Downtown community benefit district in the works
Formation of a special district to bring enhanced maintenance, landscaping and other physical and promotional improvements to the city’s commercial core could be the subject of an upcoming vote of downtown property owners as soon as next month.
The Downtown Hayward Community Benefit District would be the first of its kind in Hayward. The district would be bounded generally by Civic Center Drive and Hazel Avenue to the north, D Street on the south, the Hayward BART station to the west, and both sides of 2nd Avenue from Russell Way to C Street on the east.
Community benefit districts impose an additional property tax assessment on themselves to fund projects and activities intended to boost commerce and give a lift to business attraction and retention.
The districts serve to replace a funding source lost to local government with the dissolution of local redevelopment agencies by the State of California. They are governed by nonprofit entities controlled by their members, which in the case of the Downtown Hayward Community Benefit District will file annual reports with the City of Hayward.
Its first-year budget is projected at $600,000 and is expected to grow with the completion of three transformative downtown development projects—the Green Shutter, Maple and Main and Lincoln Landing.
