Just more than 70 percent of the 160 commercial and residential owners in the Near West Side neighborhood have agreed to create the district, surpassing the requirement of 60 percent.
If approved by council, the district will begin operating next year with a $125,000 budget administered by Ohio City Inc., the community development corporation that worked with property owners to organize it.
Businesses in the district will be assessed a fee to pay for the services, which will range from about $150 a year to $25,000 a year, said Eric Wobser, executive director of Ohio City Inc., formerly known as Ohio City-Near West Development Corp.
The boundaries for the district are Bridge-Jay avenues on the north; Lorain-Chatham avenues on the south; West 28th-West 26th avenues on the west; and West 24th- West 25th and Gehring avenues on the east.
Cleveland already has special improvement districts for downtown and the Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood.
Pat Conway of Great Lakes Brewing Company on Market Avenue said membership in the district will cost his company about $10,000 a year. He said he and others have been pushing for years to create a SID in Ohio City.
"All of those things that would develop out of a SID is nothing but good news for a neighborhood like ours that is on the cusp of becoming great," Conway said.
Wobser said none of the property owners contacted by his staff refused to sign the petition to create the district.
"Everyone acknowledged that it was something they wanted to get done and it would have a tremendous impact on the neighborhood," Wobser said.
Ohio City Inc. has agreed to forgo its 10 percent fee for administering the district for the first five years to reduce the assessment owed by residential property owners.
Wobser said the Ohio City SID will provide the same services as downtown, including security patrols and workers who pick up trash and remove graffiti.
Creation of the district comes at an opportune time, Wobser and Councilman Joe Cimperman said. The West Side Market celebrates its 100th anniversary next year and Cleveland will be host for the International Public Markets Conference, which is expected to draw participants from all over the world.
Cimperman said the downtown district had its critics when it first formed in 2005.
"There were a lot of people downtown questioning whether it was a good thing," Cimperman said. "I don't know if those people are saying that now."
By Mark Gillispie, The Plain Dealer
