- This is the Economic Development Commission meeting. It's Tuesday, August 18th, and it is about 4.07 p.m.
- We're late because I came here late, my apologies. This meeting has been posted in accordance with the
- open door law, et cetera, policy, et cetera, et cetera.
- Okay. Um, why don't we do roll call? That's the first thing we're supposed to do. So. Liz Vidal. And.
- Jim Hankey. And Kurt Zorn. And. Dee De La Rosa. Jane Coopersmith. And nobody in the audience. Just the
- cats folks. Oh, okay. The real Chris MG. The real Chris MG. So Chris.
- Is he, he's the attorney? Chamber. Chamber. Okay. Chris, you want to, we're doing roll call. You just
- want to introduce yourself for roll call, please. Okay. All right. We'll just move on. Yeah. Approval
- of minutes. I'll make a motion. I did read them. Okay. Motion is for approval. I'll second. And Mr.
- Henke is going to second it. So I hear a motion.
- And a second, any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor? Aye. Aye. Anybody opposed? All right.
- New business. We don't have any new business, right Jane? Nope. Okay. But we do have some old business,
- so. Some old business and just some updates. Maybe the thing I didn't include that I should have included
- is that the opportunity zone application went in in July. So that was really exciting.
- We applied for designation of opportunity zones in three census tracts. One is the census tract that
- includes Seminary Park in the areas south, kind of going down to South High School. One includes Hopewell
- and goes west from Second Street, no, Third Street south and makes its way kind of all the way almost
- to the highway. So it's a pretty large census tract. And then the third one,
- is kind of 17th on the north, Rogers Street on the east, third street on the south, all the way almost
- to the highway again. So that's another large census tract with several commercial areas. But we're
- optimistic. We think our application was really strong. Our consultant thought our application was ahead
- of the pack in terms of all the communities they were helping. So we'll find out, we're told we'll find
- out in September. We're not obligated to find out until
- October. So fingers crossed. What do you know about implementation? What's the timeline? Let's assume
- we will get at least one of these, maybe hopefully all three. But what happens after you find out that
- they've been? They don't kick off until January 1, 2028. So we still have another year.
- I believe of the old opportunity zones. Let me, let me just check myself. I'm so bad with information
- recall. Nope. Effective January 1, 2027. Great. So it'll happen fast. So we've started meeting with
- our consultant team, our JL, um, to,
- build a marketing plan. So there are two key activities after designation. One is we have to market
- our sites. We have to market our community and make it attractive to opportunity funds, qualified opportunity
- funds across the country. So there's one local fund, but funds can invest in any opportunity zone.
- a lot of large real estate development firms or they're savvy investors know how these things work and
- can implement them. But we have to really plant our flag and make sure it's clear that we have investable
- opportunities here. So that's one thing we have to market. And then the other piece is I think it would
- really be beneficial for the community if there were a local qualified opportunity fund investing in
- local projects.
- What would that be here? Do we have one? No, we don't have one. The city can't establish it. The program
- is really built to foster private investment in these census tracts, so it really does sideline the
- government in a way, in kind of a good way. So we could have multiple funds.
- or maybe an entity would- How do people know to establish them or how do they get created? There are
- some informed community members that are talking about it now. I know because they've sent me questions
- off and on. There could be a convening, maybe by ROI or someone. ROI. Regional Opportunity Initiative.
- Okay. Or people might establish their own funds. Okay.
- Very open. OK. Is there any zoning changes that go along with any planned zoning? Not with that. That
- is just purely about the tax relief for the investments. But that might be a good conversation to have about
- specific area, were there specific areas you were thinking about? No, I mean, I've heard that there's
- some conversation about taking some of that South Walnut Street out of the downtown zone to encourage
- something to happen. Yeah. Because the downtown zone is hard. Yes. Because the downtown zone is so difficult.
- Yes, it is. I think there is a lot of chatter about that and I think there's
- um, not a real clear understanding of what process would have to be followed. But, um, I think it is,
- um, but there, and this is something that I think we'll be talking about maybe at our next meeting too.
- I've been working on, um, kind of compiling incentives that would apply for the area surrounding seminary
- and South. So the opportunity zone being one of them, um,
- But I hope to have maybe some business for you all to consider and approve at our next meeting related
- to that. But it's not related to zoning. But that's coming up as part of this discussion. You
- can incentivize. You can have the best suite of incentives. But if the zoning's wrong, then projects
- still won't go forward. Yeah. The problem with the outside opportunity zone funds that the gentleman
- that was at the Opportunity Zone meeting that wants to redevelop the fell site. Yes. Sorry, I can't
- remember his name, but yeah. It doesn't come to mind, but out of town, big box apartment developers.
- That's about all we've had. I don't think we're looking. We need to go beyond that. Yeah. Yeah. So the
- benefit of the having a local fund is that the proceeds stay local, the projects
- maybe more beneficial to the community rather than to the bottom line. But the fund doesn't have to
- be nonprofit. Like the way the program is engineered truly is to foster investment in these highly distressed
- census tracts. And I believe the Trump administration, when they crafted the 1.0 version of this, they
- really wanted it to appeal to the private sector. And so there's no,
- There's no affordable housing requirement. There's just no requirement other than making qualified
- investments. So it's interesting in that way. Any more on that, or do you want me to jump to the? OK.
- The next old business item is the strategic sites initiative. Just as a reminder, we
- talked about this at our last meeting, the utility service board amended their rules and regs in January
- to allow extension of service outside city limits for strategic economic development sites and projects.
- And so staff recommended they issued a will serve letter to
- the Monroe County Airport, which was great. And I think you all retroactively approved that. The timing
- just didn't work out to come to this body first. And so at the end of our discussion, at our last meeting,
- you all wanted to know what other sites could we consider for approval. And then we talked about what
- other parts of the legislation needed to be created in order to make it work.
- just preliminary, not even preliminary, discussions of potential sites have kind of filtered down to
- one site where we think it's really needed. And I'll see if I can screen share to pull. I made you a
- cohost, you should be good. Okay. I don't know if you need to take action today, you could, but.
- really hard to get a full screen view from Beacon, so this is hard to see. Yeah, so this is Vernal Pike
- and Woodyard Road, and it's 53.09 acres. It's zoned commercial. It was considered for different
- key developments. It was considered for the YMCA at one point. It was considered for a print pack at
- one point, but it hasn't really developed. There's a little more recon that I want to do. I'm waiting
- for some historic information from City of Bloomington Utilities. There is a utility services stubbed
- out adjacent to the parcel, which the property owner said was done when the road was complete.
- for their benefit, which would have been 15 years ago, I think. But it's unclear whether there was a
- commitment to extend service. In any case, it's a great site in that it's close to Bloomington. It's
- well connected. It's, hi Steve, has proximal utility service and yeah.
- and it's substantial, so it's large enough to do something meaningful. But this is the site that's really
- risen to the top. Other sites that we- They didn't come up for jail discussion? It did come up for jail.
- Not when I was donating with the jail. Oh, well, it came up in other conversations that I've had about
- the jail. I thought it was circulating for that. Not when I was a part of it, this last summer. Interesting.
- Well, and I think that's an interesting,
- thing to think about because this program. We were supposed to find something in the city. Yeah. Right.
- Yeah. I'm being careful to not be out over my skis and dipping my toe in the jail location conversation.
- But you can talk about it all you want. Tell us anything. Tell us everything. I lost my train of thought.
- But the purpose of this program is to return is really to foster economic development. That's the big
- why. And it's also to drive revenue for the city. We're not that altruistic. We need to drive revenue.
- And this is a way to do that that's also beneficial for everyone. And so I think that this strategic
- sites program would only extend service
- in exchange for major capital expenditures and job creation, going back on the tax rules. And annexation
- or no? This program does not require annexation. Okay. Yeah. So this is not... It doesn't preclude it.
- Like they could, I think they could probably swap their... Like if there were an employer that chose
- this site, met requirements, got a recommendation from the commission and approval,
- whatever approvals were needed. So that's right by the kennel. There's a kennel right there where it
- says Wood Yard Road is to the right of the kennel. Yeah. Wayport Kennel is there. Yeah. So is it adjacent
- to the city? Do you know? Yeah, let me put the boundaries. Let me make sure I've got the boundaries
- up. There's so many. So many options. So many options.
- Zoom out. It's hard to see sometimes. No. I think he is. Really? Yeah. Are you serious? I think so.
- Tom, I'm gonna forget his name. Our contact is Tom.
- I'm sorry, I can't get a view that shows where corporation limits are, but they're really close. They're
- maybe multiple parcels away, but not a half mile away. I'm not requesting approval today because I
- would like to button up the history of the discussion with CBU and just make sure I understand what
- they, you died in 2014. What was committed, if anything, to the property. And then, otherwise, I think
- this would be a really good one to consider. And the airport is not under consideration for, I mean,
- for us to do anything? It's already done. It's done? Yeah.
- So the last meeting, if I remember right, you were talking about different stipulations you would put
- on it in exchange for sewer service. And we were to discuss that. But is that over? No. So last meeting,
- we had two buckets that we were legislatively considering. And one is, how do we determine if it's a
- strategic site?
- Would we want to require a certain amount of CAPEX? Would we want to require a certain amount of jobs?
- Would we want to require a certain, that wages be a certain percentage above AMI? So it's like, what
- makes a strategic site? And then on the other hand, there was another question about like, what should
- an agreement look like with
- the recipient of a strategic site benefit. Should we set a flat rate at which they would be charged?
- So if the employer, would they pay, for example, 75% of what they would be charged for property taxes?
- A model similar to payment in lieu of taxes. Yeah, very similar to payment in lieu. And the city has
- had payment in lieu of taxes and payment in lieu of
- annexation agreements in the past. And this needs to go in a memo to the group, but just reflecting
- on where I've landed with this. I think my recommendation is that we don't set a specific rate. These
- agreements have existed for a long time. They've always been negotiated individually with the property
- owner. And that seems appropriate to me, given that the range of capital investment
- It could range widely. And so if we set a high bar for a small property but it's beneficial for one
- reason or another, might we inadvertently count that project out by assigning too much burden to it?
- Or conversely, if it is the project that can tolerate a heavy burden,
- than we want to assign that to it. So it just seems like it's beneficial to retain flexibility in those
- negotiations. Can this be used for housing? The policy that was introduced for the utility service board
- rules and regs was for economic development specifically. So a part of the complex, so to speak, would
- not be economic development.
- I think so, even though we all know we need housing for our economy. But I mean, I can get a lawyer
- to... I would like to find out actually. I mean, especially with SEMTRA going out there. They're a big
- expansion and hiring more employees. Well, they're already under a PILOA. That whole property is under
- a payment and loan agreement. I know. I know. We gave them an abatement and everything, but the county
- gave them an abatement, I should say.
- I think they'll have many more employees eventually out in that region and this property is very close
- to that. So housing would be prime there. That would be so convenient. So I'd really like to know. That
- would be lovely to find out. So where do you plan to move from here on that
- on this subject. So I would, I'd like to come back with a memo that makes some kind of formal recommendation
- to you guys. And the last meeting we looked at a proposed rubric for evaluating sites. And after sitting
- with us for a little bit longer, I now think that's overwrought.
- and so that was my opinion at the time yeah yeah oh good i mean it's similar to what you just said as
- to the payment and lieu negotiation it's very hard to predict what some entity would bring to the table
- because it could be jobs or it could be some other thing that we need in our community
- You know, it could be a capital investment that somehow makes a big difference to us. I don't know.
- But I would want, my thinking is that more general statement about bringing benefit to the community.
- Curt, you've had more experience with that kind of... Jay and I have already talked a little bit. I'm
- on the same track that Jay is.
- Yeah. So why don't I just bring a more formal document back to you guys that you can, you can vote on.
- I mean, it's interesting because legislatively there's not a, there's not a formal role. Like the, the
- rules and regs at CBU say that staff can name a site strategic. I just preferred that we have it.
- reviewed by the Economic Development Commission and have a recommendation from the EDC. So I think we
- should basically identify a process for that. And some kind of basic rule of thumb guidelines that,
- I mean, if we wanted to consider housing, we could recommend it. I'm not sure. Yeah. Okay. But flexibility,
- I do think is important because it is very hard to look into the future and
- you know, at that last meeting, there was talk about wage levels and numbers of employees and energy
- use, et cetera, et cetera, and it gets, it's too much. Because somebody might use almost no energy and
- that would make it a better use or, you know, it's just, it's hard to predict. Great. Yeah. Okay. I
- think come back with a recommendation. Yeah. Okay. Awesome.
- The next item is a quick update. We talked about this quite a while ago, the three-way alcohol permits.
- I have been working with council member Asari. I mean, he's driving the legislation, but I'm just excited
- that we're moving it forward. I wanted to circle back and update you on that. The first step is a piece
- of legislation recommending eligibility criteria, which is the biggest
- the biggest thing that the community and the council have to figure out who's eligible, what do we want
- to use this for? That's what the current legislation does. It was introduced at the end of July and
- we'll go back to the city council for second reading September 4th. I'm hopeful that we'll get to pass
- that and then we'll consider legislation for what are
- what we're calling district permits, basically a riverfront district and historic district. Um, and
- then a downtown district are all allowed to have, um, additional three-way licenses, um, beyond the
- state quota. And we have maps for downtown and historic. Uh, we don't have a proposed riverfront yet,
- although initially we looked at Miller showers and that will come back. Like we think that's.
- That should be one. We think that, um. Yeah. Any moving, moving body of water. Can we have a casino
- water too? If you can float it. Yeah. Anything, anything you guys want, EDC, just to make it happen.
- So that's, that's exciting. So it'll trail. There's a lot more to do with it, but it's moving along
- and there seems to be good feedback and even support from some
- previous detractors. So yeah, good for small, small businesses. Um, and then the last item on this list,
- uh, David Hittle came to our last meeting to talk about, um, sorry, I need to find
- please to talk about limited compliance updates to the UDO. So this is the staff presentation that went
- to the plan commission on August 10th. And I thought we could just walk through it. I'm still working
- to understand how this will impact potential developers or property owners. But so far, I think it
- will be really positive. I think David's strategy was to put forth something that he thought could get
- approved relatively easily. So that's what this is. This is David's vision. And I think Lynn Coyne,
- our interim planning director, and I are still trying to understand whether this does enough. So we're
- working on that. But if you're OK with it, I thought we would just walk through this together.
- And then this will go back to the plan commission, I believe on September 14th. And then after plan
- commission, it will have to go to the common council. A lot of words. So it's really trying to tackle
- limited compliance. So from the planning perspective, they talk about limited compliance and full compliance.
- And so there are a certain set of activities previously that would trigger limited compliance where
- you have to do a large number of amendments to your property, adjust your parking lot, plant a bunch
- of trees. Remove parking is often one of the things that is requested. And that was triggered just by an
- a large number of activities. This removes the requirement that a subdivision, so subdividing a property
- would require it to come into compliance, adjusts the threshold for a new building construction. So
- if your new building is less than 25% of the square footage of the existing structures, it'll only trigger
- limited compliance rather than full compliance. So if you're adding a structure, a small structure to
- your property,
- You would now be able to do that without having to go into full compliance provided you're within that
- 25 percent threshold Expansion of parking areas less than 25 percent to be exempt from limited and full
- compliance Yeah, so there's a lot about parking Maximums allows existing parking lots with 14 spaces
- or less and
- to not have to remove parking spaces in situations where limited compliance is triggered. So this one
- has come up a number of times in the past year where there's a modification to a site. Part of why the
- business was interested in that location is because it came with a parking lot, but they find out that
- if they're going to update anything related to their building, then they have to remove parking that
- attracted them there in the first place. So this is just saying if it's 14 spaces or fewer, we're not
- gonna touch it.
- adjust threshold for building additions that was mentioned above, removes one of the change in use triggers.
- A new use that is not in the same subheading as the previous use will no longer trigger limited compliance.
- See, this one I don't understand. A new use. Would we have to see what Table 03-1 is? Probably. Does
- it only apply to those uses in Table 03-1? Those last two items,
- to me, among the most important. Well, let's figure it out. Let me pause. Or if you get the link first,
- will you just chat it to me? Yep. It's so big. All right. I think it's just the big monster use table.
- I think so, too.
- Oh, my computer's having a hard time opening. Here I got it. Okay. Cool. So this is a funny version.
- Is this what it is now? It's in a Google doc because of accessibility. So, um, did Lynn make an,
- Additional presentation or you just ran with David's? Staff made this presentation we decided okay,
- let's see What the discussion is and you know learn learn more about it, okay, so what we're looking
- at though Those notes those were David's that was David's plan
- the notes. Well, we were just getting on the screen. So that was the formal staff presentation to the
- plan commission last week. So it may be more than what David suggested. It is the same as. It is the
- same as. That's my question. Thank you. For some reason, I'm having trouble loading the table. Is this
- the version that pops up for you? No, I took it from the BMC, so I just sent you a link to that chat.
- Oh, OK, great. Sweet.
- Yeah, I took it from Unicode, so you should be able to see it. There we go, that huge, awesome table.
- Yeah, so... So the table of all uses? It's the whole thing. Okay. So I'm going to just go back to the
- slide deck because I think that's...
- So I'll give you guys an example of what we're talking about. There was a, on West 18th Street, somewhere
- around J&S Locksmith, on the south side of the road, I think it was a daycare. They went out of business
- or something. A school. Perfect example. Yeah, it's a good example of this issue. They went out of business
- or something. Another business serving autistic kids came in and they were required
- at least once. I don't know if it's changed or debated or anything else, but originally it was interpreted
- that it was a change of use to serve autistic kids versus daycare. And that change of use required them
- to spend a massive amount of money on landscape and sidewalk out front, eliminate some parking, do a
- number of things. It was a really, it was
- like hair splitting, it was required by the codes. Staff was following the code. But because the kids
- were having one-on-one appointments, it functioned more like a clinic than a school, even though effectively
- it was still service provision for children. So that was where the rubber hit the road. But under this,
- so looking at the next to last bullet, this is saying,
- it wouldn't trigger limited compliance. So removes one of the change in use triggers, a new use that
- is not in the same subheading as the previous use will no longer trigger limited compliance. That double
- negative is weird. I think the double negative is incorrect. So I think what the legislation does is
- if it's under the same subheading. And I don't know if that's far enough or not. Yeah, okay. Personally,
- I don't know if they're going far enough. Can you write that question down?
- just clarifying the 0301 statement. In my opinion, we need to be much more flexible in that category
- because it was a school for kids. Many of us would say similar use. The next one is interesting too.
- Adjust the abandonment threshold. Improvements to a site will not be triggered by redevelopment unless
- the property has been vacant for two years.
- This applies for, I use the drive-through example. There are drive-throughs on South Walnut. They've
- been vacant for a number of years. If someone had opened a new drive-through immediately after the previous
- drive-through closed and there were no vacancy, then it would be able to operate. But because the property's
- been vacant for a significant amount of time, under the previous
- under the current rule, if it's vacant for a year, then... Are you certain of that? Yeah, because that's
- what this... Oh, I think it's a year. I thought it was six months. Oh, you might be right. Two years
- is better. Yeah. But to the same... Do you understand what I'm saying? I understand what I mean,
- I'm hearing. So, yeah, so then the question is, does two years, it's an improvement, does it help?
- I mean, those properties,
- around Miller, around Seminary Park, for example. They've been vacant for so long. Yeah. Okay. So, so
- my opinion is that there are a lot of things that are code and especially in this compliance triggering
- that keeps people from improving businesses. And this is a step towards that. I don't know if it's enough or not.
- It's not the two years it makes a difference to me. So now it's citing the changes. So these are the
- edits. So I mean, this might be a little too granular for us to really comprehend in our public meeting.
- We can link to this maybe in our, we can add the link to our agenda. That'd be helpful. And I can share
- it. So are you wanting us to recommend what you have here? I'm informing you that, so backing the frame
- way up. The EDC doesn't have a role in approving. You could choose to recommend, make a recommendation
- to common council or plan commission. I think that would be totally fine.
- That hasn't happened in the past, but again, we're trying to use this group as more of an advisory body,
- which I think you have a lot of expertise we can benefit from. So if you wanted to make a recommendation,
- you could. Otherwise, I'm just informing you that these UDO changes that were discussed a couple of
- months ago are now going forward. And we raised the issue here because it was determined that
- These are some of the problems preventing growth and real estate development from happening in Bloomington.
- Yeah, I'd like to see us more involved in promoting economic development. And the two entities that
- we would consult to, we are tonight. CBU for the strategic property and planning commission for this.
- Yeah. I was supposed to meet with David and talk about that, this issue. And we met briefly once and
- agreed to meet again and he moved. Nothing I said. It was nothing I said. But anyway, if we could,
- you know, help nudge some improvements in these areas, we'll need it in places like,
- the Opportunity Zone South, the seminary square. Yeah, absolutely. So does the language there, does
- that apply to all city properties? Yes. It does, okay. It's a change in the UDL. Okay. So an example,
- there was another business on West 17th Street that wanted to do a little addition and they would have
- lost a lot of parking and the sidewalk and other improvements were massively expensive. And these little
- businesses are going at it.
- You know, we don't have as many local business as we used to have. It's too hard to be in business.
- Yeah, they can't afford improvements. They can't afford anything. And then when you want to change your
- storefront because it needs an upgrade, then you've got to change everything else. Yeah, this business
- had a chance to get a different franchise affiliation or something. But they had to invest and it was
- too expensive. Couldn't do it. Well, it makes me wonder what triggered what
- is there now, right? So something triggered the language you have, right? Yeah. But our UDL, as David
- Hittle and I agreed, is a massive layering of wish lists. And it's an ideal thing if we could pull it
- off, but it becomes a... Well, there's rationality and there's reality, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And
- I think the reality that we're living is we're seeing
- we're seeing properties not develop. We're seeing blight. We're seeing blight in Bloomington. I mean,
- it's shocking. Now we're getting accustomed to it because it's been happening for a little while. So
- I think this is an attempt to readjust. And yeah, to Tim's point, the question is, does it do enough?
- It doesn't in my opinion, but it's a start. Okay, so I'll add this to the agenda and share this
- slide deck, I'll share the link to all the planned commission meeting materials so you can see it. And
- then of course, Lynn is on his toes, but he's very, I mean, this is top priority for him, so. It is,
- yeah, yeah. So if you want a meeting with him or anyone else, or I can invite him to our next EDC meeting.
- And he knows his stuff. Yeah. Yeah.
- I've been lucky to travel lately in some small towns and gosh, I see a lot more small business in other
- towns than we have here. And there's a gentleman that I met recently, Student Alumni Association, and
- he comes back from California and he said over the years, that's the thing that he knows about Bloomington
- changing. You know?
- If you watch Breaking Away or something, I know that's very nostalgic, but there are a lot of small
- businesses, and we don't have as many anymore. And it's harder to be a small business. You know, Amazon,
- who knows how many they put out. I mean, you know, Amazon, Walmart, et cetera. It is harder, but some
- towns do it better. I don't know how or why. Any thoughts, Mr. Zorn?
- We have a lot of specific challenges. I always think our nine month economy is part of it, right? We
- have a dead month in the winter and two in the summer. And then our cost of real estate is so high.
- So layers like this just make it totally impossible. And then for small businesses, cost of labor is
- killing them and the way chains and
- you know, national companies are dealing with it is through automation, but it's really hard for local
- players to have automated solutions. So, you know, Dee is our small business development person and
- you know, any advantage we can give our locals we want to. And I think another issue is that, you know,
- it's not for people not wanting to start small businesses, but when you're talking about how much you
- have to pay for rent and then a lease or how much you have to pay for a mortgage and then a lease.
- to have your business. Like, I mean, that compounding right there in real estate, that'll put you off
- pretty quick on trying to start, put something in a storefront. So, you know, I mean, it's, it's a multitude
- of things that stuck upon each other. But I think that this is- You mean like the personal, your individual-
- Yeah. Living costs of living are already high. Right. And you add high business operating costs on top
- of that. Yeah. Yeah.
- that really, I think that's stopping a lot of younger people from starting their businesses here,
- for sure. But I think that these changes, although I do agree with you, probably don't go as far as
- they should, are a start for those that we already have here. Now it's just trying to clear the path
- and make way for others to start their business as well. I think some of it's attitude, too. We need
- to preach this to our team
- across around the building and our city council and county council people. We're all on the same page.
- I do, flipping back to the alcohol permits, they're really specifically intended to benefit local restaurants
- really. So I think they get the message. I think the council gets it. It's just what levers can we pull
- cost of property though, that's been driven home. It's one of the property tax assessment board of appeals
- now. And the assessed value, and it's not the assessor's fault, this is because it's the assessed value
- of land is out of this world and people are coming in and paying over reasonable prices for property,
- which just basically takes up everybody's value. So that's affecting both
- business, property, and also personal, residential property. I don't know how you fixed that. As someone
- who just bought a house last year, yes. Yeah, it's astounding. It really is. And some people are really
- struggling. We see that with some of the appeals starting to keep up with the projected taxes.
- focused on the assessed value. I don't know what the solution is. And winning the national championship
- apparently didn't help. Because there are a lot of people coming in here and speculating because of that.
- All the new apartment buildings, so many of them are brand new and they don't really start paying tax,
- you know, for the first year because of the arrears. Right. Is that coming along and helping things
- at all? Do you know? I mean, it's going to be a lot of assessed value.
- I don't know the answer to that, but I think we have an apartment bubble right now where it's going
- to burst over investment. You just drive around now. I rarely have seen over my 40 plus years associate
- with the university.
- property that's still for lease. Oh yeah. When the semester is about ready to start and there's a bunch
- of properties that are for lease. I used to see signs that would say August of the next year. Right.
- A 7,000 new bedrooms in the last three years. Yeah. Someone's gotta break them. And there's, you know,
- what is it, north of 17th Street? That's 1,600 more being built right now.
- and um west 17th street i'm sorry west arlington there's that yeah just by the stadium that that's owned
- by the state west arlington's another one i think it's 600 bedrooms here you go guys yeah this um there's
- another 800 across oh what's this this is 2024 part map of parcels by av so the blue
- parcels have the highest AV. And we can update this for 2025. I would really like to look at that. Give
- me a point of reference on this. Just point something. Where's the intersection of? Right. Here's the
- B line. This is the trades district. Okay, that's good. Is that good enough? And then this is campus,
- of course, where there's like none. And we know Bloomington has
- 52%. This is what Judy told me, 52% of our properties are tax exempt. So it's tough. So what side are
- we looking at here? University is on the right. No, but I mean, I've never seen this map. This is a
- city. Dee had it prepared, I think, by our GIS department. It was awesome. And so she fed them AV.
- AV data, and they created this. So it's not a living document, but we need to make the 2025 one. Could
- we send us a link? Yeah. Because you obviously can't see it from here very much, but I think it's great.
- Can you dig down and see the streets a little bit more clearly? No, I'm just saying if you send it to
- the streets. Yeah, so here's third. Good, because that would help. And then seven Lincoln. I'm just
- trying to look for the square. It would be
- non-taxable. So maybe this is the square. So this is the hotel. This is the Hyatt place. This maybe
- is the graduate. That would make sense. Wait a minute, 2024. Yeah. Maybe. I don't know. Yeah, the square
- is right there. The orange square.
- And then this is the CVS building. Of course, this is now going to become the condos. So that'll jump.
- Yeah. And color coding is what again? Lighter colors, lower AV. So the dark blues, blues and greens
- have a higher AV. Yeah. So that was my question. Is that tripled down yet?
- It would be interesting to see the difference between 2024 and 2025 data, I think, if you compare those
- two maps. That would be fascinating to see. The property on 17th Street I know isn't on the books yet,
- and that's got to be $70 million. So here's... So that should help with overall... This must be Dunn
- Street, this must be Stadium, and so I'm looking for 17th. It is sort of disorienting. Okay, that's 11th.
- But that one street is Walnut, I think. This is done. There's Lincoln. 16th, 17th. So this must not...
- This is interesting. The red one there is... So the orange is the... That is making sense to me. That
- flood complex, right? Yes, this is, but... Then what's all the A, B there? That should be all tax exempt.
- Because that's where the dorms are. 17th and Fess. Yeah. That's where the... Interesting. So that...
- Unless... That doesn't make sense. Unless you're off a block. Unless... This is what death... This is
- definitely... It has to be the... It has to be... Student housing.
- I think you're further south than you realize. It says 17th. No, no, no, that's not 17th. You're right.
- Zoom back in. That's 12th. That was at 12th. Yeah. Is it? I don't know. It is 17th. Huh. Wow. Interesting.
- Anyway, when you get the update, we'll have better links. I'd like to look at it too. Yeah, thank you.
- It's very interesting. We'll put some markers. But that was my question. I just wondered. Because I'm
- trying to think of a silver lining of having 10,000 more apartments than we need. Well, if the limits
- on increases in assessed value, you'd think that that would help if you increased the overall base.
- And there's a lot more coming on. In other communities, so this is all relevant for the impacts of SEA
- 1. Liz, you're going to be about at time. 457. I'm just telling it. I'm watching it.
- With SEA-1, in communities that have full-time income-earning populations, the reduction in property
- tax, that burden is just being shifted to income tax. But because we have so fewer income taxpayers
- within city limits, that's why we're really getting burned. But in other communities, it's not an alarm.
- And I think Jennifer told me, right,
- We're down in Bloomington 142 million in AV for the SEA-1 changes. And one of the things there is businesses
- are having their personal property exempted up to, I think it's a million dollars. Is it a billion or
- is it two? It may be two. Yeah, it's painful. Which I'm not sure why.
- How did that happen? The legislature decided that... But don't worry, because we're going to do away
- with property taxes completely. I laugh because I'd like to know what we're going to replace them with.
- Exactly. What's Plan B? We'll just close the schools. Yeah, we don't need fire. We don't need fire and
- police. Is that a formal recommendation? No. Okay, good.
- from the President. Thank you, Mr. President. Speaking of comments, I will move the adjournment. Any
- additional discussion, general discussion? I think we've had it, so let's adjourn this thing. Thanks,
- everybody. Thank you.