporation, which has run the Downtown for nearly two decades.

The rejected option – which is used in Boulder, Colorado – calls for the council to appoint board members from a list of nominees provided by the private sector.

Council member Ken Genser, the liaison to the Bayside Board, warned that he could not support the model, which he called “a political nightmare.”

“I think it’s really essential that the City maintain control of its public streets,” Genser said. “If property owners put together a slate, that’s going to be a very political process.”

Some Downtown officials supported a motion to strike an equal balance on the board between business owners, property owners and residents.

“My concern is that any group have too much influence,” Warfel said. “It’s not just property owners. The business owners have to be a big part of this, the residents who live down here have to be a big part of this.”

But the motion to mandate a mix failed after the majority of the board rejected the motion. Genser said he is confident the mix will evolve naturally.

“The council looks at the best person to fill the slot at the time,” Genser said. If you mandate the make-up, he added, you “get a weaker board.”

The board also unanimously voted to recommend expanding the boundaries of the Downtown Business Improvement District. The proposed boundaries are the east side of Ocean Avenue on the west, the east side of 7th Street on the east, the commercial properties north of Wilshire on the north and the freeway on the south.

The new boundaries will include half a dozen hotels, a stretch of high-end restaurants overlooking Palisades Park and several dozen new apartment buildings along 5th, 6th and 7th streets.

“We’re looking at offices, we’re looking at hotels, we’re looking at people who haven’t paid in the past,” said Kathleen Rawson, the Bayside District’s executive director.

The rate of the assessments will be based both on the kind of use and the benefits derived from the services, board members said.

Still, the new assessments, which must by approved by the council, as well as by those who are paying, will be “miniscule,” said Robert O. York, a consultant for the district

“The amount we’re talking about versus the value and rent of these properties is miniscule,” York said.