The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved an ordinance that would create a business improvement district stretching from downtown southward to Five Points South that would increase CAP patrol security to that area that’s been a frequent source of crime complaints.

The ordinance also includes an area called The Switch, west of downtown, in the blocks surrounding the Innovation Depot.

CAP, or City Action Partnership, is a security patrol active in the downtown Birmingham business improvement district since 1995.

Under the plan, businesses in the district pay an assessment that covers the expenses of improving security patrols, sidewalk sweeping, trash removal, marketing and supplemental services possibly including parking.

“It’s something we’ve worked on for years,” said Steve Alexander, chairman of the Five Points Alliance, which helps coordinate the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

REV Birmingham CEO David Fleming presented the plan that was approved by the Birmingham City Council, and said businesses representing more than 50 percent of the assessed property in the district had approved the plan that seeks to improve the “clean and safe perception” of the area.

“These are property owners who seek to bring more vibrancy and investment to the district,” Fleming said.

The business district would supply supplemental services in addition to basic services still guaranteed by the city such as police protection, Fleming said.

Businesses opposed to the plan have a 60-day window to stop the plan by getting 30 percent of the business owners to oppose what amounts to a special tax district. It will be governed by a board of directors from businesses in the district. A property assessment will be 3 mills, based on county property tax assessment, Fleming said.

James Burger, owner of an auto parts warehouse at 1216 Third Ave. North, complained that he would have to pay $3,000 a year under the plan, and that he already pays $10,000 a year in property taxes.

While CAP patrols are beneficial, “there can also be pitfalls with this,” said Martin Evans, an attorney for Opus Development LLC, which owns the Scholar Birmingham student housing center catering to about 520 UAB students at 1001 20th Street North.

Evans said it would cost Opus $150,000 a year and it already employs two in-house security guards. “We’ve got student housing that’s taxed more than a bar, or a drug store,” Evans said.

“Our biggest concern is the increase in cost,” he said. “We’ve got residential leases at fixed prices.”

He said his client did not get adequate advance notice of the plan and asked that the housing center be exempted from assessment or removed from the district and that the plan be postponed. The council declined those requests by approving the ordinance.

“REV Birmingham’s got years to put this together,” Evans said. “What we’re left to do is scramble and round up signatures of people objecting to it.”