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Historical October 1986 report or notice. Original dates, prices and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Missourians in general, and well-organized neighborhoods like Skinker-DeBaliviere, Parkview, Rosedale, and Washington Heights in particular, have a great deal to gain this November if Constitutional Amendment 5 is approved by Missouri voters. Amendment 5 has the unusual twin benefits of improving the business and development climate in the State while also conferring to neighborhoods and local business districts more control over street, sidewalk, parking, and other conditions in their area. Amendment 5 would allow two-thirds of the property owners in a defined area to petition city or county government to create a “special benefit district” and seek issuance of general obligation bonds to finance specified public improvements.
This would create a mechanism for local residents to initiate the repaving of deteriorated streets, the repair of dangerous sidewalks, the renovation or construction of neighborhood parks, the construction or renovation of public off-street parking, and similar public projects. Amendment 5 would create an important alternate funding mechanism to replace funds from federal revenue sharing and Community Development Block Grants which have been terminated.
Because the neighborhood would decide what is important by its willingness to pay-off the bonds, projects would not be held hostage to financial conditions at “city hall.” Amendment 5 has broad support from business and labor groups, from municipal and county officials; and from civic and neighborhood leaders.
It has been endorsed by the Board of Aldermen and the St. Louis County Council. Gene McNary and Vince Schoemehl both support passage of Amendment 5 which received unanimous approval in the Missouri Senate and only 7 negative votes among the 163 members of the House. Provisions similar to Amendment 5 are available in most of the states which surround Missouri.
We need this tool in order to be able to compete more effectively for new jobs and economic expansion. Special benefit districts would aid urban and rural areas, and could be utilized in developing areas as well as older residential and commercial neighborhoods such as ours. Amendment 5 would aid neighborhood property owners who have serious problems with unsafe public infrastructure by providing a self-reliant vehicle to tackle those problems, For Missouri, Amendment 5 should increase development opportunities, increase employment, and provide a valuable and creative new financing tool to promote progress. Amendment 5 contains incentives to encourage development. Accordingly, it would make Missouri a more attractive place in which to expand and would help create a stronger economy and more jobs. Amendment 5 has numerous safeguards to protect property owners.
The traditional twothirds approval in Missouri is maintained within the district and is written to protect both small and large property owners.
The petitions seeking to initiate a special benefit district must contain the following four items: 1) the exact boundaries of the proposed district; 2) a description of the improvement project or projects to be undertaken; 3) an estimate of the improvement project’s cost; and 4) the annual assessment that will be levied against each parcel of property within the district.
With Amendment 5, neighborhoods could band together to have shabby streets repaved, if two-thirds of the property owners consent. Dangerous sidewalks and crosswalks could be fixed and neglected parks could be spruced up if the neighborhood finds those projects desirable.
In our area, a possible use might include Parkview, Ames Place, Delmar businesses, and adjacent apartment buildings along Melville Avenue which might want to establish a special benefit district to improve the appearance of Melville, which looks like what it is — an abandoned streetcar line.
One of the major positive attributes of Amendment 5 is that only those properties which benefit directly from an improvement pay an assessment to retire the bonds.
The assessment can be based on a number of factors including front footage along a street (if the project is street construction or repair), square feet of land in the flood plain (if the project is to correct flooding in suburban areas), or it could be a flat rate per household (if the project is the renovation of a deteriorated public park).
The selection of the assessment standard rests with the petition drafter, but great flexibility is permitted in order to select the most equitable method possible. Public hearings are required to be held after the petitions have been submitted to the city or county government.
All affected property owners must receive written notification of when those hearings are to be held and may challenge various aspects of the initiating petitions. Owners may also request that their property be exempt from a district if the proposed improvements would not directly benefit their property.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, October 1986.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1986_10.pdf, printed page(s) 7; PDF page(s) 7.
