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By Jorge Casuso

May 7 -- A plan to create a new assessment district in Downtown Santa Monica will go before property owners later this month after enough of them signed a petition to take the plan to a vote, Bayside officials said Wednesday.

The equivalent of at least 40 percent of the property owners who would bankroll the plan -- which would change the way the entire Downtown is managed for the first time in 20 years -- had signed on by Tuesday.

That was enough to trigger a vote by all 360 property owners, whose vote will be weighed based on the amount they would pay in new assessments.

The petitions, which began circulating a month ago, will be presented next Tuesday to the City Council , which is expected to authorize the election.

“We feel very good going to the City Council,” said Kathleen Rawson, executive director of the Bayside District Corporation, which runs the Downtown. “We had really good support across the board from non-profits, retail and housing.”

Among those signing on was Macerich Company, which as the owner of Santa Monica Place is Bayside’s biggest retailer, as well as Downtown’s largest residential landlord, JSM Capital, which owns residential buildings along 5th, 6th and 7th streets.

The City, which represents 10 percent of the assessed property, also signed on to the plan.

Approved by the City Council last month, the plan would revamp the Bayside Board and the way it is chosen and pump an additional $3.6 million in new assessments to boost maintenance, enhance marketing efforts and create an “ambassador program” to inform visitors and help keep the streets safe.

Under the proposed plan, assessments would be based on the property’s size, type of use and location in an expanded district divided into three zones – one comprised by the Promenade, another along 2nd and 4th streets and Ocean Avenue and a third between 5th and 7th streets.

The assessments would help tackle some of the longstanding problems facing a thriving strip that must retain its edge in the face of increased competition from new venues, such as the Grove in the Fairfax District and Hollywood and Highland, Bayside officials said.

The new assessments would bankroll $1.3 million in enhanced maintenance of Downtown streets, which are showing the wear and tear of millions of visitors a year and add $400,000 in marketing, Bayside officials said.

The money also would launch a $1.23 million ambassador program that would provide a concierge service for visitors and help keep the streets safe.

In addition to the new assessment, the plan dramatically overhauls the way the Bayside is managed, giving property owners more power over who makes policy decisions.

Under the plan, the existing 11-member Bayside Board currently appointed by the council would be replaced with a 13-member board, six of whose members would be appointed by the council, six by the property owners and one by the City Manager.

The plan marks the first major management change since the wildly successful Third Street Promenade was launched two decades ago.