Policy & Legislation

Municipal policy for a legacy business program provides the administrative, financial, and legal foundation for the program, safeguarding it from resource impacts that can result from changes in political leadership or fluctuating budgetary cycles. Creating this stable foundation ensures the continuity of successful outcomes for a legacy business program, including reduced displacement and preservation and continuity of culture and community. Additionally, creating municipal policy for your legacy business program helps the community and program partners understand how the program operates and what to expect. The policy establishes consistent standards for legacy businesses and municipal staff to follow, and it provides insight and transparency into finances, the eligibility process, and program successes and failures, all of which are required to garner long-term community and municipal trust and support. Finally, creating municipal policy codifies the social, cultural, and economic importance of legacy businesses to the community and outlines a commitment to preserving them. 

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Despite the benefits of establishing municipal policy to support legacy business programs, few cities have done so. Because of their cross-functional nature—bridging economic development, city planning, historic  preservation, and community development—municipalities may not have the resources or expertise to establish the municipal policy for a fully developed legacy business program. Doing so requires a deep understanding of complex legal, ordinance, code, fiscal, and administrative issues, knowledge not typically found in a single department or program. Municipalities may also be hesitant to establish wide-reaching policy without precedent, requiring case studies, an understanding of financial impact, or well-defined success metrics before undertaking the task. Because legacy business programs are relatively new, very little of this information is available. As of this writing, only a handful of municipalities across the US, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Antonio, have implemented municipal policies that systemize their legacy business programs. Other cities like Boston, Denver, Detroit, and Pasadena run their legacy business programs as part of another department or program, piggybacking on existing municipal policy. That being said, examples of municipal policy that can benefit a legacy business program are found in most cities; many of these will be featured in this section.

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Given the lack of existing policy examples and the widely varying political environments, administrative structures, financing models, and legal authorities across our cities, it is not possible to create a single, definitive standard for implementing municipal policy for legacy business programs. Some municipalities can easily implement the necessary ordinance, while most require a multistep process that necessitates considerable commitment from you and your team. Additionally, identifying and securing financial resources to implement grants and funding for your legacy business program may be straightforward in some cities, while in most municipalities, it may require you and your team to navigate a more complex budget process. These differences could drastically influence what municipal policy is achievable to support a legacy business program and how it might be done. 

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As discussed in other sections, a legacy business program does not have to be perfect out of the gate. It may be better to understand which legacy business needs can be implemented at the municipal level first, then scale the program from there. To that end, this section of the toolkit outlines municipal policy components that could be implemented as part of a legacy business program. It is up to you and your municipal partners to determine what can be implemented, given your municipality’s political, legal, financial, and staffing environments. The policy and legislation section of this site is not intended to be a comprehensive list, but rather a sample of ordinances and programs commonly found in municipal governments that could be leveraged for a legacy business program.