Who We Are - Downtown Rideau

About Business Improvement Areas

A Business Improvement Area (BIA) allows local business people and commercial property owners and tenants to join together, and with the support of the municipality, to organize, finance, and carry out physical improvements and promote economic development in their district.

The model for a BIA was created in 1970 by a business association in Bloor West Village in Toronto and made possible by enabling legislation passed by the Government of Ontario. BIAs are mandated by the Ontario Municipal Act. Their revenue comes from a levy paid by property and business owners – the members. The BIA structure reflects the principle that all who benefit from the work of the organization should be required to bear their fair share of the cost of the program.

The BIA concept has become global, adopted by more than 500 communities across Canada, 2000 throughout the United States, and thousands more around the world including Europe, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan.

BIAs aim to serve the needs of the business community and support the local economy within a community context – they help to create conditions that allow businesses to thrive. They are non-partisan and not political and as a result their advocacy is a reflection of their members’ needs. What makes a BIA a truly unique model is that the membership ultimately controls how their resources are allocated through the election of a board that represents their interests. BIAs channel the resources made available by their members in ways that serve the area as a whole, focused on initiatives that individual members can’t address on their own.

Our Purpose

The Downtown Rideau BIA is committed to adding value and creating positive change in our local business community by strengthening the Rideau brand and protecting, preserving, and promoting the wider area’s reputation as the top-of-mind leisure destination in Ottawa. The vision embodied by our marketing program is rooted in a desire to create a true sense of place – one that is real and authentic, where people feel a sense of pride, ownership, and belonging, one that compels them to experience it for themselves.

Board of Directors

The Downtown Rideau BIA is governed by a Board of Directors comprised of levy-paying members elected to the Board every four years, appointees approved by elected Board members chosen to fill a vacancy, and the Ward Councillor (non-voting) appointed by the municipality.

Directors of the BIA Board are volunteers who are embedded in the community they serve and therefore have both a vested interest in and a deeper understanding of the needs of the area.

The elected Board decides on behalf of their peers how resources will be allocated through the annual budget and oversees the Executive Director responsible for directing and implementing these resources. Meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month.

Directors of the BIA Board are volunteers who are embedded in the community they serve and therefore have both a vested interest in and a deeper understanding of the needs of the area.

Minutes are available upon request. For more information please contact colleenmcilquham@downtownrideau.com.