19-3315.01. Taxes, assessments, and revenue; use; notice; protest.

(1) In addition to uses otherwise authorized in the Offstreet Parking District Act, any money available from taxes or assessments levied pursuant to section 19-3315 or revenue derived from the operation of an offstreet parking facility may be used in an offstreet parking district for any one or more of the following purposes as determined by a vote of the majority of the city council:

(a) Improvement of any public place or facility, including landscaping, physical improvements for decoration or security purposes, and plantings;

(b) Construction or installation of pedestrian shopping malls or plazas, sidewalks or moving sidewalks, parks, meeting and display facilities, bus stop shelters, lighting, benches or other seating furniture, sculptures, trash receptacles, shelters, foundations, skywalks, and pedestrian and vehicular overpasses and underpasses, and any useful or necessary public improvements;

(c) Leasing, acquiring, constructing, reconstructing, extending, maintaining, or repairing parking lots or parking garages, both above and below the ground, or other facilities for the parking of vehicles, including the power to install such facilities in public areas, whether such areas are owned in fee or by easement;

(d) Creation and implementation of a plan for improving the general architectural design of public areas;

(e) Development of any public activities and promotion of public events, including the management, promotion, and advocacy of retail trade activities or other promotional activities;

(f) Maintenance, repair, and reconstruction of any publicly owned improvements or facilities;

(g) The creation by ordinance and operation of a revolving loan fund for the purpose of providing financing upon appropriate terms and conditions for capital improvements to privately owned facilities, subject to the following conditions:

(i) No loan from such fund shall exceed an amount equivalent to forty-nine percent of the total cost of the improvements to be financed by the loan;

(ii) The city shall require and receive appropriate security to guarantee the repayment of the loan; and

(iii) The proposed improvements to be financed shall serve to foster the purposes of the Offstreet Parking District Act, promote economic activity, or contribute to the public health, safety, and welfare;

(h) Any other project or undertaking for the betterment of the public facilities, whether the project is capital or noncapital in nature;

(i) Enforcement of parking regulations and the provision of security; and

(j) Employing or contracting for personnel, including administrators, for any improvement program under the Offstreet Parking District Act, and providing for any service as may be necessary or proper to carry out the purposes of the act.

(2) If any part of the revenue from fees and charges on the use of an offstreet parking facility or from onstreet parking meters within the district has been dedicated for the payment of principal or interest on bonds issued pursuant to section 19-3317 or has been pledged as security for such bonds, such revenue shall not be used for the purposes set forth in subsection (1) of this section until such time as such bonds have been fully paid or sufficient revenue has been placed in the sinking fund to guarantee such repayment.

(3) If the city council proposes to exercise the authority granted by subsection (1) of this section for any one or more of the purposes set forth in such subsection within the boundaries of a district in existence prior to September 13, 1997, the city clerk shall give notice of the city council's intention to exercise such authority by publishing notice of such intent in a legal newspaper in or of general circulation in the city once a week for two consecutive weeks. The notice shall describe the proposed new uses for district revenue and shall specify the time for hearing objections to such uses, which time shall be at least fifteen days after the date of publication of the notice. The city clerk shall accept written protests or objections to the approval of the proposed new uses of district revenue. If the owners of real property representing more than fifty percent of the actual valuation of all real property in the district file a written protest or objection within twenty days after the date of publication of the notice, district revenue shall not be applied to such uses.

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