Michigan Downtown Association
Spring 2011 Survey of Member Activities
We had a 19.5% survey completion rate. Survey had eight sections of questions.
Organization -
· 35 % of surveyed DDAs have only one full time employee while 26% have 2-5 employees
Major Development Projects –
· TIF financing is the major funding source used by municipalities for wide range of development and infrastructure project where grants is second with City funding a distant third
· 61% of respondents have provided façade grants in the last five years
Events –
· 73% of DDAs paid less than 10% of event expenses to cover municipal costs while one respondent paid over 50%
Marketing
· Only 17% of DDAs track the success of their media placements (acquired media)
· Average Marketing budget is $24,250 with range from $0 to $330,000 per year
Business Attraction
· 11% of Downtowns had less than 3% vacancy rate while 26% had 3-5% vacancy rate
· Restaurants are #1 traffic generator in Downtowns (37%) while Post Offices were tied for 4th (9%)
· Only two communities have business incubators
Residential
· In the last five years, 46% of DDAs provided some financial incentives (façade grants, low interest loans, etc) to assist with residential development
Planning
· Nearly every DDA is heavily involved in supporting planning in the community with 86% either preparing the community’s master plan or assisting with its preparation
Other
· 39% of DDAs are providing planning assistance to connect the Downtown with adjacent bike paths/trails
The Member Activity Survey was conducted in April 2011 with 46 respondents out of 236.
The survey included eight sections ranging including: 1) Organizational Information, 2) Major Development Projects, 3) Events, 4) Business Recruitment and Marketing, 5) Business Attraction/Incubators, 6) Residential Development, 7) Planning Efforts, and 8) Other Projects.
The following is a highlight of the results from the survey:
Staffing -
Staffing levels – 22 % of surveyed organizations have no dedicated staffing while 35% only had one full time director and 26% had 2-5 staff
Public Improvements
Parking Lot Improvements - 54% conducted 1-3 improvements in last five years
Sidewalks – 24% of respondents spent up to $100k on sidewalk repairs in last five years
Wayfinding – 39% of respondents have conducted wayfinding projects in last five years
Façade Improvements – 61% of respondents provide façade improvement funding
TIF funding is the largest source of infrastructure dollars bar significant amounts in each category followed up by Grants and City funding.
Large number of survey respondents are involved in public-private partnerships.
Marketing
Social Media – 54% spend less than $1000 on social media, while no one spends over $5,000
Acquired Media – only 17% of survey respondents tracked media placement
Average cost o marketing studies in last five years has been $29,843, while average cost on marketing is $24,250 with one respondent spending $330,000 per year.
Most marketing programs cost less than $5000 per program.
Business Attraction –
New businesses – in the last year, 22% of downtowns attracted 5-10 new businesses while 13% attracted 10-15 new businesses.
Retail vacancy rate of 3-5% is found in 26% of the Downtowns surveyed while 11% had under 3% vacancy rate.
Restaurants (37%), Retail (22%), and Other (11%) were the three largest traffic generators in the surveyed downtowns, but what is concerning is that the U.S. Post Office was #4 with 9% reporting it is the most significant traffic generator, and due to budget cuts, many post offices will be slated for closure.
Residential
Survey respondents have had success in generating new residential housing with 26% reporting more than 20 new units of housing being constructed in last five years. Organizations have been very involved in providing TA (58%), Assistance with Obtaining Financing (38%), Provision of Financing (46%), and several other efforts. Majority of the housing (85%) included Market Rate Rental with a mixture of other housing types.
Planning Efforts –
Survey respondents prepared (13%) or assisted with Master Plan preparations (74%) and provided supported for Zoning Amendments, Vision Plans, Subdistrict, Parking Cultural, Historic Preservation, and Recreation Plans.
Supporting Bike trails and bike connectivity are major work area with 95% of respondents working on Planning a Bike Trail, 53% providing funding, and 53% providing marketing support.
General Information
93% of respondents were DDAs,
13% were TIFs,
9% were PSDs,
7% were National Main Street organizations or multiple versions.
Two percent were LDFAs, BRA, Business Assoc. or other.