(The Center Square) – Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed bills on Tuesday to allow businesses to invest in improvements in their communities, such as aesthetic improvements, snow removal, and more.
Senate Bill 164 and House Bill 4454, sponsored by Sen. Sue Shink, D-Northfield Township, and Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, aim to support small businesses in community development.
The legislation adds options for allocating assessments among business improvement zone property owners and to allow for the use of proportional voting to approve, amend, or dissolve a BIZ plan. A BIZ allows a group of property owners to establish a geographic area that can collect funds from its members to invest in the zone.
“We are working together to make Michigan the best place to do business,” Whitmer said in a statement. “With today’s legislation, we’re continuing our work to grow Michigan’s economy by making it easier for businesses to continue investing in the communities around them. We’ve delivered a bipartisan budget to help anyone make it in Michigan, ensuring we compete for more advanced manufacturing projects, invest in people, and revitalize communities to make them more attractive places to live and work.”
These groups have existed in Detroit, Ann Arbor, and Grand Rapids so far, but could be applied throughout the state. For example, BIZs have been used to increase the amount of snow removal in a particular area, make aesthetic improvements and make other spending.
The bills allow votes to be counted proportionally to meet the following thresholds currently required by the act, if a proportional voting mechanism is included in the zone plan:
60% of property owners to approve a zone plan created to replace an expiring zone plan.A majority of property owners to amend a zone plan.A majority of property owners to dissolve a zone plan.
Ann Arbor SPARK, Downtown Detroit Business Improvement Zone, the Detroit Regional Chamber, and Downtown Detroit Partnership support one of the bills.
Both bills would no longer require that a BIZ board of directors must include at least one owner of residential real property within the BIZ area and would remove provisions that currently require notice given as part of the assessment process to include a statement that a property owner in a BIZ can seek a homestead deferment for a BIZ assessment, per 1976 PA 225.1.
Michigan Economic Development Corporation CEO Quentin L. Messer, Jr. welcomed the bill signing.
“Here in Michigan, we’re proud to support risk-takers, groundbreakers and innovators in bringing their business to life. Whether it’s by supporting small businesses through our Match on Main program or preparing our communities for development through Michigan Main Street and the Redevelopment Ready Communities program, we’re committed to helping transform a dream business into a thriving success,” Messer Jr said in a statement.
Shink said the bills will allow communities statewide to use a “powerful tool.”
“Business Improvement Zones are about improving our communities, supporting local businesses, and strengthening our whole state,” Shink said in a statement. “I’m proud to have spearheaded this important legislation, and with the Governor’s signature today, we are giving local small business owners a powerful tool to make our neighborhoods and communities cleaner, safer, and more vibrant.”
