For the second time in two years, a group of Central Lonsdale entrepreneurs has launched an effort to establish a business improvement association for the area.
City of North Vancouver council voted unanimously July 8 to put up $30,000 in grant funding for the Lonsdale Centre Business Improvement Area Society to start doing community outreach and administrative tasks associated with the launch of the new BIA.
If the group is successful, the city will add an extra levy onto the municipal tax bills of all of the commercial property owners within the set boundaries of the BIA’s area, and the BIA’s elected board will use the funds for marketing, events, and beautification projects intended to boost economic vitality for the business community more broadly.
According to the city, there are about 744 businesses in the commercial areas bordered by Highway 1 and Victoria Park, between St. Georges and Chesterfield avenues, which would become part of the new BIA.
Under the legal process to establish a BIA, all of the commercial property owners within are informed of the process and given a 30-day opportunity to speak against it. If 50-per-cent-plus-one of the property owners representing more than 50 per cent of the assessed value of the properties register their opposition, the proposal fails. The Shipyards BIA and and associations in Ambleside and Dundarave in West Vancouver went through the same process.
Council members were generally enthused about the plan.
“I don’t have any questions because I have seen what the BIA has done in Lower Lonsdale and I have to tell you, I have the utmost confidence in the people that are heading up this BIA,” said Coun. Holly Back. “It’s been a long time coming and it’s definitely been needed.”
But others were also quick to flag how distinct Central Lonsdale is, with a less tourist-oriented business mix that is more geared to white-collar services and healthcare, along with more residential towers and a more multicultural population.
Society president Shaun Mitha said the society’s board has brainstormed up about 60 ideas that would boost commerce including pop-up shops, fitness classes, outdoor movie nights, farmers markets, workshops and seminars, greenscaping and city clean-up initiatives.
“The programs are going to be different than Lower Lonsdale’s. This is a central hub – a financial district like Wall Street. You can look at it however you want, but our goal ultimately is to bring Lower Lonsdale into Central Londsale, including maybe with a different approach that is fitted more for the Central Lonsdale area.”
In 2022, a different group of business leaders began a similar attempt and also received $30,000 from the city. That initiative failed to launch, however, and the money was returned to the municipality.
Mayor Linda Buchanan acknowledged the rough start many BIAs go through and said their effort will complement the city’s work on reimagining Lonsdale Avenue as a “great street.”
“It always is a process when you’re putting together a BIA. It’s not uncommon to start and then stumble and then have to start again,” she said. “And so I’m really pleased to see the group that has come together.”
Mitha said they are hoping to go through the regulator process this fall and have the BIA set up in time to start charging the levy in 2025, which city staff and council members acknowledged would be a very tight timeframe.
