Only In Marin
Nonprofits, budget bungles and Northgate’s future By Bill Meagher
T he Downtown Business Improvement District in Novato is going toward the light. The district is running in the red these days, and the district blames it on light thieves who yank festive lights out of the trees downtown, stripping out transformer boxes for the copper value. The district is 25 years old and charged with attracting people to the downtown area, which has about 450 businesses. The district is managed by the Downtown Novato Business Association.
service reductions or enhanced revenue.” On the one hand the city could simply drop the $75k match for the district, cutting expenses. But that amount of cash isn’t really worth the bum publicity it would generate with the public, and the resentment it would push up in the downtown area. And the $75,000 is less than 4% of the projected deficit. A million here and a million there and pretty soon its real money.
Your Marin Moment The San Rafael Planning Commission voted last month to approve the redevelopment of the Northgate Mall, a move that set the table for the City Council's unanimous vote to vote to allow the aging mall to be transformed from retail to mixed use, allowing more than 1,400 housing units to be built. The commission also signed off on the environmental impact report tied to the project, 1,480 pages of intricate detail on everything from the amount of noise the new neighborhood will generate to its climate footprint. The project is easily the largest planned in Marin County and it has generated much debate—as the developer, San Francisco-based Merlone Geier Partners, and the City of San Rafael squared off the past three years over what will become of the shopping center. Though the project seeks to balance the competing needs of residents, the city and Merlone, it is by no means an exercise in simply balancing scales. The project will remove a mall that is long-in-the-tooth, replacing it with a wealth of housing creating a new neighborhood, forever changing the Mission City. So, no pressure or anything. But, of course, there’s pressure as the state gives San Rafael marching orders to create opportunity for new housing to be built. Residents have also applied pressure to the city to be sure that what is built serves residents without injuring the Terra Linda neighborhood. This is to say nothing of the financial pressure Merlone Geier has to find a way to profit from Northgate. The mall won’t cut it anymore and Merlone is in the business of redevelopment. g
This year the DBID had to purchase new lights to the tune of $80k or about 26% of the district’s 2024 expenses. The expense wasn’t in the budget and revenues have been down for the district. This has placed it in a situation where it’s in the red by about $21,000. The district is leaning on reserves to balance the books. The good news is the new lights come with a security measure making it tougher to rip them off. But the DBID is anticipating another year in the red, even as expenses are expected to drop. The deficit issue has become public because the district answers to the Novato City Council, which in turn matches some of the district’s revenue on a one-for-one basis. In the coming year, Novato will kick $75k into the district pot. But the council has questioned how the district got behind the eight-ball cash wise and whether the leadership of the organization is solid. Two members of the association’s board have taken their leave. In a public hearing in October, Stephanie Kohler, exec director of the board, said that the general direction of the district has been in debate and, with that debate, some change has occurred on the board. The issue in part is how independent the district should be, in particular with its relationship to the city. The district isn’t charged with raising money, though members pay between $100 and $500 a year. And, while the district has a fiduciary responsibility, it’s also supposed to spend money to make the downtown area more attractive to visitors. The district has a limited number of avenues to raise funds, much like the City of Novato. So having the city council lecture the district on how budgets work holds a degree of irony. And, of course, the board hardly wants to bite the council’s hand that feeds it $75,000. So, that’s a tricky little dance, even more so in a public hearing. It becomes more complicated when you consider the cash position of the City of Novato. This is from the city website: “For several years, the City has experienced a growing budget deficit. The ongoing projected budget deficit, exceeding $2 million this year, will continue to grow without
Bill Meagher is a contributing editor at NorthBay biz. He is also a senior reporter at The Deal, a Manhattan-based digital financial news outlet. He wishes all our readers a joyous holiday season and a peaceful and prosperous 2025.
December 2024
NorthBaybiz 21
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