A new special improvement district in University Circle, approved by Cleveland City Council April 15, will generate an estimated $3.9 million in 2025 and up to $4.4 million by 2029.
University Circle Inc. (UCI), the nonprofit that supports the development of University Circle, will use the money to maintain police services as labor, equipment and vehicle costs increase. Also, UCI is continuing a plan to improve police services. Within the past year or so, the University Circle Police Department has introduced community policing measures like crisis intervention, bicycle patrols and increased anti-bias training for officers.
The money for the special improvement district, or SID, will come from most property owners in University Circle. Government offices, churches and owners of single-, two- and three-family homes are not required to pay.
“This is huge for University Circle,” said Susan Infeld, manager of planning initiatives for the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission. “To have gathered all of its property owners and get the buy-in from them, for that large of a land area, it’s impressive.”
Kate Borders, appointed UCI president in June 2023, said the police department traditionally has been funded with voluntary contributions from University Circle institutions, assessments paid by some private property owners and the UCI general fund.
“As costs continue to rise, this funding model is no longer sustainable,” Borders told The Land. “UCI was running into substantial deficits to continue supporting these services.”
University Circle consists of 79 entities, including University Hospitals, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Severance Music Center, Cleveland Botanical Garden, Cleveland Institute of Music and Lakeview Cemetery.
Borders said the creation of the SID was not related to city council expanding UCPD’s jurisdiction into Little Italy in May 2022. That was four months after four carjackings and the shooting of a Case Western graduate student in Little Italy.
“The special improvement district has been in the works for many years,” Borders said. “It was always to provide funding for the services we are executing on a regular basis and make it more of an equitable funding model.
“We just need to make sure that we can continue to cover the rising costs of policing and all the things that go along with that,” Borders said.
A new era
Although the University Circle SID application process started long before Borders’ arrival last year, community policing efforts began in earnest when she hired Tom Wetzel as interim UCPD chief in June. He was named permanent police chief in September.
Wetzel, while still interim chief, crafted a policing plan that focused on building relationships with citizens living and working in University Circle. For example, he brought in the region’s first community policing K-9, Grace, to comfort crime victims and even officers. Grace attends University Circle events and visits schools and hospitals.
Also, Wetzel launched a Cop Scouts program in which young people spend time with UCPD officers to learn life skills and simply have fun.
Under Borders and Wetzel, the UCPD hired a part-time crisis intervention specialist who accompanies police on calls when someone is experiencing trauma.
“It is a model that we’re seeing nationwide,” Borders said. “When somebody who is trained to recognize and handle trauma goes with a police officer, that training helps them meet the person where they are from a mental-health or drug-related place or whatever they’re dealing with in their lives.
“We’re already seeing how incredibly impactful that can be,” Borders said. “When the CIS goes on a call, her demeanor, as someone trained in trauma response, is very different. It’s powerful when someone can be kind, helpful and thoughtful – not that police officers aren’t, it’s just a different training.”
The SID process
As explained in the Cuyahoga County Planning Commission’s special improvement district guidebook, the SID concept is established by Ohio law. Property owners in a defined geographic area pay an assessment through their property taxes to fund improvements in their business district.
The improvements can relate to safety, like in University Circle, but also to cleaning, special events, real estate development, community services, general physical improvements and logistical concerns.
Since 1996, SIDS have been formed in the Cleveland sections of Gordon Square, Kamm’s Corners and the Superior Arts District.
An Ohio City SID resulted in the removal of graffiti on more than 1,000 occasions, and more than 154,000 pounds of trash and debris were picked up in downtown Cleveland thanks to a SID there. A SID in the Cedar Lee neighborhood paid for landscaping, planters and street furniture.
SIDS are organized by property owners themselves. First they gauge and nurture interest in a SID among themselves and local government. Then they assemble a steering committee and conduct a needs assessment of their district.
The University Circle steering committee consisted of UCI staff and trustees, an outside planning consultant and legal counsel, Borders said.
The steering committee builds a database of property owners and information on each parcel. It also sets the district’s boundaries.
Borders said the University Circle SID area is mostly congruous with the UCI service boundary, which is roughly aligned with Wade Park Avenue to the north; the East Cleveland, Cleveland Heights and Little Italy boundaries to the east; Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive and Cedar Avenue to the south; and E. 101st Street to the west.
After drafting an action plan and a budget, the steering committee establishes a nonprofit to oversee the SID, unless a nonprofit like UCI already exists.
The nonprofit board of directors must include a representative of the district’s municipal government executive, in this case Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, plus representatives of the city legislature and district property owners.
To meet this requirement, UCI added two new members – one appointed by Bibb, the other appointed by city council – to its existing board.
“Additionally, a Safety Services Advisory Committee will be formed and will include property owners who contribute to the SID,” Borders said. “UCI is beginning the work to formally restructure their governance.”
Fair shares
The next step for SID formation is circulating petitions. The SID must have signatures from property owners holding at least 60 percent of the district’s total lot frontage and at least 75 percent of the total land area.
Government offices and churches are not required to join the SID and provide assessments but can do so if they choose.
The University SID secured signatures from property owners with 70 percent of the lot frontage and 79 percent of University Circle’s total land area.
The petitions are then submitted to the municipal legislature, which decides whether to approve the SID. Upon approval, properties in the SID are assessed to determine their values.
The property assessments help the SID calculate how much money each property owner contributes. The formula might also include lot frontage and building values but each SID can come up with its own method.
“In general, SIDS in Cuyahoga County have used property value or front footage length to calculate assessments,” the country guidebook says.
SIDs are reviewed for possible renewal after their initial periods, which typically last a few years. The University Circle SID will run through 2029.
“Maybe after that period they change the plan or change their budget, or perhaps other property owners might join when the agreement is renewed,” Infeld, of the county planning commission, said.
Kamm’s Corners
The Kamm’s Corner Development Group – the SID for Kamm’s Corners, a west-side business district – was created in 2015. It was a relatively small SID with a budget of only $30,000.
Nevertheless, Steven Lorenz, former executive director of Kamm’s Corners Development Group, said the SID accomplished exactly what the districted envisioned. Before the SID, city trashcans along Lorain Avenue were overflowing and decorative flowerboxes were filled with weeds.
If Kamm’s Corners business owners wanted to spruce up the neighborhood, they had to do it themselves, but finding the time and money wasn’t easy.
“We also wanted to market the neighborhood with banners,” Lorenz said. “It couldn’t be paid for with block grant money, and our community development corporation wasn’t allowed to spend money on that kind of thing. The SID was the answer.”
With the SID, Kamm’s Corners hired a part-time worker to empty trash cans, pull weeds and plow snow in the winter.
“Just having everything look a little nicer brings more people to the neighborhood and it feels safer when they come here,” Lorenz said. “It looks like a place you want to be.”
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