Gallatin information session outlines how a central business improvement district could fund local projects

At a public information session at the Palace Theater in Gallatin City, city staff and an outside attorney laid out how a central business improvement district, or CBID, could be formed to fund beautification, parking, marketing and other improvements in focused parts of the city.

Rosemary Bates, the city’s economic development director, opened the meeting and described city interest in tools that could funnel money into concentrated commercial areas. Bates said the discussion was prompted in part by a recent City Council decision to give a developer of a proposed Target store $1,500,000. Bates said that decision led council members and city staff to ask whether there are other ways to help small commercial areas around Gallatin.

Erica Garrison, an attorney with Bradley Law Firm, explained the CBID under state law and emphasized that it is a landowner-initiated, locally managed mechanism. "A CBID is really a self help entity that allows you to drive money and funds for a common purpose or a common good that you want to achieve within that district," Garrison said. She described the common uses allowed by the statute — marketing, design, planning, sanitation and security, parking or even daycare facilities and acquisition of…