Economic/Small Business
Examples and Resources
Andersonville Study Of Retail Economics (2004)
Civic Economics study in Chicago area. Finds locally owned businesses keep $73 for every $100 spent by consumers in the local economy, vs. $43 for chain stores. Local firms generate substantially greater economic impact than chain firms.
Palm Beach, Florida Town-Serving Zones (1991)
The community created a “town-serving commercial (C-TS) zone with the intent to” create, preserve and enhance areas of attractive, small scale, retail…providing for the recurring needs of townspersons.” In order to maintain the town-serving nature of the district, Palm Beach placed a 2,000…
Kansas City, Missouri Neighborhood Commercial Zone
An ordinance created for the neighborhood of Brookside in Kansas City. It is “intended to permit development and continuance of small scale retail…designed to serve adjacent residential neighborhoods.” This is stated as a zone not appropriate for “general retail uses intended to draw from…
Downtown Business Zone/Preference for Smaller Businesses (1999)
The city of Santa Cruz, CA, as part of its “downtown recovery plan,” wanted to have a vibrant, active Central Business District which would serve as the primary retail center for the city, and be the home for “unique” businesses “offering residents and visitors a diverse and wholesome environment.”…
Large Retail Establishment Tax
In several states, including Maine and Minnesota, lawmakers are considering bills that would place a tax on the revenues of “large retail establishments” like Wal-Mart, which have receipts in excess of $20 million per year, and do not pay their employees at least $22,000 per year (including wages,…
Ban Big Box Relocation Subsidies, California (2004)
A follow up to AB 178, this law prohibits local officials from subsidizing the relocation of big box retailers from one city to another within the same market area. Instead of calling for a process of revenue sharing, it bans outright the practice of towns offering: “tax exemptions, rebates, reductions,…
Development: Financial Assistance: Relocation. AB 178 (1999)
This law prohibits a city or county from giving financial breaks to big box stores unless the municipality agrees to share its tax revenue with a neighboring town in the same market area. The intention is stop large retailers from pitting one town against another in a contest to see which will give…
Sacramento Regional Smart Growth Act: Sales Tax Sharing (2002)
California. Sample legislation to create a mechanism for cities and towns in the greater Sacramento region ( a six county region) to share sales tax revenue so that it is not all “situs-based” or kept by the community where the sales tax originates. The bill explains that sales tax policy in California…
Metropolitan Revenue Distribution Act (1971)
The Minnesota legislature passed this regional tax law “to improve the revenue raising and distribution system in the seven-county Twin Cities area to accomplish the following objectives:
(1) to provide a way for local governments to share in the resources generated by the growth of the area,…
Impact Report, Economic. California (2004)
California. Legislation (SB 1056) filed by Senator Alarcon regarding development projects., Prior to approving a project that would permit the construction of a superstore retailer (store greater than 130,000 s.f. that contains more than 20,000 stockkeeping units and derives more than 10% of its total…
