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Committee backs sports-and-entertainment district to pull state funds into downtown improvements
Summary
The HUDs committee voted unanimously to advance board bill 155, creating a sports and entertainment district that would use state appropriations (statutorily enabled) to fund downtown beautification, public safety and event attraction; sponsors said the district would be funded beginning in fiscal 2028 under the state law.
The Housing, Urban Development and Zoning Committee voted 7-0 to pass board bill 155 out of committee, endorsing a proposed sports and entertainment district designed to channel state appropriations into downtown St. Louis projects.
Alderwoman Jamie Cox Ansuy introduced the measure and said the district would be focused on the central business district and entertainment venues. "This SID would allow us to do a number of really great things to help improve and enhance the downtown community, specifically related to beautification, streetscape, lighting, public safety," she told the committee.
David Richardson, the attorney working on the district petition, told the committee the state law creating the SID type prohibits local taxation by the district (no property or sales tax assessments by the SID) and relies on state appropriations to fund its work. Richardson said the statute allows contracting with state agencies to make appropriations to an SID, and cited a financing profile that anticipates up to $2.5 million a year in early years with larger amounts over the district's statutory life; he said the statute requires an economic-impact certification by state agencies and that the first state appropriation would begin in fiscal 2028 (the presentation gave July 1, 2027, as the start of the first fiscal year when funds could be appropriated).
Business and venue leaders—including hotel owners, representatives of St. Louis CITY SC, the St. Louis Cardinals, Visit St. Louis and the Enterprise Center/Blues—testified in support, saying the district would help attract major events and supplement downtown public safety and maintenance services.
Committee members pressed on two practical points: how the state appropriation would be certified and what security uses would be allowed. Richardson and sponsors said DEED ('Department of Economic Development') would vet an economic-impact study annually to certify positive net fiscal impact, and that security spending would typically be for staffing, event-specific security, lighting and cameras rather than measures that would fence off downtown.
A property owner who testified asked whether the SID would change land-use restrictions; sponsors said no, the SID would not impose additional land-use restrictions on existing properties. The committee then moved and unanimously passed the measure out of committee with a due-pass recommendation to the full board.
What happens next: board bill 155 advances to the full Board of Aldermen for consideration. If enacted as proposed, the district would be a political subdivision created by petition and would operate under the state law described in the presentation.
