America, Inc.
December 3, 2025
Mr. DavidZellers
Director ofCommunity and Economic Development
City of Fairfield
Final report for the Investigation Phase of the ProposedSUBJECT:
Downtown Fairfield Downtown Improvement District (DID)
Dear David:
Attached is the final report on the investigation of a prospective Downtown Improvement District to subsidize special-benefit services for Downtown Fairfield. Although the current survey results indicate that sufficient property-owner support does not yet exist, we anticipate thatas Downtown continues to evolve the demand for these enhanced services will grow, as will the need for a stable fundingmechanism to managethem.
It is clear to us that Downtown will require such a special-benefit financing tool in the near future. We look forward to the City Council's direction on whether we should continue working to build support for this effort.
We hope this report is responsive to the needs of both the City and Downtown property owners, particularly as the business districtstrengthens its role as a destination forvisitors and customers from across Solano County and the greater North/East Bay region.
Sincerely,
Marco Li Mandri
President
New CityAmerica, Inc.
Corporate Office 710 W. Ivy Street San Diego, CA 92101 619-233-5009 Fax 619-239-7105 New England Office: 794 PurchaseStreet New Bedford, MA • 02740 [email protected]
"l
www.newcityamerica.com Facebook: New City America, Inc. 1 REPORTTOTHECITYOFFAIRFIELDONTHE RESULTSOFTHE
INVESTIGATION OFANEW DOWNTOWN IMPROVEMENT DISTRICTTOBE
FORMEDUNDERTHE "BID LAW,SECTION 36600 OFTHESTATESTREETS
AND HIGHWAYCODE
DECEMBER 2025
Overview:
The discussion on a new potential Downtown DID and a new district management corporation for Downtown Fairfield began in the earlysummer of 2025 after a presentation made to thefull City Council. There has been tremendous interest, statewide, from cities wanting their Downtowns to rebound quickly following the forced government shutdowns due to the pandemic. Special benefit services are services which are over and abovewhat the City of Fairfield is currently providing toDowntown businesses and propertyowners.
These propertyassessment districts are allowable due to the adoption ofProposition 218 and the amendment of Article XIII (d) of the state constitution. Such districts have been formed since theybecame legislatively allowable in the mid-1990s.
New City America calls such districts "Downtown Improvement Districts" instead of Property Business ImprovementDistricts, since the Downtown Improvement District more appropriately addresses all landuses, as well as public and private propertyin a Downtown environment. For example, resident owners of properties, ecumenical buildings, public sector properties, and other non-profit entities do not necessarily classify themselvesas "businesses" however, theyall mayalso want the special benefit services that a property assessment district mightprovide.
In other states, they are referred to as Property Improvement District, Special Services Areas, Special Improvement District, Community Benefit Improvement Districts, and Business Improvement Districts. While terminology varies, the concept is the same:
a supplemental property assessment that funds special benefit services not currently provided by the City or County.
In this process, we learned that while the history of collaborationdowntown between stakeholders has had its up and downs, there is a contingent of property and business owners that are increasingly engaged inthinkingabouthow downtown's momentum can be both sustained and accelerated. Conversely,there arestill stakeholdersthat will need more convincing andtime to engage.
2 2
Tools and strategy used for the investigation:
New City America has formed 101 similar districts nationwide since the late 1990s. It also currently manages 8 Business ImprovementDistricts and Downtown Improvement Districts in the state ofCalifornia.
The first thingwe do in investigating a propertyassessment district is to determine, with a group of business and property owners, and City reps, the district's boundaries for the investigation.This is the widest area to capture all future growthwithin the district and gives us the opportunity to scale back the district should there be opposition to the concept on the peripheral areas.Thiswas done with ourfirstmailout in July whichinclude allparcels at the four corners of Pennsylvania and Texas Streets, heading eastward to the County complex around Clay Street.
Property assessment districts in the state constitution have specific guidelines for formation. As such, one must look at the larger property owners due to their dollar contributions to represent the key foundation for consideration ofsuch a district. Though the state constitution does not require an initiating petition, nor time period for such districts, the constitution states clearlythatsuch districts must "confer aspecial benefit to real property owners" to be established. Furthermore, the state constitution requires the following:
1. 2.
3. 4.
Thatspecial benefit services fundedby a Downtown Improvement District (DID) or Property Business Improvement District (PBID) can only be established by a "weighted vote" of the benefitting property owners. The weight is determined by the dollaramount that each property owner will have relative to the overall gross budget of the DID or PBID.
No properties, includingecumenical, non-profit,tax-exempt orpublic, areexempted from the assessments levied unless federal and stateproperties canprovide "clear and convincing evidence" that theywill not benefit fromsuch services.
The planmust bebacked byacertified engineersreportsubmitted to the City.
Unless a city is a Charter City, they must use the legislative tools outlined in the Street and Highway Code, particularly Section 36600, to implement their special benefits districts.Other propertyassessment districts couldinclude the Landscaping and Lighting Districts of 1972 or the Community Facilities Districts (Mello Roos), also to be found in the State codes. Charter cities are allowed to create their own form of assessment districts as long as they follow the State Constitution.
3 3
Timeline for the Investigation/Survey:
The contract for the investigation of the Downtown Fairfield DID commencedin late July 2025 under a four-month contract. The extension was put in place to allow for more stakeholder engagement and responses to the survey prior to presenting the report to Council. As part ofthis contract, fourmeetings were held with propertyowners on site with DavidZellers, Shifra de Benedictis-Kessner, JenniferRice and KeishaMamaril inpreparation for the mailout of the survey The survey, after review and approval by Citystaff,was sent out in mid-August and again in mid-September 2025, once the study boundaries were determined by the City and the DIDSteering Committee.
The survey'spurposewas toascertain the following information:
Ifpropertyownerswere conceptuallysupportive of aspecial benefits district that will fundspecial benefitswithin a designated area ofDowntown Fairfield; If yes, which special benefits (tangible) would they be willing to support (See attachments)
If therewere other issues theythoughtneeded addressing
If they would like to be included in Downtown Fairfield DID Steering Committee meetings to guide the possible formation of a newDowntown DID Collection of data from the property owner or authorized representative of the property including contact name, e-mail address, phone and updated mailing address
DataofDowntown Survey Area:
Weused data for mailing the surveyfrom the City, County of Solano, and Parcelquest. City staffwas critical in allowing us to use the bestproperty contact with authorization tofill out the survey on behalf of the property owner (whether local, publicly traded or another corporate entity)
The final data at this pointincluded:
, 92parcels
55 property owners
Based upon the survey data collected, the property data related to the study area had the following grossproperty variables, whichforms the foundation of anypropertyassessment district plan:
1,403,138 building square footage ingross building square footage; 1,941,792 ingross lot orparcel size square footage
18,468 inlinear frontage
4 4
New City America has done dozens of similar surveys in the past,sowe know the density of anyDowntown area is based on the relationship between thetotal lot size andtotal building squarefootage.Forexample, if thetotallotsize, orbuildable area,is "x," the Downtown area of any city should be a minimum of lx, or an amount of building square footage when compared to lot size. Some districts, such has the Financial District in San Francisco have a 9 to 1 ratio of building to lot size.What this means is that the buildingoccupies 9x more space than the size of the actual parcelit's built on.
Downtown Fairfield does not reach the 1 to 1 ratio of building to lot size,coming in at a ratio of.7 to 1. In instances like this, single-story buildings and excess parking lotsaffect the final ratio. This shows us that Downtown Fairfield still has a lot of room to grow in the future, simply tomeet the 1 to 1 ratio to whichwe areaccustomed to seeingin similarDowntowns.
Based upon the data listed above, it is easy to calculate budget scenarios that could possibly spread the overallassessments to a very large area. In example, if you were to use an emphasis on building square footage, de-emphasize lot assessments and have a reasonable linearfrontage costs, the assessment methodology could look like this:
Conceptually, DowntownFairfieldBuilding Square Footage could result in:
1 38 square feet x $0.12 cents =
$168,376 year
Conceptually,the Lot Size annual costs couldresult in:
1 ,941 ,792square feet x $0.03 cents =
$58,254
Conceptuallythe annualLinear frontage assessments could result in; 1 8,468 in linearfrontage x $5.00 a linear foot =
$92,340 per year.
So, if you add upthisconceptualfirst year budget, which includes acombination of building square footage assessments, plus lot size assessments and linearfrontage assessments per parcel, per year the annual budget could amount to $ 318,970 for the first year assessment total. This first year budget would be enough to cover services including cleaning, marketing and promotion, events, public space development, and management.
Remember, witheach buildingsquare footadded to thedistrict due tonew development on Downtown parcels, this would result in an extra .12 cents per buildingsquare footadded to the overallbudget per year. Linearfrontage and lot size will remain thesamethroughout the life of the district, unlessexpansion is considered at a later point. 5 5
Surveyof Property owners/results:
After the e-mail and postage mail survey mailings, we received responses, or onlyabout 42 —
44 out atotal of92parcels responding oraround 45% of thetotalnumber ofparcel owners in the study area. New City America has done similar surveys ofDowntown propertyowners over the past22 yearsand thiswasfairly lowcompared toother similar districts. The range ofresponses varies a bit due to the fact that not the exactnumber ofpeople responded to all questions. The two largest propertyowners are the City, but more so the Solano County complex. Please review the following results:
a.
b.
c.
d.
Survey area
(pleasesee attached map, as attachment A, responses in color) Date and number sentout:
55 surveyswere mailed outon September 1 5th, 2025 with personal and e-mail follow up by City staff and Marco Li Mandri of New CityAmerica. (Initially we shrunk the district a bit by a vote of the SteeringCommittee, so probably 60 —
65total surveys
were mailed out topropertyowners within the initial boundary studyarea.) A follow up survey was sent to those who did not respond by the deadline of the September 1 5th surveyin October.
District totals:
New City America "weighs" the responses basedon three variables common toeach parcel: linear frontage, lot or parcel size, and building square footage. We use this process as these are the building blocks of any assessment methodology to be applied in thecreation of a budget for the newDowntown Fairfield DID.
Goal ofSurvey:
Consistent with our experience investigating and forming similar property assessment districts, the survey mailed to property owners informs New City America of what the special benefit priorities of the property owners are. Each question, excluding thefirst two, askpropertyowners whichspecial benefitservices no," or "no opinion" tothey arewilling to payfor. It givesthem the choice of "yes, each question. The survey would constitute the foundation of any property assessment district plan presented if the investigation evolved into a formation agreement withNew CityAmerica.
Priority services:
The five toppriorities from the respondents to the surveywere as follows:
Propertyownerbelieved that investments made in Downtown by the City had a positive impact on their property values since the improvements were completed. 34respondents thought the workwas positive toDowntown and only 1 thought itwas negative. supported parking mitigation strategies for the Downtown
6 6
2. 3.
4. 5.
Propertyowners supported regular sidewalk sweeping and gutter sweeping and more frequent pressure washing of the Downtown sidewalks. 34 respondents supported those services and 8 opposed.
Propertyownersupported marketing, promotions, social media and branding programs to bring new business and new development to Downtown. 33 respondents supported this and 8 opposed;
Property owners, by a wide margin DID NOT want to work with the city to respond to homeless, panhandling and loitering issues. 29 opposed such efforts and 13supported those efforts.
Property owners, by a wide margin, DID NOT want to fund parking and wayfinding strategies toimprove the parking experience for customers;. h.
Note: The third question on the survey, which is not a funding question, asked property owners "in terms of security and public safety do you feel that Downtown Fairfield is?"
a. Safe and orderly; (2)
b. Relatively safe, but with image issues (21)
c. Unsafe at certain times (21)
This is clearly not agood response. Even if crime and petty issues have declined over the past few years, propertyowners by and large believethatDowntown is relatively safe but has an image as an unsafe district OR is unsafe at various times. The combined response of42 respondents tothis question stating that Downtown has an image problem, or is unsafe at certain times, is highly problematic and could discourage newinvestment, new retail and restaurants and residents from coming Downtown.
Threshold goal:
In every survey thatNew City America conducts, the goalis to have an average of 30% of the propertyowners (averaged bylot sizelinearfrontage and buildingsquare footage) demonstrate support for the keyspecial benefit funding questions on the survey. To reach that goalfrom ouroriginal database, wewill have had to have the following property variables meet theaverage30%threshold:
After the e-mail and mailed surveysas well as meetings withvarious propertyowners, our surveyrespondents tallied thislevel of support from the following propertycategories:
5% of buildingsquare footage
5% oflotsquarefootage
8% oflinear frontage
The level ofopposition on allfourcategories resulted in the following percentages:
9% oppositionin buildingsquare footage (too small to calculate) 9% oppositionin lot size and
10% oppositionin linearfrontage
7 7
Interms of "noopinion"thelevel ofresponses to the survey from the fourcategories, the results were: (primary from the Countyproperties)
68%from buildingowners
52%from lot size and
40%from linearfrontage
The City's data in thesurvey ofDowntown included the following: (The City did not respond to the survey)
Building squarefootage in Downtown:
Lot sizesquare footage in Downtown:
Linearfrontage in Downtown
2% or22,675square feet
8%, 146,865square feet
10%, 1,781 square feet
Itis clear that if the "no opinion"responses would have been the "supportive" response, we would have met the New City America threshold to proceed to formation. The average responses for "No opinion" would have averaged 53.33% average support. County owned properties represented the totality of "no opinion"on the survey.
Types of SpecialAssessment Districts:
There are three types ofassessment districts or fee-based,mandatory legislative tools that are relevant toproviding additional funding for Downtown services; a.
b.
c.
Business Improvement District
—
formed under the 1989 Act in the Streets and
Highway code. This legislation does notrequire a plan, a petition or vote, but rather can be established by a majority vote of the CityCouncil. These districts are highly not very popular and can create a situation whereby it violates the intent of Proposition 26, passed byvotersaround 10 years ago.
PBID
—
legislation approved by the State Legislature in 1994 that allows forspecial benefit propertyassessment districts, in Section 36600 of the California Streets and Highway code.Thisis, by far, the onlychoice of general law cities andtheirrespective Downtown propertyowners to fundspecial benefitservices in Downtowns.
Community Benefit ImprovementDistricts
-
Charter city formed assessment
district ordinances that allow for a longer term and a more reasonable petition threshold. Sometimes they can represent a combination of a Landscaping and Lighting district (1972 Act in the Streets and Highway Code) along with revenuesgenerated from a localDowntown Parking District that will allow for payment ofservices that are notcovered by the limited Landscaping and Lighting Act(security,marketing and promotion and parking management). 8 8
Future Options:
This investigation determined that propertyowners in Downtown Fairfield are not opposed to assessing themselves for additional services in Downtown. In mymeetings with property and business owners who attended the Steering Committee meetings, there was a lot of enthusiasm expressed at our Steering Committee meetings that Downtown needed a financing mechanism such as the PBID orDID.Weclearlysaw that therewas interestby key propertyowners and business owners in Downtown, but it appears that the timingwas not right.
Competitive Downtowns:
As Downtowns in the North/East Bay build and grow, Downtown Fairfield propertyowners may experience not beingable tomeetgrowingdemand.As such, the desire for Downtown retail, services, restaurants, and bars may decline in other cities due to more dynamic concentrations of businesses there. Fairfield is a city known for being overall safe and orderly, with many of itsneighboring cities dealing with a wide array ofvacant commercial properties.
Based upon our knowledge of Downtowns throughout the state, it is clear that mixed use developments withnew restaurants/bars/caffes will redefine Downtown Fairfield and it will evolve into a "City neighborhood," attracting empty nesters, young people and more of a cultural and eclectic mix of residents.
Best Examples of Functioning DIDs:
New City America understands this industry better than most since we form, manage, and consult with Downtown organizations, property owner groups, and cities throughout the country. The management of 8 different districts in the state gives New City America proprietaryinsight into understanding not only the formation process of such districts, but more importantly, the successful management of these districts and the resulting benefits conferred to Downtown property owners, businesses, and residents in their respective areas.
We recommend that city officials and Downtown Fairfield business and property owners refer to current,good-working models of BIDS, DIDs, and theirmanagement corporationsin the region. Based on our experience, some of the better models ofsuccessful Downtown organizations include: (in southern California) Downtown San Diego/Little Italy, Downtown Chula Vista, Downtown Glendale, Downtown El Cajon and (in northern California), Downtown Hayward, Downtown Redwood City and Downtown Berkeley. 9 9
Conclusion:
Downtown Fairfield will continue to grow in the coming decade with new mixed-use developments and the building of new market-ratehousing, including condominiumsand apartments.
In preparation ofthis evolution, the City should encouragepropertyowners to be involved in the discussion regardingwhere theywant Downtown Fairfield to be in 5, 10, and 15 years.
The creation of a new, property-based special benefits assessment district is key to expediting this revitalization process. This, in turn, will create a solid, well-financed relationship in Downtown with its local propertyowners, the local residents and business owners and the Citygovernment.
December 2025
Marco Li Mandri
New City America staff
ATTACHMENTS:
DISTRICTTOTALS
MAP
SURVEY MAP RESPONSES
SURVEY RESPONSES
10 10
Downtown Fairfield I SurveyResponse
92 Total Parcels
55 Property Owners
12/1/2025
District Totals
Bldg SF Total
LotSz Total
Frontage Total
Supportive
Bldg SF Total
Lot Sz Total
FrontageTotal
Opposed
Bldg SF Total
Lot Sz Total
Frontage Total
No Opinion
Bldg SF Total
LotSz Total
Frontage Total
City
Bldg SF Total
Lot sz Total
Frontage Total
18,468
63,845
101 ,587
1 ,549
122,790
179,758
1 ,869
955,559
7,329
22,675
146,865
I ,781
100%
100%
100%
5%
5%
8%
9%
2%
New CityAmerica, Inc.1710 W Ivy Street ISan Diego, California 92101 11 Downtown Fairfield I SurveyResponse
92 Total Parcels
55 Property Owners
12/1/2025
Bldg SF Total
Lot sz Total
Frontage Total
238,269
503,663
5,940
New City America, Inc.1 710 W Ivy Street I San Diego, California 92101 12 Fairfield District sept 2025
America
0030
0030
50 50
040
TEXAS
160
231
0030
120
10 040
233
EMPIRE
176
020
010 4C
KENTUCKY
182
10 080
OIC 20
0030
246
DELAWARE
LOUISIANA
193
030
TEXAS
030
257
LEGEND
•
District Parcel
Parcel
080 070
186
140 110
040
40 20
291
292
020
020
251
140
100 ON 130 Z
160
150
260
13 MISSOURI
BROADWAY
13 Fairfield District Dec |2025 America
0030
EMPIRE
KENTUCKY
0030
246
DELAWARE
291
BROADWAY
292
193
TEXAS
030
TEXAS
160
231
0030
LEGEND
Supportive
pposed
County- No Opinion
City -Supportive
[No Opinion
020
10 233
MISSOURI
00 130
160
150
14 SURVEYOF DOWNTOWN FAIRFIELD PROPERTYOWNEß
PIJSUANT TOTHE INVESTIGATIONAND FORMATION OFA
DowtffOWN FAIRFIELD COMMUNITY BENEFIT DISTRICT
Responses asof December 1st, 2025
GENERAL Qu—nons
How long have you owned your property in Downtown Fairfield? a. Less than 2 years (3)
b. 3 - 9 years (3)
c. 10
-
24 years(23)
d. 25
-
49years(3)
e. 50 or more years (12)
2. 3.
Do you believe that the image of Downtown Fairfield as portrayed in the media over t he past few years has had any impact on your property values? d. No opinion(12)a. Yes, positive (6) b. Yes, negative (18) c. Not at all (7) Do you believe the investments by the City of Fairfield in events and infrastructure in the Downtown have had a positive impact in the past few years? d. No opinion(0)b. Yes, negative (1) c. Not at all (6)a. Yes, positive(34)
PUBLICSAFETY
4. 5.
In terms of security and public safety, do you feel that Downtown Fairfield is........? c. Unsafe(21)b. Relatively safe, may suffer
a. Safe & orderly(2)
from unsafe image (21)
Wouldyou support propertyownerfunded special benefit services to work with the City of Fairfield to respond to homeless, panhandling, and loitering issues within Downtown Fairfield?
a. Yes(13)
BE41J77F/C.A770M AND
b. No(29) c. No Opinion(2)
6. 7.
Wouldyou support propertyownerfunded regular sidewalk and gutter sweeping services and more frequent pressure washing of Downtown Fairfield sidewalks? a. Yes(34) c. No Opinion(2)b. No(8)
Would you support propertyownerfunded planting, trimming and maintenance of trees, flowers, hanging plants and shrubs throughout the Downtown Fairfield District?
a. Yes(20) b. No(23) c. No Opinion(l)
15 ECONOMICDEVELOPMENTANDMARE77NG
8. 9.
IO.
11. 12.
13. Would you support propertyownerfundedevents, marketing, promotions, social media and branding programs or campaigns to bring new business, new development and attract new tenants to Downtown Fairfield? Yes(33) b. No Opinion(3)No(8) c.
Would you support propertyownerfunded projects to create additional public spaces, public art, and other placemaking elements in Downtown Fairfield? b. No(25)yes(18) No Opinion(l)c.a.
Would you support propertyownerfundedmanagement and maintenance of those public spaces to ensure that they remain an asset to everyone in Downtown Fairfield?
Yes (19)a. b. No(24) c. No opinion(l)
Wouldyou support propertyownerfunded parking and wayfinding strategies and programs to improve the parking experience ofcustomers, such as upgrading the City parking lots and alleyways to create additional parking? Yes (14) b. No Opinion(l)No(28) c.a.
Would you support propertyownerfunded projects to enhance transit-oriented development (TOD), connectivity to the Fairfield Suisun Train Station, and higher density, mixed-used residential projects in Downtown Fairfield? Yes (12) b. No Opinion(4)No(24) c.a.
Would you be interested in serving on the Downtown Fairfield CBD Steering Committee to assist with the potential development of a CBD plan over the next few months?
Yes(14)a. b. No(24) c. No Opinion(3)
16