I'd like to go ahead and call this meeting to order the Last regular session of the Bloomington Common Council before our summer recess here on June 4th So will the clerk please call the roll councilmember Flaherty here rough Rollo Here Piedmont Smith. Yeah, Stossberg here Zulick here Rosenberger here and a sorry here Great, thank you. So as I mentioned, this is the last meeting prior to summer recess and Generally start meetings off with some interesting bits of information related to justice equity and related And I just want to highlight some Summer events and other happenings over the next month or so. So first off June is pride month So happy pride It pride month is dedicated to the celebration of the LGBTQ plus community and can serve as a reminder that the fight for equal rights is ongoing Pride month commemorates the Stonewall riots in New York City in 1969 which sparked the LGBTQ plus rights movement and Bloomington pride is actually scheduled for August 23rd this year because we always delay that to make sure our student population is back in town and can celebrate that But there are pride events and parades this month in Indianapolis and Jeffersonville and Evansville and lots of other places around Indiana and pride month was first recognized in 1999 Second I want to highlight world refugee day, which was mentioned by an staff member of Exodus at public comment mic a couple weeks ago World refugee excuse me world refugee day is celebrated internationally on June 20th as a day of awareness and recognition of the strength and courage of people forced to flee their home countries to escape conflict and danger and then settle in new lands an Event to celebrate our local refugee population is this Saturday June 7th from 3 to 6 at first Methodist Church and World Refugee Day was first established in 2001 and Lastly I want to remind us all about the Juneteenth Celebration and Juneteenth is recognized on June 19th each year and the Juneteenth commemorates the end of slavery in the United States and this year the Bloomington Juneteenth celebration will be on Friday at June 13th in Switchyard Park from 2 to 9 p.m And Juneteenth was just made a federal holiday a few years ago in 2021 and I'm highlighting these three occasions as a reminder of the progress that has been made simply to commemorate these events and That it is so important to keep acknowledging and celebrating our diverse community and community members and without that diversity We would be a lot less interesting So moving on to our agenda summation for this evening we have no minutes for approval So we will move straight into the reports section first we will hear reports from council members and Second, we will have reports from the mayor and city offices and seeing as this is the last meeting before summer recess There are lots of reports tonight we will have an environmental Commission report and then a report from the planning and transportation department regarding the UDO and Then finally have the economic and sustainable development Department giving us the annual tax abatement report A maximum of 20 minutes is set aside for each of these reports as a whole unit So I do expect that we will have to extend that report time this evening from the mayor and city offices after that we will have Reports from council committees and I do want to note that this afternoon There was an updated agenda sent out as a packet addendum So under council committees there will be a report from the sidewalk committee and then also a report from the Jack Hopkins committee That will be followed by reports from the public So that will be the first opportunity for the public to comment on items not on the agenda this evening After that we have appointments to boards and commissions and I do believe that we have some of those this evening And then we will get into our legislation for second readings and resolutions tonight the amended agenda Changed the order of this a little bit. We will start with ordinance 2025 - 22 Authorizing and approving a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with Henderson court housing and then we will have ordinance 2025 - 21 Authorizing and improving a payment in lieu of taxes agreement with Cambridge Square Lastly we will finish up our legislation with resolution 2025. Oh nine allocating Jack Hopkins Social Service program funding for 2025 After legislation, we will have any additional public comment anybody who has anything else They want to add for items not on the agenda a note about council schedule and adjournment So having wrapped up that summation Councilmember reports and I will start I can't remember where I started last week So I think I'll start on my right tonight Did I did I start with you last week? Yeah, great. So let's start on my right with councilmember Flaherty No report other than a suggestion for future consideration, which is that we could rotate where it starts So it starts with somebody besides the two people at the end You know the way we all right out there, thank you I will do that Councilmember rough Let's go up to councilmember Rallo online I have no report. Thank you. Thank you councilmember Piedmont Smith Yes, thank you. I have a few things to mention tonight First of all, I'm wearing bright orange two days in advance of wear orange day which is on June 6 this year and it is a day to commemorate people who have died from gun violence in this country and to call for common-sense gun control to avoid future deaths As a result of firearms in this country Every day in the US 125 people are shot and killed and hundreds more are wounded due to gun violence The leading cause of death in 2022 among children and teens was gun violence It is a public health epidemic. It is a social epidemic It is a major problem in our society that we need to remember and work towards solutions Why orange? So on January 21st 2013 a 15 year old young woman named Hadia Pendleton marched in President Obama's Second Inaugural Parade and less than a week later She was shot and killed on a playground in Chicago Soon after this tragedy occurred her friends commemorated her life by wearing orange Which is the color hunters wear in the woods to protect themselves and others from being shot so that this has been a Day of action and remembrance for several years in honor of Hadia and all the other victims of gun violence So wear orange on Friday I also wanted to say that my constituent meeting in June is a week earlier than normal. So it will be this Saturday June 7th from 11 a.m. Till 12 noon With two options you can either join via zoom or in person in the McCloskey room, which is room 135 here in City Hall You can find the zoom link on the City Council web page And finally just a report regarding Recycling so the waste reduction district of Monroe County Started a new contract with rum key for handling their recyclable materials starting June 1st or June 2nd one day and One big change is that you can now recycle waxed paper cartons like milk cartons a cartons that you know some soups come in and other drinks you just need to try to remove the The plastic spout and then you can save save up a box of those and bring them to the waste reduction district either on South Walnut Street or one of the other locations So that's good news as far as recycling goes and that's my report. Thank you Thank you. Can I ask you if you can put those things in your recycling bin, too? I'm afraid not because Republic Services does not recycle those and the city's contract is with Republic Services Great. Thank you for that clarification Down the other ends councilmember, sorry I'm to Somewhat quick reports and the first thing is that I just got back from attending the global entrepreneurship Congress in Indianapolis which brought together this ecosystem of builders and policymakers and researchers and from around the world are working to strengthen innovation and inclusion in economic growth Especially in cities and regions like ours and the central message. It was first I should say it was super cool because there were We were very well Represented at this global congress both in terms of attendance I mean a lot of IU folks obviously, but a lot of folks from the BDC Jen Pearl I saw a second ago was there. So was Val Pena Folks from from the ESD. One of our newest employees was there. It was really cool to see to see them But but the and also many people who are speaking highlighting things that we're doing Here like John Zodi, for example gave a really cool session on CFDI CFDI friendly and sort of the things that we're doing here in Bloomington. So that was super super cool Just a handful of things that that I got from it though just to add to the ongoing conversation The first one is how important local specialization is. It's a they they Argued the cities that focus on specific sectors or strengths whether that's climate or tech or creative industries or cybersecurity Tend to attract more investment more talent more buyers for local innovation And so they sort of argued against this model of just general innovation hubs rather into focused Innovation hubs. I thought that was a strong interesting argument the importance of mapping ecosystems to strengthen collaboration They talked about how placemaking can be useful for economic development and also talked about how culture matters as much as capital And giving people certainty when they come to City Hall So a lot of the sessions that I attended were for policymakers thinking about how do you make good partnerships? With businesses with investors with the type of people who want to come and do cool things In in your city and time after time the stories that were told of success Were of cities who who spent their time? Simplifying their processes giving clearer Expectations for outcomes for people and that they align those processes with the clear Values and outcomes that they wanted to achieve so that was I think really encouraging and I'll be happy to share more about that Over the coming weeks and months as I'm sure others who attended will as well my other short little update and I don't tend to give sort of personal updates as much as because we sort of said as a group that we would mostly spend time talking about the ways that we spent our time this week, but on a very personal note this Sunday as much as we've been talking about all of the many things that We're observing in this month and the month that just passed was national cancer survivor day And this is a day that honors the millions of people across the globe who faced a cancer diagnosis and lived to tell their story and of course for me, this is super personal because I'm just two days before that and was my seventh anniversary of being diagnosed with leukemia and I remember so clearly that moment that stillness the But I guess the clarity but also the sort of sense of fear and as I was thinking about it this weekend, I Remembered why I got into politics to begin with I used to attend political meetings and often felt that My voice was not represented That I was not seen in those contexts and and it sort of stirred me up I think too. This is the part where I'm going to say sorry, but it stirred me up to To a reminder of why we're all here and I think it's so easy sometimes to get caught up and process and actually somebody Also is here who said this to me and I saw you walk in but now I don't see you anymore but but and so I As I'm thinking about why we're here and what it is that we have an opportunity to do I wanted to remind myself because I think I'm guilty of this Of the times that we act like we have so much time to do good but the reality is that you know tomorrow's not promised and I think that that's that's a reality that I live with on a Day-to-day basis, but certainly it's true of our political time. And so I I just am publicly saying my recommitment to the urgency of public service And it with that I also wanted to apologize to councilmember Flaherty and councilmember I forgot your last name just now because you're sitting next to me. Sorry councilmember Rosenberger Particularly because you know, I think that when when we've been talking about some needed Changes to like our development ordinance, you know, I I have opted often to say well Let's try to do big things and and you know use use our time to do those things But I actually think that and the person who is here that I no longer see Talk to me afterwards and I forget their name. I'm so sorry, but about the importance of incrementalism So do what you can do while you can do it. And so anyways, I just thought I'd take this personal moment to say that It's such a pleasure working with you all It's such a pleasure to have the opportunity to serve the city of Bloomington to make sure that we center The residents of the city and everything that we say and do and so with that. Thank you for the time Thank you councilmember Rosenberger, thank you so much. Thank you so much for that thoughtful report councilmember, sorry Those ordinances that didn't get introduced had four votes if you would like to incrementally Change make sure you do changes. I am happy to bring them back with your fifth vote. I I don't mean that as a joke and so I'm very serious that like actually what I'm going to talk about tonight is some properties with affordable housing that They're at risk. We're at risk of losing 29 affordable units. So it's like just very timely also that the UDO Needs to be updated as soon as we can. So My report is about seminary point apartments. So just for An orientation this is these are the properties just north of Kroger on 2nd Street. So it's the corner of College and 2nd Street It's three buildings owned by the county owned by Monroe County and in these three buildings. There are 29 residential units and a handful of our small businesses and nonprofits that live there So it's two it's just under two and a half acres. It has my sister's closet blue-tip billiards friendly be cidery and Jeff's warehouse This prop these properties are in our Bloomington urban enterprise zone So they have access to property owners have access to different grants The small businesses have access to grants and residents also have access to grants because it is in in the enterprise zone Some good things other good things about these properties is that they do provide 29 Residential units that are pretty affordable for Bloomington So monthly rents range from $400 a month for a one-bedroom up to $700 a month for a three-bedroom This is one of I would say one of the most convenient and connected locations to live in Bloomington. It is Literally across the street from a Kroger and it is on our beeline multi-use trail It's a really neat community of neighbors. I've been getting to know some of the tenants folks hang out and really consider each other family And it's also it acts as a neighborhood hub So it is, you know, just a little bit away from like our Kirkwood And our square and so people can come there and do quite a bit You can shop for clothing you can shop for furniture You can play pool you can grab a beer and you can grab something to eat. So a lot happens right in this property I've been talking to the tenants because a couple things one is that the Apartments some of them or all of them are not really the best living conditions, right? so I've talked to tenants about a dead rat in a common hallway that wasn't removed for months or Rotting treads on stairs that weren't replaced for months gutters that have been rotting and you can't park or walk under them Because in the winter icicles hang and can be quite dangerous there is An organization in Bloomington Bloomington homes for all they are on Instagram and they are a housing Advocacy organization that is part of the national homes for all network That this national network demands affordable safe and permanent homes for all So they are working with residents all the residents that are wanting to participate in trying to save these properties owned by the county because the bad I went through a lot of the good and the bad is the living conditions that need to be improved and some other bad is that leases aren't being renewed past June or July of 2026 the county is planning on Demolishing these buildings and I just think that's a it is a real shame, right? it is 29 affordable naturally affordable occurring units in our downtown area and so If anyone is out there and wants to be a part of that, I think You can get in touch with Bloomington homes for all on Instagram and they may eventually make a Facebook page. I think There is an article in the HT about it it came out on my 30th and there's also an op-ed in the HT about it So I just wanted to bring that up that there are folks out there trying really hard to advocate and keep our affordable housing. Thanks Thank You council members who look yes, thank you Happy pride everybody I just want to talk a little bit about what pride is and what it means and how we can celebrate and continue to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights as a reminder the Stonewall uprisings were a product of police raids on gay bars in New York City and Two black transgender women Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera were credited with kind of leading the charge in in the Stonewall uprising and advocating for LGBTQ+ rights and and so I think that we have to always remember that pride in the same way as feminism always needs to be intersectional remember that feminism doesn't exist without pride and anti racism doesn't exist without pride and we have to remember that all of these things are Co-existing and When we think about how to celebrate pride remember the Stonewall uprisings were not peaceful They weren't peaceful because sometimes when our oppressors are so in our face and so violent The only option is to protect ourselves and so I will remind people in the same way that you celebrate pride Fight for pride, too. Thank you Thank You councilmember daily, yes, thank you. I wanted to start off with happy pride everyone and I Want to take a moment to say that my heart goes out to the Jewish community right now Once again, we are left heartbroken and frightened and angry with yet another anti-semitic attack And so I just want to acknowledge those feelings and to state that you know, we need to stand with our Jewish friends I stand with my Jewish friends and residents The timing once you know, well, it's been happening more and more recently with these attacks But right now, you know, it's it's the beginning of pride month And so it's just another reminder that our our presidential administration is not only turning its back on many vulnerable members of Our country, but in many instances their actions are encouraging terrible mistreatment of marginalized groups Because people are are being influenced by what they hear coming out of the mouths of many of our leaders and so Just take this extra moment. Please to remember not only this month stand with our our LBGTQ Community our Jewish community our immigrant community. Let's remember that this should be year-round that we're standing with them and supporting them And then actually I want to give a big thank you to councilmember Piedmont Smith. You took a lot of my Public comment that I was gonna make so thank you very much for recognizing where orange For the past decade, I've been observing gun violence awareness day. It's been a really big Part of my life. I wasn't together enough to have my orange t-shirt together. I have many but Thank you very much for the to the administration too for also declaring Friday Bloomington gun violence awareness day and and helping us with the orange. Everybody, please. Please put on some orange I know it's a tough color, but you can find some And and you know one further action that you could take is connect with our local Bloomington moms demand action group Reach out just sign up even on our website If you're not already signed up reach out find out how you can get involved because I think gun violence being the number one cause of death for our children in this country is Absurd. I mean, there's no other word for it So moms demand action every time for gun safety Even look up Sandy Hook promise There's many ways that you can help support reducing the number of gun violence deaths that happen every day and then You know Councilmember Piedmont Smith mentioned 125 Americans are shot and killed every day Twice that number are injured and these are life-changing injuries that I'm talking about. So it's not just that 125 It's hundreds every day have their lives altered forever by gun violence Thank you Thank you. I was also told that councilmember Rallo does indeed have an announcement to make if you want to go ahead councilmember Oh, yes. Thank you president Stasberg I well first Thank you to my colleagues for Observing pride month and for bring your attention to gun violence. I wanted to announce that councilmember rough and I will have our constituent meeting monthly constituent meeting on June 21st at 10 a.m. And you can find the link at Bloomington dot ion dot gov slash council We usually go for over an hour about 90 minutes and we'd love to have you participate So that's June 21st 10 a.m. And the links on our calendar. Thank you Great. Thank you. And I In recognition of the time right now. I have a very quick little councilmember announcement That is also my constituent meeting. I will continue to have constituent meetings this summer My next one is also scheduled on Saturday, June 21st at 11 o'clock And I do those in person if the weather is crummy I'll be in McCloskey room down the hall and if the weather is beautiful, then I will be outside in the mayor's tent If you don't know the mayor has a tent at the farmers market each Saturday with a different staff or department Recognize there so I'm crashing the mayor's tent. I do have permission to crash the mayor's tent so I'll be there on Saturday, June 21st from 11 to noon and then also I Need to contact the the department that's going to be there on July 19th But I'm hoping that that's okay with them too as I'm looking across the room when they're signed up for it So thank you very much. That was a lot of councilmember reports so now moving on to the mayor and city offices who is here from the Environmental Commission to wonderful if you want to come up to the mic and and introduce yourself and As I said before this section of the meeting usually is 20 minutes And I'm just gonna have to play it by ear to make sure that each of these reports gets their due this evening Perfect. Thank you. Hi everyone. I'm Carrie Albright chair of the Environmental Commission. Thank you for giving me some time Hopefully less than 20 minutes to talk a little bit about what we've accomplished in 2024 And at this point what we've been doing in 2025 as well and kind of where we've set our sails for the year and for The years to come so on this slide you can see the smiling faces of your current Environmental Commission Last year, we had a few different folks leave due to graduations due to just resignations and also I want to draw attention to Linda Thompson and Mike Litwin who are both long-standing commissioners both served for decades and really brought a lot of change a lot of impact the Environmental Commission so seeing Linda retire and having Mike finally finally step away from the Commission was a big loss for us, but we very much appreciated their contributions So as you know this past year we have Reworked our mission statement. So it was a bit a bit outdated as far as the language and the priorities for the Commission that we are Today, so our current mission for the EC It's promote the stewardship and preservation of the city's environment and natural resources by seeking out and responding to emerging issues addressing them with sound long-term policy recommendations and Increasing local environmental awareness and engagement and what you'll see is that that is sort of where we are focusing here this past year and years to come For 2024 we set our priorities around our biodiversity working group as well as our continued outreach programs and activities in the community I'll go through those in a little bit more detail For the biodiversity working group. You may recall last year I came in and talked a little bit about our habitat connectivity plan something We were very excited about and something that definitely needed some additional edits for functionality user friendliness and keeping it up to date So that was something we knew we wanted to focus on We also knew we wanted to draw more attention to some of the native plants native pollinators how they work together to promote Biodiversity in Bloomington and so in order to do that We focused our eco heroes theme for 2025 around the concept of native insects We created some additional materials for our tabling that had to do with insects in Bloomington and also Have been pursuing a bee city status on behalf of the city of Bloomington So it's something that we're continuing to work on and as I'll mention here for the year to come We've also been doing some bigger steps in the progress for the habitat connectivity map We also love outreach and Activities with the community part of what we try to do is stay visible to the community because Bloomington does have an incredible Natural space our air our water our land use are all really and and the biodiversity of our city are all really important Aspects of who we are as a city and what makes us so special and so we want to make sure that Our city knows that not only can you talk to us about what's going on or raise your concerns But we'd love to have more commissioners join us and participate. So for those listening, we are welcoming Applications to join the Commission, but here you can see a few activities. We participated in we always table at the IU bugfest We had an entomologist on our Commission for a few years and that was really wonderful having her expertise We attended the Grandview STEM night at Grandview elementary Which was our opportunity to talk about how the technology of using the habitat connectivity map can help you connect with and understand your local Environment and then of course, we have our annual eco heroes event Last year, the theme was drops to drain and focused on Bloomington stormwater We had over 30 submissions from young children to adults that talked about how to ensure quality stormwater how we can all take steps to positively affect that or to Mitigate any hazards that might be impacting our local stormwater That was something that we connected with the city of Bloomington utilities department put together materials So that educators could talk to their students about it and with 20 different sponsors bringing in prizes and in different forms of support we were able to Participate in the earth week event at switch our park last spring where the mayor congratulated all the different winners always a really good time and Then along with our other kinds of outreach something that we really want to make sure we're doing is connecting with folks beyond our commission Both other organizations individuals commissions boards in the city And so as I mentioned one of the things that we are prioritizing this year and that we really kicked off last year was pursuing a B City status That's something that we collaborate with the Parks Department for that's something that I use office of sustainability Worked with us on as well as they pursued the B campus status we also have the the Invitation to speak up for organizations or businesses or individuals who are doing things to positively impact the environment of Bloomington And so we wrote a letter of support for a variance that was requested by an urban farm with an educational program We support a local organization that is getting its footing and saying we are trying to make Bloomington more sustainable and protect our environment and we say that sounds good we'd love for you to continue that conversation with council with the mayor in the city and Then also weighing in on how land is used and what considerations are being put into place as we were developing a city That is so special. It has so many Environmental details to it that we really want to consider in that progress We also wanted to make sure that we are working with the city's own climate plan as you know, that's The climate action plan is something that's been in place So we of course we're excited to participate in weighing in on thoughts on how that's coming together Including having it Sean Mia come and talk to us about the plan as well as the climate dashboard Which is a way for us to bridge what the city is doing and the different boards commissions and departments With the community who might be interested in knowing what's happening with their air their water their land use So we were very excited to be part of those conversations and make sure we are sharing our support and ideas And also helped with some of the installation of the technology used to gather data about the air quality as the surveys were taking place last summer and Lastly we were trying to get creative with what we might do. So we did some different things this year We had interviews with WFHB. We Were on a local podcast. We there was an article in D square And we also submitted some op-eds about some of the house bills that were taking place that were of concern to the environment as well So like I said, we're trying to make sure that we are reaching out to the community and we continue to prioritize that in the years to come Speaking of the years to come one of the things that we did this year was talk about our long-term Priorities and what we identified is that we've got kind of two buckets that keep coming up for us One is making sure that we as a commission are working efficiently that our Onboarding process that our presence out in the public are all really mindful They reflect who we are as a commission today and that they are effectively building bonds bridges connections with our community So that's something that we've we've definitely want to make sure that we are keeping our finger on in the years to come and then also Continuing to grow and reach out to others in the in the future so that means having workshops whether led by EC members or Inviting in guests to teach us more about the things that we are weighing in on or that we're curious about Just continuing that education between our group The the community and the larger environment. We also as you know published an air quality reports We're currently working on one of those for the water quality and working with some larger data sets from IDEM and working with the utilities Department to make sure that that reflects Accurately where we are as a city with our water quality and what our recommendations may be on various levels we also have a lot of interest in supporting some of the Changing regulations for how the city operates and so one of the things that we talked about was as we are Shifting some of the language around riparian buffer measurement making sure that if that we as a water quality subcommittee on the EC Are able to help support that and say can we potentially put together a way to? Contribute to a stream inventory to ensure that we are keeping our eye on how this is working or is it not working? What conversations can we help facilitate and then also like I mentioned city? Certifications like be city and then also expanding into the world of if there are grants or funding available For some of these projects that may require experts beyond our skills or time that our commissioners Just don't have that we can bring in further support So that's something we haven't really done a lot of in the past and we're excited to do it in the future I'm not gonna go through this whole slide. There's lots of words on it and it is in the packet So feel free to take a look at it But these are the things that we said in 2025 we really want to do this stuff and this as you can see covers a lot of ground and in parentheses after each point Is sort of the subcommittee the working group that would be Hosting that conversation or that initiative when it comes to admin that is really working closely with our liaison just as Some of it is a little bit more formal, but the water quality working group is a is one that's on here The eco heroes of course is always going to be on there But we also introduced a light pollution working group because we do know that that does influence migration habits. It does influence Just the general biodiversity capabilities of our city and as our city is growing and changing That is a responsibility that we want to make sure that we are thinking about so that's something that's new that we're launching this year. I Wanted to take a moment to share what is going well for the EC and also where are we facing challenges because that's the reality of Being on a group of this this nature as well What's going well is that we're as you heard doing a lot of collaborating with different partners different members of the community and that's Fantastic. That's the goal is to be a bridge across our different communities and what we're capable of building together Some of the things that we've been working on have been long thought projects. You've heard me talk about the Habitat connectivity plan we have different reports that we've worked on over the years and Our Commission is still really enthusiastic about that and we're eager to share that with you all When it comes to working with the Bloomington community, whether it's tabling whether it's having different events That's something that means a lot to us to have them chime in and say that's really cool. I didn't know that that's something I'll try and so having that feedback feels really good and is another way for us to revisit what is working well and what we enjoy doing to contribute to the city and Then staying active in the in the city. We're continuously looking for opportunities to be out in the community Obviously, we all have lots of different time commitments and things like that, but the enthusiasm is there and we do try to make good Choices about how we can be present for the city Now when it comes to the challenges for 2025 Unfortunately, some of these are a little bit out of our hands But some of them are our areas that we are looking for solutions to The first one is the hardest one and it is complex and inefficient changes to communication in the last year. So we have We understand that there are some interpretations of the open-door laws that are changing how our commission communicates with each other I would say that is the hardest thing for us to navigate considering that our Commission is voluntary Many of us have full-time jobs are in class have children have Responsibilities that really limit how much time we can put into the way that we operate for the EC despite being very passionate about it What we have learned is that because of the the way that we need to interpret these laws We cannot communicate with each other directly by email We need to go through our liaison in any communication that has to do with EC besides I believe it's besides maybe setting up meeting Or talking about things that are not EC related like I got a new car. Where did you get it kind of thing? but if we're talking about the EC is our understanding that and when I am putting together the list for sponsors for the Hero's event. For example, I cannot communicate directly with the rest of the subcommittee Via email without going through our conduit through the city The alternative to that and so that makes it really hard It takes away our liaisons time to do her full-time job, which I very much respect and and understand that that is the priority The alternative is for us to be meeting face-to-face to have these conversations That in and of itself requires advance notice reserving a location specifically a public location where we can publicly note that we are gathering One of the one of the things about the Commission that I'm fully aware of is the privilege it takes to be able to be on The Commission it's voluntary and it is something that requires time outside of whatever your other responsibilities are Where there's a limit to how many virtual meetings you can attend and so being able to be flexible in your work in your responsibilities in your Caregiving to be in these meetings is something that takes privilege and I would hate to see an inequitable Leaning towards folks who are able to have those circumstances versus those who maybe don't have the flexibility and could communicate via email But we're no longer able to in a way that is efficient or effective for us. It's not impossible, but it sure makes it hard So that is something that we've been dealing with It's been very difficult and we are working hard to not diminish the enthusiasm for our Commission But it slows down that beautiful list of goals we have for the year that incredible list of three to five year Priorities that we have we are compassionate about it, but it is very hard. That is a major challenge for us Right now things are difficult in the United States and folks are Torn in a lot of different directions energies are low spirits are compromised because of what is happening across funding across protections for individuals across the way that we treat each other general engagement right now is low across a lot of different volunteer and Selective activities we understand that so when it comes to eco heroes when it comes to people coming up to our table We know that we're not we may not see the same level of enthusiasm that we would have a few years ago That's a challenge because we love to keep people excited, but we understand that right now Maybe maybe engagement is not going to be as strong as it was in the past We currently have some vacancies on the EC We're so excited about our new commissioners that have joined us in the last several months But we still have some vacancies that spreads the work a little bit more thinly between the group that we do have So that's a challenge that we have from time to time But the folks we have now are very committed and working on lots of different things. That's really exciting And then lastly there's some changing legislation at the state and federal level that impacts impacts the the things that we talk about the work that we try to do and some of them are About funding some of them are about protections for things like wetlands that really are that that are Damaging to our larger environmental safety for our state for our city for our country and our planet And so that's something that when we're working through what our priorities are We we understand that that will be impacting what we do. So a challenge for sure But last time I was here you asked me what you could do to help and I really appreciated that question then and I came Even more prepared this time. So how can you help? beautiful council folks First things first when it comes to processes We like I said, we just got a bunch of new commissioners really appreciate that and as you know The speed with which we can get interviews and get new commissioners is always helpful. So in the as we're able to get new commissioners on We appreciate your expediency in that process Also when there are things that we might need to have your input on or your approval for just being able to communicate clearly about What that process needs to to be I know that when it comes to be city, for example That's something we've been communicating a lot about so clarity there is really helpful and that's just something that that will continue to work together Like I said, we have a be city certification initiative that we are putting together It is not yet at resolution stage, but it is making its way there So that's something to be aware of and as I mentioned we have a new subcommittee for light pollution And so one of the things we're thinking about doesn't make sense for us to pursue a dark spot dark sky place Certification it may it may not but that's something that may be a conversation that we're hoping to have or Some input that we're looking for from our council the So I mentioned how difficult communication is for us And I would love to have a solution The only solution that I have and I'm open to hearing other ideas from from folks on the council or what other boards or Commissions have done to to bridge this gap One of the issues that we have in our email communication is that we are all private Residents and we're just using our personal email accounts to talk to each other and to receive the agendas and all that One thing that would improve our ability to communicate is if we had publicly accessible email addresses that the city or whomever could Gain access to if they needed to for any sort of transparency if the environmental commissioners each had commissioner email addresses through the city that would allow us to communicate directly with each other and Well, that's my impression that it would but I may be wrong on that but basically what I would love is if there is a way that we can create a more level of transparency in our exchanges that allow us to Be able to communicate in small groups or in large groups about non voting issues But just building out materials working through decision-making So we would love to hear any solutions for how to how to bridge that difficulty because like I said, it's a it's a tough one And the last thing we just invite you to join us at our meetings to bring up ideas. You have questions things like that So that is where we're at. This is our wonderful Commission tomorrow is World Environment Day Which is a that's meant to raise awareness about how we all engage with our environment how we can protect it So I invite you to celebrate that as well as honoring some of the other themes throughout the month and throughout the days to come But thank you. Thank you for letting me share Thank you for letting me use all my time and I'm happy to hear your questions We have some folks from the Commission here, too. But again, thank you Great. Thank you I'll ask are there councilmember questions and then acknowledge that I'm pretty sure that councilmember Rollo online has a question if we want to bring the Presentation down and there we go. Councilmember Rollo. Go ahead. Yeah. Thank you Thank you Chair Commissioner Albright. I really appreciate your presentation. I was once on the environmental Commission, but I Joined about 30 years ago when Mike Litwin did actually and I have a great deal of respect for you and your commissioners and The role you play all commissions are important. You have a very unique role very important role I'll commit to working on the communication problem I think it's absolutely essential that you be able to do your work and communicate amongst each other for the environment of Bloomington But I had a question about I I read in the in the report that the ECPC Otherwise known as the Environmental Commission planning committee Issued a just a single report this year and is not anticipating further reports Could you explain why that that is the case sure and I might invite our liaison to talk to that a little bit more but Two different there are two different parts to that one is the the change in the need for those memos simply because so much about the city ordinances have changed over the years where the protections and the memos may not be as necessary because those those Requirements are built in so that's the good news, but I think the other piece is just understanding that if there is a development or a variance that would need that warrants some environmental Reflection that that would be shared with us, but that it won't be in the same the same way that was so actively done in the past They're just the previous structure of the role Are your is your liaison? Making reports to you regarding development proposals It's our understanding that that will be when relevant or necessary, but we do not have a currently convening ECPC that's not something that has that It it does not sound that that is something that we should expect to see in the future unless it's an extending circumstance and is your return is your intern is it I understand they're moving to Planning and transportation are they are they are you getting another to intern for your purposes? I it's my understanding that the intern is not supporting the EC specifically moving forward So that's also been a change for us because that you in historically the intern has been pretty involved Okay, well I You know, I I think the ECPC is my opinion is a very important committee that would objectively scrutinize development proposals and producing memos for the Planning Commission and for the council in the past and I Think many of those memos have been used Sometimes as conditions of approval sometimes for to improve the petition itself including site inspections of environmental commission members and you know, this has been important for water quality and tree preservation and habitat and climate and all sorts of things So I'm a little dismayed that this is this is a development because I mean these these these measures were big steps forward and the ECPC memory service has been in existence for about 25 years and You know the report the regular reports of the environmental planner or in this case the liaison happened at every meeting For about 30 years and I think the EC has a very important role to play in that regard so I guess I'll just say that I appreciate you telling me A bit about it. I'd like to explore that further. So I'll probably be attending your meetings and speaking to the planning and transportation staff about this I Really appreciate that There's a lot of interest from the commissioners in the ECPC staying in existence and being something that we are actively participating in So there's a lot of interest and so I welcome your visit to our meeting and any conversations that come from them Thank you so much Great. Thank you. We've actually used up our whole report time right now So I'm gonna go ahead and extend just for five minutes right now for additional questions about the Environmental Commission report and then Extend further for the other reports. So do other council members have any questions? can't remember Piedmont Smith Yeah, I just wanted to first of all say that I agree with councilmember Rallo that I'm concerned that the Development petitions are no longer coming to the EC as a matter of course But my question is so in your written report You noted that there's liaisons who attend other government entities like because friends of Lake Monroe, etc and the MC Iris the invasive species group It says Linda Thompson was the liaison to that. Is that so is that something Rachel? Johnson is now doing yeah, I would say that she attends majority of them. Yep. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Good catch 2024 was the Thank you, are there other questions from council members council members who look I just have some clarification about open-door law So that's that's at the state level and so that's really not something that we can impact But even even federal or even government emails are subject to open-door law and so like we in our Government emails operate under the same way that members of the EC Operate under their personal emails and so offering different emails would not solve the problem May I ask if there is a solution that you all have besides gathering in these meetings to know Yeah, I mean I appreciate that Yeah other questions Councilmember Rosemary, it's just answering your question. Thank you for being here I actually was just giving a I was 65 page presentation about open-door law with FAQs like there is there are like you don't have to meet to do every single thing, okay, so you can work on draft documents via email or In Google Drive as long as like everybody isn't in there at the same exact time So but we can talk about it or I mean it doesn't have to be so inefficient There I think there are some like major misunderstandings about what can and cannot get done that has slowed things down this term but We can work on it. Thank you. I really appreciate that. That sounds like a great improvement already Other questions Okay, great. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your presentation Our next report is planning and transportation department and Let's go ahead Director Hittle, do you know how long your presentation is gonna be roughly? Oh Ten minutes or less. Okay, great. Let's go ahead and and Give us Maybe 15 minutes from now and then I'll extend again for the tax abatement Thank you. If you want to officially introduce yourself for the record, that'd be great. Thank you David Hill director of the Department of Planning and Transportation. Good evening. Thank you President Stossberg for the invitation to speak tonight So I'm here to talk about potential UDO amendments relative specifically to housing attainability If you'll recall in March of this year council members Flaherty and Rosenberger both brought resolutions to the council Which if approved would have directed my department to craft UDO amendment language pertaining to a variety of things among them minimum parking requirements accessory dwelling units required lot size plexus sustainable building practices and a few others Those resolutions did not advance but I think that there was clear value in the ideas brought to the table my sense in speaking with counselors and with the mayor and the mayor's administration and my department in the time afterward is that there's Consensus on that fact and that there is good merit and a good reason to continue continue to explore those ideas The the addition is that that should be done with a rigorous public vetting a public process with public engagement And that there should be a very close look at how those ideas if implemented might impact Bloomington specifically Those are those are tasks that are not necessarily within the wheelhouse of the council, you know large public engagement campaigns and Sort of really directed focused longer-term research. So that's what we do and then that's why we're here tonight to talk about these particular Amendments amendments like them and in general policy involving attainable housing So the issue that I think those particular amendments we're seeking to address is Bloomington's lack of attainable housing not a problem. That's unique to Bloomington. In fact, it's pretty common anywhere You have a place where people want to live But as we considered it and talked about it, we thought that in addition to those particular proposed UDO amendments Which were really not at the time proposed amendments They were a directive to craft proposed amendments But in addition to those UDO amendments those ideas there are additional ideas I think in the UDO that merit consideration and even beyond the UDO housing policy that the city's involved with that I think should be and could be looked at to increase our opportunity to to to find a way towards Attainable housing so we have a project and that's this to look at how we can Refine Modify amend our housing policies to be able to to work towards attainable housing That project has a purpose that project has a timeline Which I think at this where I stand right now is probably taking us to the end of the year It's maybe a little bit ambitious it may leak into January, but I would say that but if we're looking at deliverables being Language to be brought to the Planning Commission and then ultimately to the to the council I'd like to get that on the agenda for the Planning Commission for their January meeting most most likely So that it would be completed essentially by the end of the year And that project has a scope which is limited it is limited in that There are lots of factors that dictate whether housing is attainable. There is land land scarcity availability There's workforce availability. There's the lending climate. There's the market. There's Workforce and there's the law and here we're looking at just one of those things That's the law the regulatory framework, which in this case is the UDO So it's it's it's impacting one of many things that has an impact on housing attainability But it's the one thing that we have total control over in terms of the people in this room the mayor's administration as well But the UDO is written and maintained and modified and changed solely by this group So that is the thing that you have control over It's also limited in that we're just looking at residential typologies here We're not looking at commercial elements of the ordinance or institutional elements or things along those lines It's very strictly and sort of surgically focused on residential typologies. So this is no overhaul of the UDO This is a more focused look That would be proposed Project also has a toolkit And I kind of use that term a little bit advisably It's we're not coming in really with a prescriptive focus but more initially especially with a listening focus with regards to public engagement a Lot of the good ideas that happen in the world of planning come from outside the world of planning And I think that if we kind of go into these sessions with the public listening and wanting to hear their ideas about Attainable housing their ideas about what will work in their neighborhood. What will maybe work in their neighborhood? What will work in their neighborhood with modifications? Those are very valuable things to hear So we're kind of going into it with more of a listening approach Anyway that that toolkit will include a lot of the things that council members Flaherty and Rosenberger had on their list at the beginning So we're looking at lot dimensions cottage development regulations Modestly scaled which is also known as missing middle or general density housing Which includes ADU's and duplexes triplexes fourplexes on-site parking requirements would be looked at But we'd also be looking at I think other things that are in the UDO But also outside of the UDO such as short-term rental Airbnb regulations that those occupy a pretty good amount of the housing stock in Bloomington right now and those obviously are not for long-term residents State law does preempt a lot of a local jurisdiction's ability to regulate short-term rentals But there are areas where we can exert a little bit of influence on how those those act we can create a registry We can create the need for approval by the Board of Zoning Appeals and under certain circumstances Those are things that the city has not availed themselves of as of the the preemptive law when it was enacted in 2018 so those are things we can look at other things that that that Indiana cities are doing is putting rental caps on subdivisions Not necessarily something that that looks like a great idea off the top of my head But in the spirit of going into this thing and in listening mode and as a potential tool in the toolkit You know, I think that we need to look at all these ideas Further down the line One of the things that we can we can look at this is probably next year of the year after is The opportunity if such exists for certain building code modifications Though those those are conveyed essentially at the state level but we're seeing that cities Working with states across the country even in some circumstances with red states Are enacting building mode building code modifications that make certain types of housing easier to build Involving things like sprinkler requirements single staircase formats We're seeing in Canada in Western Europe The ability to build without restrictions that I think have generally be considered I've been have come to be considered a little bit superfluous. So those are maybe long-term ideas we could consider finally There's a Possibility is to create a catalog of pre-approved in terms of building code in terms of zoning approvals Catalog of housing typologies that would be available for free. These are construction plans to anyone who has a desire to build These are typically Within the realm of missing middle housing these kinds of programs have been put in place and in most famously in South Bend and Kalamazoo and along a number of places in the West Coast and I think that there's Climate could be right here in a number of different ways. I think that I'm speaking a little bit out of turn, but I think that Hopewell presents probably an opportunity to try that as a pilot program Which could then be used throughout the city? So there's a lot to look at As we do research and analysis, we'd be looking at best practices that are in place We'd be looking at peer cities kind of the usual progressive exemplars We'd be looking at like Austin Minneapolis Denver Boulder Seattle Portland a little bit closer to home We'd look at the usual Big Ten cities Ann Arbor and Madison, but I think it's also really important to look at Peer cities that more closely match Bloomington's town gown profile Which is one where it's a very small city nestled against a very large university and that creates its own set of complications and issues that I think those are the things that resonate with people that are Likely to come against some of these ideas in opposition to them and I think it's it's important for us for me for my staff for all of us who make decisions and contribute to the making of decisions not to not to look past that but to acknowledge that and To look deeply into it. So Our you know our Ratio of full-time residents to Student residents the student residents. It's it's almost a two-to-one Difference which is much different than Madison much different than Arbor much different than Iowa City It's more along the lines of some other places we can look at like Manhattan, Kansas Like Pullman, Washington like Corvallis, Oregon So I think if we try to focus in on where things are happening in other places that are more similar to us we can get Some some ideas of how these ideas if implemented would impact us And those that could also go a long way towards allaying fears. I think from people as well Public process wise We're going to reach out to neighborhood organizations They're about 12 to 15 registered neighborhood associations that meet predictably and reliably on a monthly basis And we want to get inside we want to get to them Probably twice probably towards the beginning of the process and then again towards the end There's another dozen maybe 15 neighborhood organizations that meet less predictably and less reliably on a regular basis But tend to get activated when something's happening, and we want to get on their agendas as well We want to meet to the we want to speak and meet with the development community the Chamber of Commerce BEDC We've already actually started conversations with Indiana University We want to learn from them where their off-campus students live and how that has changed over time And they're amenable to that. We they actually have asked us to Coordinate or to collaborate with them on developing a survey to be given to all of their faculty and staff that that asks the essential questions Of you know, where do you live? Do you live in Bloomington? If you don't why not what kinds of things wouldn't would would influence your your ability to move to Bloomington? And we want to have those conversations. Those are they're scheduled with the school district with major employers And additional stakeholders Specifically will utilize in-person and virtual meetings I'd be very eager to come to council constituent meetings and Councilmember daily already has me set up for one of those As well as deliberative sessions and I think I'm scheduled for September for that any other Council initiated or engaged Gatherings where you would like this topic to be brought up and discussed. We'd be very glad to be there Look at targeted roundtables targeted pop-up stations And then a little bit later on in the process will have regular office hours both virtual and in person Where people can just drop in and ask questions about how this is going? At projects closed as I mentioned we're going to deliver a set of policy recommendations Most of them more than likely will be UDO amendments. Some of them might dig into other elements of City code And some of them will just be ideas For policy implementation, but most of them will be UDO amendments for the council's perusal and consideration and review and feedback That closes that I'll mention one thing this is a little bit peripheral but it does have to do with with Housing attainability and its initiative. We're about to undergo Along with CBU City Bloomington utilities. We're going to commission a third party external audit to help us understand Looking at our permitting processes where we can realize better efficiencies where we can Implement best practices that maybe we're not aware of that are in place elsewhere and hopefully streamline the whole process I do know that that it's a complicated process our ordinance is complicated Requires more than most ordinances throughout the state and so to the extent that we can make that process as painless as possible You know, those are those are that that's money time is money And those are savings that can be passed on to the to the ultimate resident of that housing I Think that's all I have So I'd be happy to answer any questions Great. Thank you so much for all of that information and you actually spoke from for longer than you thought you were going to so I'm Gonna extend us another 10 minutes till 750 Because I'm sure that we have councilmember questions. So councilmember is sorry Thank You director Hiddle My questions were about the summit PUD And if there's anything any updates that you can give us about sort of where where that is and what we can do There's a council to keep that in the forefront of our priorities That's really my question as that finished its zoning the developer the principal committed to realizing a road network to and through summit To the to the requirements of the city engineer and those negotiations are happening right now And as they understand they've been pretty fruitful and they're moving along and maybe they're near conclusion I'm not privy to that, but I think that they've gone well, and then I think that they're also negotiating Tiff matters with economic and sustainable development That's pretty much. I don't know more than that. I Could find out more if you're looking for more information. I would love that. Thank you. Okay Thank you councillor Morello Yes, thank you. Thank you director Hiddle you you might have been here when I was just asking easy Commission Chair Albright about the role of the EC in planning processes, I I wondered could you tell me about Your view of the EC's input in in both development review and the UDO UDO process Do you support the Commission and? Various Commission's having input in the process sure I've been here. My understanding is that is that my predecessor? Sort of a best way to put this no longer by Automatic extension provided Information are requested reports from the Environmental Commission for variances, you know cases going easy eight places cases going to the plant Commission maybe with the exception of planned unit developments or larger cases and so that's been the Policy if you will since since I was here. I was under the impression that that kind of coordination Trailed off anyway pretty substantially in the last few years my thought is that where there is a Development proposal that's coming before the Plant Commission or the BZA could be a large one That is substantial and that would require the expertise of the Environmental Commission that we would pull them in our review for Variances for rezoning's is all very much ordinance driven So to the extent that environmental considerations are to be taken into account by our planners as they give their recommendations That's driven by the ordinance and so they're not at liberty to ask for anything additional or beyond What the ordinance allows them to ask for? Pudds are different. Those are by nature and by my code their negotiation. So there's a lot of different. There's a lot of leeway there so Yeah, I think I think that's that's sort of where I stand on it if there's interest in talking further about that I'd be very glad to Yeah, I'd like to I mean I'm not in any position and I'm not I'm not making a case for directing the Commission to do This or that but just simply that their input would be welcome in the process and that if they Were interested that Then I'm planning a transportation You know be willing to present Development petitions to them so they could have input especially ones that you know, of course have environmental You know implications So I'd be glad to talk more about that with you and with Ms. Albright and the Commission Terrific because sometimes we're on the receiving end the council. I Might be looking for a memo from the Environmental Commission about a particular development and It's always helpful. So thank you for your willingness to talk more about that. Certainly Thank you. Are there other questions from council members? Councilmember Piedmont Smith Yes, thank you. Mr. Hill for these updates how will you in the in the public process That you're intending to go through to consider Changes to make housing more attainable. How will you engage renters in that process because they normally are not very active or prevalent in neighborhood associations Well, we're going to be working with hand and and probably look for some guidance there Also from the community and family resources department. We're meeting with some Advocacy groups the apartment association and Others that I think might have guidance there as well The goal is is to have a broad reach to cast a white net. So I Guess that's probably the extent of my answer now but Very much want to come out at the end having heard from a lot of renters and so we will figure out a way to do that Okay, just a caution that in my long experience Those who are active in neighborhood associations tend to be more wealthy and tend to be property owners And so it is skewed a certain direction. Yes, that's that's known and understood Thank you councilmember Flaherty, thank you. I had a similar question, but I think I can explore some other topics So You referenced two resolutions that weren't, you know brought on the council agenda, but not introduced earlier this year Those were two of four resolutions and actually five distinct bodies of work that were collaborative with your staff over the course of a year Involving the mayor at the deputy mayor many meetings many emails two of those resolutions were brought by my colleagues councilmember Stasberg and Piedmont Smith late last year. They passed without incident Your staff developed with no public input as far as I'm aware A series of UDO changes that are making their way to us right now and then these additional two resolutions were developed again in deep collaboration with your staff with the mayor's knowledge even though Statements were made later that she didn't know about it, which was false And we're going to direct a public process from the council side to look at policy not in a vacuum But based on comprehensive plan plan climate action plan and other existing city policies Which had thousands of people providing input over many years in many sessions And I didn't hear any reference to existing city policy in your comments here about where we proceed. So I guess I'm curious Knowing I guess I'm sharing that context. I think it's important for the public Because again misinformation of false statements were made about how these things were perceived previously And so I got to say I'm just starting from kind of a lack of trust here That's gonna undermine what the administration is working on. I will try to suspend that but the mayor's actions have consequences I think and she's really done a lot to undermine that trust Through obstructing work and again making false statements about it So moving on from that again, I'd like to ask the question How does existing city policy the comprehensive plan climate action plan the resolution I introduced sought to implement? Adopted actions in the climate action plan. How are those going to inform the policy development as well? Thank you Well, those are those are The core documents they were obligated to pay regard to as we as we Move forward with things like this and so so they're at the center I think the fact that the resolutions that you introduced did not get off the ground I think is because There was a desire for a public process to be attached to those ideas I think I don't think that the content was objected to so much as the the lack of a public engagement plan in the wake of You know the 2019-20 rezoning where Plexus were Denied in the 2021 again hotly contested where Plexus were allowed incrementally I think just Awareness of the anticipated public reaction to this Necessitates that there be this very robust outreach to the public So certainly it's definitely a given And I think well documented that our comprehensive plan that our climate action plan and that Other documents that have been adopted do favor The the development of diverse types of housing and housing that it's going to be able to cater to lots of different people But again it didn't happen when you brought it forward the first time I think this is a way that it can happen Thank you two minor points of clarification. One is that the council resolutions would direct a public process So that was always envisioned there would be deep public process and that was communicated at the time Second is that the resolution that I individually sponsored did not involve any sort of missing middle housing duplexes triplexes Etc strictly climate action plan implementation. So thank you for this clarifications. Thank you Thank you. Are there other councilmember questions? Councilmember Rosenberger. Hi. Thanks director Hiddle timeline on this I know you and I have spoken about it that you think it can get done by the end of this year but just wanted to get that out there and You know, is that still correct public? Participation happening at the end of the summer or something and I mean, of course you mentioned it But it's just so urgently needed. So still the end of the year Yeah I think it's ambitious when we first started talking about this at the time of that council meeting Which is, you know early spring I do remember saying That we can get it done by the end of the year and now here we are a couple months later Almost halfway through the year. It feels a little bit more constrained, but I think it's it's a reasonable a reasonable shot That's awesome. I think you know, we're a year and a half into this term and so far we really haven't made it I mean, we've made like zero progress toward our Changing our housing policy. So I do I I would love to have something done By the halfway point, I guess Just feels like we're spinning our wheels. So that's that's great. Thank you. Thank you Thank you. Are there other councilmember comments or questions? councilmember Piedmont Smith Yeah, just to speak a bit to the timeline I as council president last year I met with mayor Thompson Monthly or nearly monthly and I think it was in October We met to talk about some of these ideas about creating more attainable housing and she said she would talk to director Hiddle and possibly have Public engagement before the end of 2024 or an early 2025 So I just want to emphasize that you know We've we've been trying to get this public engagement for quite a while now. And so it has been somewhat frustrating Thank you any other councilmember comments or questions, okay, I I Thank you very much for the information and thank you for for coming I don't have a direct question right now except that at my constituent meeting which is July 19th That is planning and transportation that is supposed to be at the mayor's tent So I hope that that I can join you there And I assume that this may be a topic of conversation that a lot of community members might be it might be interested in talking to us about so I look forward to that and I look forward to To progress being made in this sector So unless there are other questions, thank you very much for your report and Now we will move on to our last of our three reports and we are right at 750 right now Mistela Rosa, do you have any idea how long your presentation part is gonna take? I'm hoping for around 15 minutes. Okay, and then Director Cooper Smith will also be giving a report on the pilots which will be five to seven minutes. Well, the pilots will be under Legislation, right? I'm sorry. The pilots will be under Legislation, right? Or is it different? No, this is a review that'll be this section of the pilots is a review of EDC activity for 2024. So it's a very brief overview. Okay. Um, let's extend reports then until 815 I think that you think that'll work We'll see how many questions we have after that So anyway, if you could introduce yourself for the record and I appreciate everybody's casualness this evening about reports for sure My name is Andrea de la Rosa. I'm the assistant director for small business development in economic and sustainable development department This is the 2024 tax payment compliance report and we'll summarize the EDC's activity We'll quickly cover the summary of tax of the tax abatement program economic impact of tax abatements and review active pilots The Economic Development Commission unanimously unanimously approved this report on May 20th to keep the presentation within our time frame omit the overview section But I left slides in the deck for public reference. So the addendum that everyone got this afternoon will have these exact slides So what is a tax abatement a tax payment temporarily reduces taxes on new investment either real property or personal property It applies only to the increment, which is the increased assessed the increase in assessed value due to the project The property's original value continues to be taxed Projects must be located in a designated economic revitalization area some residential projects also require designation as and as an economic development target area Approval involves review by city staff and the EDC with final designation and authorization by the common council through a public process How abatements work most abatements last one to ten years and fall and and Follow a sliding scale personal property abatements can go up to 20 years State law allows for alternative schedules if justified by the project Each Application includes an SB one form which sets a baseline which says baseline projections for investment assessed value job creation and wages We also weigh community focus goals like affordable housing sustainability full-time employment and contributions to local character Projects are monitored annually through CF one filings Staff evaluates actual performance against SB one commitments projects are classified as compliant substantially compliant non-compliant and Departments like hand also review specific commitments like affordable housing Right next to me So The overall economic review of or I'm sorry the overall economic impact of the new real and personal property investment 536 million in proposed investment 227 million in actual investment assessed value increased from 170 million to 255 million exceeding expectations this increase meets the but for standard these gains would have occurred Wouldn't have occurred without the abatements As far as jobs projects reported 3692 total jobs and 317 million in salaries while some fell short of job targets several exceeded wage projections indicating fewer But higher paying jobs, for example, Wolverine mill created 60 new jobs exceeding its target of four forty five with average full-time wages around $41,000 Affordable housing incomes abatements also supported deeply affordable housing new urban station Had 11 affordable units at 28 percent AMI with a hundred percent occupancy Southern Noel had 31 units at 52 percent AMI with 87 percent occupancy and unit Crescent has 117 units designated as affordable 74 currently occupied at 64 percent These projects show how abatements are leveraged to expand housing access Southern Oles in its six year of abatement exceeding investment job and wage commitments Assessed value is a hundred and thirty percent of its SB 1 projection 24 units serve households at or below 60 percent AMI and staff recommends finding compliance for this project Union at Crescent is 160 or 146 unit mixed income development with a hundred and two units committed as affordable at 60 percent AMI only 74 units of The committed 102 are currently occupied equating to 64 percent occupancy This has met this abatement has met investment in wage goals It's undergoing reading remediation efforts and staff recommends a finding of non-compliance due the shortfall in occupancy Urban Station exceeded investment commitments fell short unemployment, but retained wages above the proposed SB 1 Provided 17 rooms at or below 80 percent AMI exceeding their commitment 100% occupancy of affordable units staff recommends a finding of substantially compliant Wolverine mill is a historic mill redeveloped on top road reported four hundred point three. I'm sorry four million point three in real estate Investment towards six million door to six million commitment phase one is completed Which is the event space and phase two condo hotel or have been delayed by market conditions Overall, it's created 60 jobs versus the 45 projected full and part-time salaries met or exceeded original goals Assessed value is currently at three point nine million I'm sorry three point zero nine million and on track to on track relative to develop developmental stage Staff recommends finding of substantially compliant So the Cadillac Abatement, it's actually three abatements and it's a lot of information So I'm gonna blow through this pretty quick. Please stop me if something does not make sense Oh Looks great Kind of it holds three active abatements now under novo Nordisk following a late acquisition in I'm sorry an acquisition in late 2024 Because the sale closed on December 26. No new jobs or capital investments were added last year However, the company did report strong salary and employment data based on inherit inherited operations 1506 for personal property 1904 and 2206 for both real and personal property are the abatements held Resolution 1506 and 1904 exceed investment and salary targets Resolution 2206 early in implementation with investment underway. We find substantially or we recommend a stanchion substantially compliant Cf-1 filings reflected at reflect aggregate employment across all states all sites across all three resolutions Catalan consistently reported a total year-end headcount of one thousand eight hundred and eleven employees This slide compares projected and reported salary outcomes for resolve for all resolutions based on CF one filings The projected sales. I'm sorry projected salaries equal to 91.4 million actual reported salaries at 157 million projected average wage was 55,000 and the actual average wage was eighty six eight hundred and eighty one thousand dollars and these are for resolutions 1506 and 1904 For resolution 2206 projected salary was 262 point eight million and actual reported was 170 157 point three million Staff recommends compliance for 1506 1904 and substantial compliance for 2206 with continued monitoring Real America's project at switch yard park is under construction but delayed due to site development issues The project is expected to come online later this year Staff is is tracking milestones and no compliance determination is yet required We're also monitoring for pilots and director Cooper Smith will present those So as miss de la Rosa mentioned we have pilots that we're adding to our annual abatement Compliance review process we have two active pilots. The first is evergreen village. It's a hundred and fifteen unit residential care facility for residents at sixty percent AMI or below Right now this year. We're just monitoring that the payment was received country view is Pilot that was approved in 2022 the term is 30 years It's two hundred and six units for residents at sixty percent AMI and below at the time I submitted this report. The payment was not yet received We've been working with Glick properties to try to understand what happened. So they have paid their payment and via their mortgage company Via their escrow process and so that wasn't received yet by the controller's office We think maybe it was misdirected to the county, but we're working with the county and Glick to iron that out There's no concern that they're non-compliant. We have proof of payment on their end. So That's fine. And then just as a placeholder. I listed the two pilots that we're considering this evening Obviously, those are not approved yet But it's maybe helpful to look at those terms next to the terms of the two extant pilots And that's all I have to say on pilots and I think miss de la Rosa and I would be happy to receive Questions that you have at this time Great thank you so much and just to clarify for I think council and the public and for myself with our Council attorney and also with you guys Tonight, we're not taking any action on this information, correct? So we're not actually voting to approve compliance or non-compliance. We're just receiving the information and asking questions Is that correct attorney liner? That's correct. Okay. Thank you very much for that clarification Do council members have any questions about this report councilmember Piedmont Smith Yes, thank you to both of you for gathering this information preparing the report so Ms. De La Rosa said For that slide that says economic impact of tax abatements one of the early slides. I believe you said that This shows the projects met the but for criteria Meaning that they wouldn't have been undertaken but for the tax abatement. Could you explain how this chart? gives evidence of that I Yeah, I think the slide deck would be helpful That should be slide 11 I Know you're close. Oh go forward one One more back there you go. Oh this one Yes, okay So Sorry Yeah, this this slide actually doesn't show the but for it is just show it shows the impact of this however We give abatements as About for so if we weren't to if we weren't able to give an abatement for certain projects, they would not exist maybe My phrasing was off when I said that but this shows the impact of all of these different types of abatements that we have So, how do you gauge the but for when you bring forward an abatement How do you know that it wouldn't be built if it didn't get an abatement? I Think this is an Evaluation that happens with input from multiple departments and really is looking at the overall financial picture of the project And you know, I think there's There because there comes a point in the consideration of council where you have to listen to the applicant and then determine For yourselves there is there is a bit of a risk that you're taking there, right? So if you decline if you deny an abatement and the development doesn't happen There's evidence if you approve an abatement And development happens. There's evidence that it's supported. I don't think we've denied an abatement and had development which would prove a false but for So I think that when you I think we do the analysis we do as much evaluation as we can and then we have to Walk up to the point where council is voting and there is a certain amount of risk there Okay, thank you I have other questions, but I'll wait Okay, I saw councilmember Rallo's hand up. Can't remember Rallo. Do you have a question? Yes, I do thank you for the presentation So referring to resolution, this is the Catalan topic and resolution 2206 So they failed to achieve the employment that was anticipated And I didn't see a recommendation. Maybe I missed it of staff on whether the compliance is met or not Is that is that something that's in process or what? So I can provide some context on this one So 2206 was approved in 2022 obviously and it had a significant capital investment component and then the jobs promised I think were 790 so there are two Factors with the compliance one is they have a three-year window to become compliant with those jobs numbers so technically they're still in the on-ramp period from the time in which that abatement was activated and then the second factor and this is something that you should Consider when thinking through the abatement report writ large the second factor is whether whether The inability to achieve a goal is within the company's power, so if there were causes Outside of the Companies, I'm sorry. I'm just restating that in a different order But you know what? I mean if it's outside of their control, then we can't hold the abatement We can't withhold it for that reason so at this time with 2206 That abatement wait wait, could you could you or could you is it just your discretion? No, it's stated in the code Hmm, and then I don't know if it's restated in our mo use as well, but it's very clearly stated in the code Okay, and so then I think what how that would play out is if you wanted to withhold approval of an abatement The company would have a hearing and would be able to make the case and I imagine at that time There would be discussion about whether the factors were inside or outside of the company's control. I See. Okay. Thanks for clarifying that and just briefly So if a company requires another one like Nova or Nordisk acquired cantalant does the Does the baby carryover does the obligation and and the benefits carry? Yes. Yeah, so this was the purchase of cantalant by Nova was an asset purchase and so they did the abatements will transfer and with them I think the The milestones will transfer as well But but again, it's been an interesting journey, so I think what I started to say was that 2206 was approved during the height of the Defense Production Act. There was massive effort to scale up production at the site for COVID vaccine manufacturing and We know that what happened was demand completely bottomed out of the market and really changed the Volume required at that site and so they did have subsequent. I think two or three rounds of rifts after that And it was definitely not the trajectory that we thought we were on at the beginning. Nevertheless, they've really met those capital investment requirements and We feel very optimistic about no those purchase of the site We can already tell through bi-weekly meetings with the company that they're deeply engaged. They have major climate and sustainability priorities for their global operations, but also for the site and Bloomington and so I Think it will be a good news story likely when we come back for this report next year But we'll just have to wait and see what the numbers are Well, thank you I had another brief one but I could wait Okay. Thank you. Yeah, let's see if there's other questions on first round before we moved to second round Okay I have a question about For first round about the union at Crescent vacancies. So does this mean I mean, oh shoot I had it. So if it's a hundred and forty six unit property and There Where is it it's a hundred and forty six units and then They have over 60 units vacant right now, I mean are they just this property like that empty really Yes, do you know why people are not living in those units at all? They are Just to get additional information about these questions before putting the presentation together they responded that The annex group which was the original developer but not the property manager took the property over later last year and Has stated that they're on a remediation plan But that site security issues and property damage are really what are driving down Occupancy, I know not to put her on the spot but housing and neighborhood development director Anna Killian Hansen is here She may have additional context but what I am Reporting to you is strictly how they responded to our inquiry regarding the tax abatement Okay, great, thank you Second round questions councilmember Piedmont Smith. Yes. I have some questions about urban station. So In the the chart In your slide presentation you have that the commitment for employment was 10 jobs and they report for As far as retained employment and then for new employment the SB one promised five jobs and the CF1 shows only two so I'm struggling to see how this is substantial Substantial compliance if there's only 40% of the jobs so promised the way that we have interpreted this SB 1 filing is Well, we first of all just reported the data that's in the SB 1 the affordable housing abatements are always a little challenging to Address in the compliance process. So the state empowers us to issue or empowers you to issue tax abatements and Requires that we handle compliance through the SB 1 and CF 1 process However, the CF ones do not account for affordable housing in any way so on the staff level when we're handling these abatements we We look to the SB 1 and CF 1 for jobs data. We work with housing and neighborhood development for housing data my Interpretation of this abatement is that is primarily an affordable housing debate abatement and that the jobs Were required but we're really not the thing that was the most important so the council may or may not agree with that and I think You know, we're giving you our best read and that's the context I See thank you. Yeah Thank you Since I know councilmember Rallo has a round two and I know that I do as well Let's go ahead and extend this till 825 councilmember Rallo around to Yeah, just briefly I'm just curious about this because Of what was stated. So this is not necessarily a reflection on these particular abatements, but So assuming an abatement occur occurs or an acquisition occurs and the abatement is acquired by Say one corporation by another and All the benefits that come with it is that somewhat problematic because you know when corporation could have a different record than another and the one that's The acquiring entity would be I think I don't know May not have gotten the abatement had it come forward originally Is that something that we have to be concerned about? Which was how this was handled it is allowable to purchase the tax incentive to purchase that abatement So I think in this situation whether it's easy or difficult for the purchaser whether it's advisable for the purchaser is is kind of a discussion that's a part but whether it's legal and Whether it is being whether the terms of the mo you are being conformed to is really where our activity Belongs I See so as long as they meet the conditions There's nothing really that we can we can do to limit no I mean, I think going forward if you if the council decided hey, we really want to issue an abatement to company a But if company a sells and we are not open to extending that abatement to company B or C then you might include something like that in a In a termination clause in the mo you but the stat state statute Allows it it doesn't It doesn't limit it in any way If it's an asset transfer, so I think how we handle it in the mo you on the local level otherwise for us It's it's legal. And so therefore does it comply? Okay, I think I've got that I'd like to research some more this is the first one I've encountered so Like this. So thank you. Well, actually I don't know if you were on council then but when Cattiland purchased the site from cook We went through the same thing. Yeah, you're right. You're right stand corrected. Thank you Thank you, um, I I also had a question about the Woolery mill one Because in the development status that says that phase one is completed and that phase two has been delayed given market pressures And I couldn't tell I mean it it looks like it's just commercial in terms of the Requirements as opposed to phase two has like condos and hotels has a residential component to it to some degree but so I guess like my question is is there a timeline on phase two for that development but then I guess that the other piece of that question is Does the abatement depend on phase two? so The property the project was originally I'm just stating this to help us enter into the logic puzzle together So the property was originally configured in two phases phase one was the renovation of the Woolery mill and the creation of that event center Phase two was planned to be You know a condo development at one point It was considered it was being considered as a hotel development in the open field kind of where tap and Weimer meet Phase two had some stops and starts and ultimately hasn't moved forward the abatement The way it's structured if there's no increase in assessed value on that parcel, then we're not We're not abating what doesn't exist so we have approved the phase one investments and we Are honoring that or we're recommending that that part of the abatement be honored and then the phase two They're allowed to claim an abatement at this point on additional investments, but they haven't made those Investments and so it hasn't been activated Okay, I think I may understand that a lot of the abatements have Multiple layers according to when the capital investments are made. So if you approve an abatement for 100 million dollars, but which whatever that's just our number But and you spend 50 million in year one 25 in year two 25 in year three then that abatement would come to us with With different layers being abated at different times and having them different lifespans when they roll off So it's almost like a phase in sort of process depending on when the investment happens. Okay, great. Thank you Are there other councilmember questions? Councilmember Piedmont Smith this one should be pretty easy Um Do we write the following into our tax abatement mo use first of all compliance with living wage ordinance for employment and secondly actual occupancy of residential units so interesting questions Occupancy has not been written into the mo use so at this time the abatements that exist we've only written in the creation of those units and not the occupancy so That was a point of ambiguity with the union at Crescent abatement miss de la Rosa and I felt uncomfortable enough Giving recommending substantial compliance that we felt it was better to turn it over to you all to get additional information and discuss but that was kind of one of the Hint points that it hinged on and then your second question was the living wage ordinance and it it was It is not in all of them and we have been discussing this on a staff level going forward How that should be reflected in the mo in the mo use and miss Brittingham is here I don't know if you want a more detailed answer than that. She can probably provide it as the attorney who's been supporting this I Sure, but before you leave the podium so on the first Question of occupancy will that be written in the future since we've had this problem. Yeah Hi Audrey Brittingham city attorney so tax abatements are subject to the living wage ordinance It appears that a lot of the agreements Have that language in them and it appears that some of them don't Over your recess we are going to reach out to all of them and ask if they would complete a living wage certification form the ones that For the the companies that have the living wage Language in their agreement. They're required to complete the certification form every year for the ones that don't have the Language in their agreement. We'll still contact them and say this is what the living wage is tax abatements are subject to it You know, we would like for you to complete the certification form the living wage this year is 1622 an hour We have not really had any pushback on the living wage Since I took over or since I started with the city about a couple years ago. I was working on the living wage I haven't received any pushback yet. We will see if we receive pushback from any of these Entities particularly the ones that don't have that language in their agreement and we can bring that information to you at the July meeting We hope to have all or substantially all of the certifications returned before the July meeting All right. Thank you so much for following up on that. I mean, it's not a very high wage So I don't think anybody should complain a great counselor Thank you, are there any other questions on the abatement report from council members? Okay, thank you. Thank you very much for being here both of you all three of you and as I said earlier council will have to take action on recommendations and compliance or non-compliance at our July 16th meeting We spend a lot of time Pouring over the details and so it's appreciated that you guys get into the weeds and ask these questions. So it's welcome. Sure. Thank you All right The report section has been unusually long this evening And I hope that people have found it interesting. There's been a lot of things to report on So now we are finally through the mayor and city offices reports and now we are on to council committee reports And we are going to start with the sidewalk committee reports We will first hear from the chair of that committee a councilmember Rosenberger. Great. Hi. Thank you. So I have I Don't know. I couldn't I couldn't make this longer or shorter. I'm gonna go with shorter and All the information is in the packet So if folks have questions and you want a whole debrief of all of it, I guess let me know I'm not gonna go through the purpose of the sidewalk committee. If you would like to see that, please check out last year's report our council meeting So this year was different. We met in April the sidewalk committee There are four of us and instead of a three hundred and fifty thousand dollar budget. We have a five hundred thousand dollar budget and We made a series of recommendations that we hopefully will Vote on tonight. So I'm just gonna get right into those recommendations Everyone looks happy one thumbs up and everyone else neutral. Okay, so My font is so tiny here. Okay, so I will say in the past just a quick debrief we have used a rubric for Deciding how these funds will be allocated now that we have our safe streets for all priority network We are using that that network for the recommendations for the sidewalk committee and so that network it the the formula for that high priority safe streets for all network is in the packet as well and As everyone knows I think the safe streets for all plan has been adopted into our city goals in the transportation plan So these recommendations are just pretty much baby steps toward our safe streets for all and transportation plan goals so the first Project that we are recommending It's for an in progress Project and it is sidewalk construction for North Jefferson Street sidewalk. That is that Street is just East of campus so kind of on the east side of Eigenman and everything like that a pretty big corridor for pedestrians and missing sidewalk, so this would be doing 70,000 to partially fund construction of that sidewalk from 8th Street to 10th Street. It is a missing sidewalk link funding for new sidewalk projects The first one is a North Union Street crosswalk between 7th and 10th Street This isn't a similar location. It's between Eigenman and Ashton dorms It's where a lot of folks choose to cross the street, but there is no crosswalk there to Hopefully potentially cross in a safer way with drivers It's a really long few blocks there between 7th and 10th that there is no place for people to cross so that would be We recommend 40,000 to fund the design of that and that is on the highest priority network in the safe streets for all Another Let me see. Oh That is 90,000. I'm sorry about that you all that is $90,000 and then another new sidewalk project is to design a north fee lane crosswalk and that is at Law Lane and Around the briscoe dorm. So that would be 40,000 to design that Crosswalk, yeah The issue is there's a bus stop going north on the north side of the street and there's no Crosswalk for students to get to their dorm that is on the west side of the street and it's a place with a lot of vehicle traffic and bike ped traffic and so then the law lane Crosswalk would be an improvement. That's where a law lane tees into fee lane and I Think there are no crosswalks there. So it's kind of a Chaotic Chaotic space for bike ped and drivers Okay, and then the biggest portion of these dollars this time it would be what we are recommending is $2,000 allocated to repaving coordination projects so this committee has talked a lot about kind of getting maybe like a bigger bang for the buck in terms of doing projects that are Already potentially in place whether it's planning and transportation engineering or public works. And so there are a lot of Crosswalks and little connectors that could be redone while public works is repaving and Sidewalks like crosswalks are a part of sidewalks Right and crosswalks are the the most dangerous part of a pedestrian's journey So having proper signage and paint and everything like that and bump outs is really important so one of those examples about like a coordinated project would be 4th Street and Madison Street where they just had some repaving and then also added bump outs to all four corners of that intersection this committee plans to meet again sometime in 2025 to discuss big topics such as What will or should happen to the sidewalk committee moving forward? What should be council's role in sidewalks and the alternative transportation fund? What is the role of public works in this committee? and we are happy to discuss that as a sidewalk committee and bring it back to council or Also potentially may be having it as one of our deliberative sessions if people are so interested Thank you. Great. Thank you. Are there councilmember questions for sidewalk committee? Any questions from anybody for the sidewalk committee? Okay, well I have questions on the update on the 2024 allocations last year, there was Last year there was a $30,000 advocated to Green Acres traffic calming and and actually it looks like there was there's a different Pretty big difference between the allocation and what was spent and so it says that the remaining funds Have been transferred back into the alternative transportation fund But I'm really curious as to what actually happened with those funds, if you know and then specifically what happened to that $30,000 that was supposed to be for Green Acres traffic calming because there was I don't know if you know the answer to this or not But there there was actually a resident led traffic calming request in Green Acres that then didn't get funded and so then it kind of feels like as the district 3 representative I Kind of want to be like hey, what's what's going on with that? $30,000 that could have been spent on that project. Yes So if you remember last year that that traffic calming was added as part of our Sidewalk committee budget right because there were so many traffic calming requests and we decided to kind of do an additional funding of one of them and The bike pad coordinator says in 2024 so basically there's actually $96,000 a little over that that did not get used from the council sidewalk committees budget in the in the fund, but of course the fund is a lot bigger than just us so $1,000 basically, it's kind of neat. Usually bids come in and they're much more than we had imagined But in 2024 bids came in lower than we had imagined and the Green Acres traffic calming Was positioned last on the priority list that we made for the funding from the council sidewalk committee So by the time the funds came in or the bids came in for all the projects that were ahead of it in the prior and our priority list The year was over and they could not get Public engagement and everything done and I get that those dollars out allocated so they reverted back to the AF the ATF and so, I mean so that is like my general answer to that it gets a little harder to be like then where did they go because They didn't they right they got They were reverted back at the very end of 2024. So then you could say they got Potentially moved into 2025 with the ATF, but not they did not stay with council sidewalk committee also because Planning and transportation we talked about it and it made more sense for it to Go back to the general ATF instead of our specific sidewalk committee So they could potentially still use it where we would have to meet again and it would take even longer To get something else in the works. So the controller's office would have to figure out where kind of like that money went If you want to get more specific about it Okay, thank you welcome Any other questions or comments about the sidewalk I have another comment if nobody else has one I'll take another comment then This is I guess a comment and I'm really glad that you guys are meeting again to talk about some sidewalk committee stuff because the fact that the majority of these funds are Kind of allocated in a very general way to the street projects and coordination with public works. Just I mean That is just a really really interesting that part of having this money kind of in council's purview is for council Members to be able to make decisions about it And then the majority of that just went back to the administration for them to be able to make decisions about it and I'm not saying that I necessarily have a problem with that, but I just there's there's a lot of work that we that we could be doing and I I just don't think that we necessarily need to spin our wheels in that kind of way in terms of getting money allocated to a council committee and then Giving that money back to departments to spend in whatever way. So I'll just kind of throw that out there as And an opinion about sidewalk committee funds, I Don't know if that's a question but I'll answer that question. Um, I think that is obviously a perspective and you know, I think folks on the committee have a Discussed a little bit whether or not they want really specific projects or not But when we look at things like equity and like our city goals We there there really are like prescribed ways to use this money and so I mean we do have our safe streets for all plan and From my perspective, I mean when I'm just one committee member but to go outside of that plan and say well This is where right the city and experts and residents are saying we need our network to be but to put it somewhere out Put funding somewhere else to me. That's just lower priority Like pretty much factually because of the work that has already been done to get this connected sidewalk network So I think it is just sort of you know, the the sidewalk committee started in the 1990s and it really kind of was more of a It really seemed a little more like council members saying hey Why don't we put something here and there wasn't a lot of rhyme or rhythm to it? and I think what I've worked on on this committee since I Started on it was to have more equity and more priority and more match up with our city goals Thanks I support that. I guess I want to be clear about that. Yeah, thanks And it is tricky to to say like well if we're giving this money kind of and working with it with public works and planning Does this mean there's less? Right. I mean there's always just such a funding problem and it's like so does this mean It looks like there's less overall because now public works can spend that money on something else or does this mean it's like in addition to Right the fund. I know it's hard. It's hard to explain right, but it's hard to like track money. Yeah Are we gonna end up with a report at some point about which of those repaving coordination projects ended up getting Expanded or improved and in these ways with this probably the bike ped coordinator Well, yeah, because we always get an update on The how the projects went for how they're going. Yeah, that would be great. Thank you Did anybody else think of any other questions besides me about this councilmember Rallo Oh Thanks, I just wanted to give another perspective and that was That when the when the sidewalk committee when the fund was set up and the sidewalk committee would meet it was It served to a larger specs for a conduit for neighborhoods to bring to Council's attention where there's there were deficiencies in connectivity where they saw priorities being in terms of You know where where they needed pedestrian Facilities and so it wasn't just a haphazard Process it was brought to us because it was brought to us by people who were actually You know living in a place where they felt it was hazardous. They didn't have the means to cross the street or walk along a street and the connectivity went unnoticed by planners because it's just You know the city is large and it's complicated and the people who actually live there and Understood what was needed. So I just wanted to add that Thanks Thank you Are there any other councilmember comments or questions? Alright Yeah, yeah, my next thing then is if there are no more other other comments or questions that I'm looking for a motion to approve the Boy I guess I didn't write this one out. I guess it's to approve the report and the recommendations for funding Great. So a motion to approve the funding recommendations as presented by the sidewalk committee. So do I have such a motion? So moved Second Thank you very much Any last comments Councilor Piedmont Smith. Well, just to say I'm looking forward to additional conversations about the sidewalk fund and the the most effective and efficient use of the funds and with council input but also following our safe streets for all plan and that there There are some items that are unclear in in the report and I think we'll seek to get more clarity in the coming months Great. Thank you other comments Yes Will the clerk please call the roll on the motion to approve the recommendations in the sidewalk committee report councilmember Flaherty Yay, Ruff. Yeah, Rallo Yes, Piedmont Smith Yes, Stossberg. Yes, Daly. Yes, Zulek. Yay, Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry. Yay. Thanks Thank you, and and that passes with a vote of 9-0 Next we have a report from the Jack Hopkins committee and just to be really clear We also have have a resolution later with the Jack Hopkins committee. And so the report and the resolution The the general report and the funding recommendations do need to be dealt with separately this evening. Thank you Well, thank you all so much for letting me speak in this marathon of reports Tonight and thank you to the public who've been here. I mean it is almost nine o'clock And I am very much eagerly looking forward to public comment. So I will be as quick as possible here To my fellow council members who are on this committee Please feel free to interject if there's anything that I leave out in this summation of the report that's already in the packet But this year marks the 33rd Cycle of the Jack Hopkins program named for former council member Jack Hopkins Which has distributed to this point over six point two million dollars in grants since 1993 the goal of the Hopkins fund is to support the most vulnerable in our community and in 2025 We had allocated $500,000 in new funds and there was an additional $30,000 left over from previous years And so we're recommending a total allocation this year of five hundred and ten thousand three hundred and seventy seven and Twenty-seven cents we received 38 applications requesting nearly one million dollars in funding almost double What we could allocate and so after rigorous review and discussion, which is all available Publicly, they were all open door meetings. We're recommending grants to 35 agencies And programs the committee consisted of four council members and three community members with social service experiences And I would like to thank my colleagues Courtney daily Dave Rallo Andy rough and our public members Nordia McNish Cameron green Greer sorry and Eddie Rue For their thoughtful work and also want to recognize Director Killian Hansen and Cody Toothman from hand. They're not here anymore, but for their vital support and to city council staff For their incredible work and support here this year We introduced two key improvements sort of following up on the recommendations from last year's Committee the first was an adoption of a formal scoring rubric At least a pilot of such to bring greater transparency and structure Though we agree that it needs significant refinement for future cycles But it was I think a step in the right direction. We all agreed Secondly, we streamlined interviews in the past really for the last in 30 years What the tradition of this committee has been to hold very very long interviews where? Every single person who applied would be invited to an interview for the most for the most part and then just given about three minutes To more or less go over the same things that they went over in their application What we chose to do this year is only invite people who we had questions for to come We asked them pointed questions and we asked that they use their interview time to answer those questions And I think we thought that this Was gave us better time to really dive in and do due diligence on things that we were unclear about I think it also made our process more efficient which without compromising Fairness we also noted in the report several areas for future improvement One I think something that we've said every year is that our timeline is so compressed And and so we recommend starting a bit earlier and adding a couple of meetings to give the committee a bit more time for deliberation We discussed also tying into our work to moving towards outcome-based budgeting about setting perhaps yearly specific funding priorities as a body Not as a committee, but rather as a city council so that as we appoint the committee each year Or perhaps it could happen earlier during our budget session that we sort of tie a set of priorities that we want This this funding to prioritize right to address Otherwise right now we're sort of treating all emergency needs sort of equally Which I think was was a little bit of a challenge for us And then we're we're also interested in exploring potential changes to the application process itself potentially looking at things like a universal application so that people can just apply sort of once to multiple City funds and perhaps even that might give us opportunities to Collaborate with the county on something like that and above all we reaffirm the importance of Increasing the Jack Hopkins fund the needs in our community far exceed our current capacity to respond And so we're voting later today on the resolution to approve these recommendations allocate the funds and authorize Related administrative costs. I think there is also a technical assistance meeting already scheduled for grantees For June 16th, I believe and so in closing just want to thank everybody for their work I'm in our community and it is such a pleasure to be on this committee You learn so much about the amazing work that so many people across this community are doing to keep Bloomington Safe secure and moving forward. Thank you so much Council members are you can you deal with the conflict of interest disclosure statements that we need I will pass over to Make a motion That the uniform conflict of interest disclosure statements of Nordia McNish and Eddie Rue jr And their participation in the committee be approved and accepted by roll call vote, please Thank you The equipment of commentary here in the past if there's ever been a community member So the the the committee is required to have community members that have experience with social agencies And as a consequence, it's it's common that those those people selected for the committee might have some conflicts of interest the way that we deal with this is by having them disclose those conflicts of interest and then not allowing them to either vote or Contribute to discussion around agencies to which they disclose Areas of in of conflict in the past these letters of conflict of interest would be signed by the office of the mayor But this year they've recommended that the committee chair signed those so that's what we are doing Yeah, and just to clarify because the committee chair has typically appointed those community members So that's why they're wanting to do it this time. Do you think I have any questions or concerns about the conflicts of interest? Any questions or concerns about the report Councilmember Piedmont Smith. Yeah, we do but I just am taking questions first. I guess yeah So I do have a question. It's not about the conflict of interest. Okay. Well It's a quick. Yeah Okay Will the clerk please call the roll on the conflict of interest councilmember Ruff Rallo Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes, Stossburg. Yes, Daley. Yes, Zulek. Yes, Rosenberger. Yes, sorry Yes, and Flaherty. Yes. Thanks. Great. Thank you Councilmember Piedmont Smith. I just want to ask Counts councilmember Osari mentioned a rubric that was used for scoring The applications I don't find that in our packet. Is that something you can share with colleagues? Absolutely It is in the packet if you click one of the links and the other Jack Hopkins stuff I found it Yeah, it's somewhere in there Regardless, I'll send back around and it should be posted publicly for people to be able to see it Again, the caveat being that I think this was very much a sort of pilot We set up good intentions and then in deliberation some of it broke down and we were aware of that But instead of sort of going back to redo the the rubric We you know sort of took note of all these things for future years So I don't think it's a perfect rubric by any means this year basically gave us a standard vocabulary to all Talk about while while reviewing and make sure that everybody sort of reviewed them through the same lens That's but yeah had some had some limitations. I would say for sure Great. Thank you in addition to The link that you referred to Hopi the rubric also is Posted on the website related to various meetings of the Jack Hopkins committee Great. Thank you Are there any other questions about the report? Wonderful, we finally moved on to reports from the public So now we have finally entered the reports from the public time So if you are a member of the public who would like to make a comment on an item not on the agenda If you could please make your way to the podium If you're online and would like to make a comment if you could use the reactions tab to raise your hand Or you can send a chat message to the host either way You will have up to three minutes to say your piece I do have somebody at the podium right now and I see him signing in. Thank you very much If you could state your name for the record Actually, I'm gonna make sure that our staff has the timer all set wonderful Thank you. Go ahead Good evening, madam president council members. This is Christopher energy representing the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce and our nearly 900 members 80% of them are small businesses your friends your neighbors I'm I'm here tonight to talk about a critical issue affecting our local economy And that's the permitting and development process in the city of Bloomington. I was very encouraged tonight by Director Hill's comments regarding the residential side. I'm working with CBU on this. I think we're making great progress But the process for businesses, we know it is broken across all sectors What I hear from my messages and from our members is the permitting process takes too long. It's too rigid It's unpredictable and very unclear business, especially small locally owned variety are losing time money and Opportunity while they're trying to comply with a system that is not built with them in mind Looking around we see a lot of empty commercial space Bloomington is visible commercial vacancy problem of retail strips standalone buildings even downtown properties empty The cost of bringing a new tenant into a space often triggers a full site plan requirement under the UDO Requiring upgrades to landscaping parking and more even if it's not even a new use. It's the same as the last this approach punishes reuse and reinvestment We need to ask ourselves. Are we? Incentivizing revitalization or unintentionally promoting vacancy in this process We look at the Hopewell or canary in the coal mine the former IU hospital site now Hopewell is a showcase for what is not working at least with zoning many parcels There are zone medical making it nearly impossible to lease restaurants retail office users without complex Zoning process so we have this very transformative neighborhood. I'm very excited about yet We're sort of choking its potential at the zoning point around it We can't afford to stall business growth I think what we've heard in this meeting and many others is the Senate bill wanted significantly impacts local revenue sources If we don't grow our commercial tax base, we risk facing hard choices on public service. Let's be clear Business growth is not optional. It is essential so protecting this Bloomington's fiscal future Requires that a system doesn't block our entrepreneurs before they even get started Recommended some things that might work in the future, but let's just Think about reframing the word equity to include the barber the Baker and the first-time entrepreneur and People who deserve a shot at building something without facing six-figure barriers just to open their doors The chamber is ready to work with the city of Bloomington build that system. We don't see problems. We see solutions We want to support a thriving diverse business community and a more resilient tax base. Thank you Thank you Council attorney Lainer is there anybody use racer handled zoom? No, okay. Thank you Looks like we do have another commenter if you could go ahead and sign in and then state your name for the record and you'll Have up to three minutes Hello everyone, I know we have a lot of stuff to discuss tonight, so I don't want to disrupt this process But I just want to very quickly introduce myself. My name is Julius Mitchell. I am the new legislative affairs specialist in the office of the mayor So I'm gonna be sitting in on a lot of these meetings going forward So I didn't want you guys to have to guess who I am. I figured it would be best to just tell you up front So in the interest of time, it's nice to meet you all and I look forward to working together Thank you and welcome Is there anybody else in chambers who would like to make a public comment tonight on items not on the agenda Has anybody raised their hand on zoom? Yes, we do see one. Okay. Thank you. When you are unmuted You'll have up to three minutes. Please state your name for the record Good evening council members. My name is Jennifer possibly and I come to you And my capacity as council president of the Monroe County Council. I just wanted to say I appreciate, you know yesterday was the groundbreaking ceremony of the Convention Center expansion And I appreciate it cross collaboration efforts from both city and county elected I know overwhelmingly majority of elected supported this project and one thing that really kind of grabbed my attention in this particular meeting And besides just being nerdy and having nothing else to do to watch the meeting this evening was council member Rosenberger's comment regarding the affordable housing units that are going to that are proposed to be coming down and I think about this because I too had a constituent that reached out and wants to talk to me about that But in the spirit of collaboration since we all like to say that word I really would like to challenge our city colleagues to come talk to us here in the county again Just Clinton at Stanema Financial Lane as the fiscal body member of the county just one of seven I am very much interested in what is going to happen But as much talks that we've had happen tonight regarding affordable and attainable housing I think that it's up to although those buildings are county-owned and They are also in city limits. That's something that should be on both bodies to figure out how we can make this right for those Tenants as well. So I put a call to action to not just talk about it, but to also be about it and I look forward to having welcoming conversations with city colleagues to figure out How we can truly talk about the collaboration and making affordable housing and attainable housing for our residents So thank you for your time Thank you Are there any I don't see anybody else moving in chambers and anybody else raise a hand on zoom. No Okay Thank you very much for your public comments tonight and if you change your mind there'll be another public comment period at the end of the meeting Moving on to appointments to boards and commissions. Do I have a motion? Motion Councilmember Daley Thank you on behalf of interview committee team B, I Would like to make the following recommendation for the Transportation Commission We recommend Barbara McKinney to seat C 1 Stephen Boland to seat C 2 and Brian Drumie to seat C 3 second Thank you. Does anybody have any questions about the recommendations from team B council members? Sorry I'm just just a very brief one to what extent because I know Wonderful wonderful recommendations the there had been some discussion about the role of this Of this of this body particularly as pertaining to the now defunct parking Commission and to what extent did conversations about how What the what the purpose of this body is going to be come up amongst the people that you are appointing Well in particular regarding the Now defunct parking Commission to for example, that was we had a lot of really good applicants. We had I think nine applicants for three seats Many of them were from the parking Commission. So we wanted to make sure that we were representing all of the units that were Being combined into this new Transportation Commission. And so, you know that was We had to be very choosy about our representation Unfortunately because we had so so little Space for everybody we would have loved everybody's expertise But we wanted to make sure that we were covering all those areas together that we felt everything was fairly well represented in this in this new body Because I realized I realized that I didn't ask my ask my question very clearly We had the notes. It's my fault. I wasn't communicating clearly and it's late. I'm sorry When when we approved this commission, we had some discussions about whether or not to include stronger language about parking as an example the Operative clauses of the Parking Commission whether those powers should remain with the with the with this new commission Which is now fairly advisory in its function. Was that a conversation that was had because I know that and I mean, I am The reason this is difficult to have I'm not trying to call anybody specifically out But but I mean people who you've just mentioned made comments saying that we should keep This commission as a Parking Commission or keep the elements of the Parking Commission in we didn't choose to do that so I'm curious whether or not that conversation came up as part of your appointment procedures with the candidates that we're appointing I Don't believe that it did am I misremembering or am I yeah, that was not part of our conversation Are there other questions I do have a question that cc3 is The the way that it's titled on onboard as they wanted to be MCC SC affiliated in some way is that We had only one applicant who was MCC SC affiliated and unfortunately he did not live in city limits Which was one of the requirements We we opted for this candidate had Any other good reasons also as a What we felt was an attractive appointment But also thought this candidate has young children and they bike a lot and we thought well That's the closest maybe that we can get to that that perspective so that was yet Another element that we took into consideration since we could not get we did not have an MCC SC applicant Okay, thank you Any other questions councilmember Flaherty? Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up customer Stossberg and just following up on the same point. I I know our Outreach methods are varied for how we recruit to commissions But does anyone know if by chance of folks at MCC SC Were contacted about the appointment and that was okay. They had been yeah I actually messaged the superintendent and spoke with her in person about it, and I think that the mayor did as well Thank you. Yeah Other questions If the clerk could please call the role on these interview team recommendations Councilmember Rallo Yes, Piedmont Smith Yes, Stossberg. Yes Daly. Yes, Zulek. Yes Rosenberger. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes Flaherty. Yes and rough Thank you that passes 9-0 and now we have finally reached legislation for the evening and Please keep in mind that we did change the order on this and the updated agenda that went out this afternoon So we should be starting with ordinance 2025 22 All right, then in that case I move ordinance 2025 - 22 be introduced and read by the city clerk By title and synopsis only second Thank you. Will the clerk please call the roll on the motion to introduce just for clarity. We have to call the roll on All of these motions tonight because we have a member online Councilmember Piedmont Smith. Yes daily Sorry Stossburg. Yes Panicked yes Zulik yes Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry Flaherty. Yes rough and Rallo Yes Thank you. Will the clerk please read? Yes Ordinance 20 20 25 - 22 authorizing and approving a payment in lieu of taxes pilot agreement with Henderson court housing LLP the synopsis is The Indiana code provides the opportunity for municipalities and owner developers to partner in the development of affordable housing Through a payment in lieu of taxes known as a pilot agreement per I see thirty six - one - eight - fourteen point three This agreement ensures that the city receives some taxes from the property owner on real property subject to a tax exemption under state law The Indiana code requires the developer to agree to the terms of the pilot including the amounts and timing of the payments to the city the common council must approve the pilot by passing an ordinance if approved the Honda's Henderson court pilot will result in the rehabilitation of 150 affordable apartment units in an affordable housing community The pilot will serve families whose household income is 60% or below the area median income Thank you, I move that ordinance 2025 - 22 be adopted second All right. Thank you. Who do we have to present? 2025 22 today Sustainable development and I'm here tonight with Janine Betsy director of tax credit Development for the gene be Glick company and Danny Miller and I didn't catch your title Development manager, so we'll I'll present and then we'll have Janine and Danny for color commentary as needed If that's all right okay, first, I want to acknowledge that I have the ordinance numbers incorrectly listed on the Main slide here. So that's obviously 2521 and 2522 my overview Summarizes some general information about both Proposals and then gets into the specifics. So I'll just dive in I'll give you a brief overview of pilots an overview of the company details on each property a summary of the proposed agreements and a summary of outreach to local government units So here payment in lieu of taxes or pilot agreements are facilitated by state code and administered on a local level Pilots may support the renovation acquisition or construction of affordable housing units. They require that long-term affordability be guaranteed through an extended use agreement which is with the IH CDA in Pilots the property owner makes a payment at a percentage of the overall tax liability in the proposals today the payments Are proposed to be fixed at forty five percent of the current tax liability with an annual escalator of three percent the pilot payments This is by state code are then directed to the city Which means that 100% of the related tax revenue is diverted from other local government units So the pilot payment comes to the city. It does not get redistributed to the government units It gets deposited here into an affordable housing fund Just wanted to underscore that so pilots are a trade-off of community goods They decrease revenue in exchange for the retention or creation of affordable housing units The gene Glick gene be Glick company is an Indian Indianapolis-based housing developer and manager The company owns and is the long-term operator of the sites and the proposals today They own twenty one thousand units in thirteen states seventy two hundred of which are managed by the nonprofit Glick Foundation The city has had a favorable experience with Glick properties in Bloomington and they and they Have a specific model where they have on-site coordinators at their developments Which is perhaps why they're successful and well managed The Glick company has requested two pilot agreements to support the renovation and long-term affordability and management of both Cambridge Square and Henderson Court Pilots exist as a relatively low barrier incentive because it is difficult to close the financial gap for affordable housing developments Rent rates are restricted which is the whole point of having these affordable housing restrictions So the rent cannot be increased to fund improvements or updates Janine and Danny can speak to the cash flow impacts year-over-year, but that's an important benefit for their management of the property And then I just wanted to mention the but for test in order to issue a pilot We need to know that the project cannot be completed Without it, but for the issuance of the pilot the capital stack wouldn't come together. The project wouldn't move forward So I'm going to Continue in the order Cambridge Square and then Henderson Court, but I acknowledge that I would like for you to skip the Cambridge Square stuff for now Thank you. All right Henderson Court Henderson Court is located at 24 75 South Winslow Court It was acquired by the Glick Foundation in late 2024. It features 151 1 2 and 3 bedroom units at 60% of the AMI the requested payment is eighty thousand four hundred dollars or 45 percent of the tax liability That's the 24 25 24 pay 25 tax liability, and then there's the escalator of 3% annually This makes the annual subsidy 98,206 dollars in the annual per unit subsidy is 935 dollars the term of the pilot of the proposed pilot is 17 years and the term of Affordability for the site is no less than 45 years So the term of the pilot runs with the financing for the renovations and the term of affordability runs with state and federal affordable housing incentives So we're insured that I included these AMI tables because we talk about AMI all the time I thought it would be helpful for the public record and I thought it would be helpful Just for this discussion as a reference. So the highlighted fields are the dates For the effectiveness, but you can see the 60% AMI line which starts with forty five thousand five hundred and forty dollars and it increases depending on the number of Individuals living in that household. So this is the salary table. That's what that household is earning at 60% of the AMI And then I just wanted to say that given the impacts of SB 1 on all of our units of government and given that the pilot would divert all of this tax revenue to the city's affordable housing fund Staff communicated the impact analysis with leadership in each unit so the responses were Pretty similar. I mean everyone was Really happy to be informed about the consideration of this pilot There was general support. Everyone acknowledged that there was a trade-off. I would say with MCC SC in particular they They would like they want to do more analysis. So we're I feel really Pleased each conversation was really positive. And so we will communicate about tax abatements Tiff and how that works and pilots and just kind of start doing an exchange where we're Sharing information and so I committed to each of these government units that we would share proposals well in advance of Coming to council. I think with the aim of doing that before it goes to EDC next time and feel good about that So I will Back up to the Henderson court Proposal slide and I would be happy to take questions about this Thank you. Do we have questions specifically about the Henderson court proposal councilmember daily or Pilots in general. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you very much for that information. That was helpful I'm I'm gonna kind of form my question as I'm asking it because you kind of answered it a little bit my question was about my concern for like MCCSE losing revenue because they're Already going to be losing as we all know a ton of revenue So I'm glad you had that conversation with them that that and that it went well Do we have any sort of? Plan or thought process for maybe how we're going to maybe help make up some of that revenue To for example MCCSE or no, it's just we're figuring No, go you're good. Yeah, I was kind of petering off What happens with that funding so it is supposed to be deposited in an affordable housing fund and then that can be used to create To produce units or to renovate units at 80% of the AMI or below so this These pilot payments have a really narrow purpose Yes, I mean outside of the pilot money then and then I would say outside of the pilot everything that we are working on is In concert with what MCCSE needs so we're not writing checks to MCS MCCSE But we are doing everything that we can to create housing units to welcome You know working families Back into Bloomington City core, which is really one of the challenges so one of the challenges for MCCSE of many is the You know competition with charter schools I would name that as a challenge and then our overall population decline and our aging population And so all of our work is to really try to balance that and bring people back into our core I don't know if that's satisfactory, but outside of Everything that that we're doing we don't have a specific way to drive revenue back to them. It's a start I appreciate that. I know it's a it's it's quite a conundrum. So thank you for answering that Thank you other councilmember questions Councilmember Piedmont Smith So for Henderson Court, I'm looking at the Tax liability table at the end of your packet. Okay It looks I just want to make sure I understand this so At the line the last year 2043 The cumulative tax savings For Henderson Court is one million two hundred eighty six thousand six sixty nine So is that the total amount that the city of Bloomington and the other taxing units is giving up Through this pilot agreement I'm just pulling that And Jessica you have it in front of you and answer that's fine, too All right, if you don't mind giving me just a second And we're looking at Henderson Court and you're looking at So you're looking at the one million two eighty six six sixty nine figure Yes, it's in the right column yes, so that is The value of the life of the subsidy. Yeah So that's what the public entities including the city is giving up yes, and And then in the column preceding that the cumulative pilot is what they are paying Okay, and then in the same table um There's a column entitled full taxes no pilot and The tax amount 178 606. I'm looking at again the 24 paid 25 tax liability It sells full taxes for all of those 17 years is 178 thousand six oh six How can that be wouldn't the assessment increase and the taxes therefore increase? The assessment will increase Obviously, we don't Excuse me. I guess we're all having local problems tonight. Um, so the assessment will increase we don't know You know by what percentage during what years? but the pilot payment We we prescribe it to increase 3% annually. So we don't recalculate it based on the AV you'd in pilot terms you set You set the rate in advance and so that's why the pilot payment column reflects that 3% increase annually Okay, so you use the the current Tax rate and you just as our base. Yeah, and you just add 3% in the next column. So it's it's theoretical Theoretically that 3% annually is keeping up with market growth Yeah, and then we leave that Full taxes column as is because we're demonstrating that we're not estimating that Okay, I have another question but I can wait Yeah, I want to follow up on that a little bit because I'm a little bit confused by what you just said so If the cumulative tax savings on this is the one point two million but that's based on the full tax liability staying the same and We know that that tax won't necessarily stay the same like is that Just I would like to check with the controller McClellan as she prepared the table That's the only way that we have you could stay controller McClellan That's the only way that we have to estimate what the annual tax savings would be That's our that's the kind of like our most conservative estimate and then taxes will go up every year But we're not going to estimate that in that table. They will probably have The developer may have a benefit if taxes go up the pilot does not increase the pilot stays the same But at at the least this is how much tax savings that they will see and they can use that number When they have to go get financing further and build the rest of their project. That's the information they need to know right now in it There is a chance that there will be more savings to the developer in the future as taxes go up So that's kind of like a minimum number that public entities will lose in terms of revenue loss Yes, and I think one thing that controller McClellan highlighted is maybe helpful for the council to know this benefit has two roles for the developer so they Can count it as part of their capital stack for the development? Or the renovation and they benefit annually from the cash flow savings So the annual cash flow savings helps with the ongoing management of the property with the hiring of these Care managers, I think is the title for their on-site staff in the care managers are You know, they're there full-time. They're deeply engaged. They're helping residents with Life management, and I don't know if the Glick folks or if the council is interested in hearing more about that. They can talk about that But this is just to say It has dual import for the property Okay, thank you are there other councilmember questions Okay, I I have a another question then Oh and I want to acknowledge I can't see councilmember Rallo right now on the screen. Does he have his hand raised at all? Okay, thank you. Um So if we go with that like 1.2 million dollars just so I make sure that I'm understanding so for this project The developer contribution it says a six point seven million dollars. Is that right? So like in theory they're getting that 1.2 million dollars that like tax revenue is being lost and they're Committing to invest six point seven million dollars and to renovations for the property. Is that am I reading that correctly correct? Okay Do you agree do you want to add anything to that response? Okay Please come to the microphone. So the sorry, thank you. My name is Janine Betsy and I do work for the gene vehicle a company and I'm very short But also those We take the and we took the investments from the pilot savings and we increase the scope of work And then we will fund an annual service coordinator position that costs about $80,000 with benefits it definitely pays the living wage and then that person puts together a service plan with the residents and we measure the residents impact on the 10 like we Measure 10 levels of self-sufficiency with most important being housing secure food secure And then we kind of work down the list of whether or not people need employment or other items But we actively measure those and report on those annually and the service coordinators are measured on their ability to help residents meet their own goals But this property is actually been purchased by the Housing Foundation. And so if the project did not move forward It's technically eligible to be exempt. So wouldn't pay property taxes at all So the doing a tax credit rehab and a pilot puts it back on the tax rolls at a known amount so that we know what sort of resources we have to Increase our scope of work. So we added HVAC. We have all new electrical panels there We have the service coordinator and then we also added Washer and dryers putting them in the units, which we usually don't put them in the units. We usually have Residents bring them so we did we were able to add those very specific items because of the pilot Correct add them to the full scope of work. Yeah And then just To really highlight What Jeanine was describing the gene? Beglick Foundation Housing Foundation, which is a non-profit. It's a 501 c3 They purchased the property in late 2024 and because they're a non-profit the property Was eligible for tax exemption So the foundation applied for that tax exempt status and they anticipate that it will be awarded later This year this summer and the idea for them is that they will hold this tax exempt status during the period while renovations are happening and when they Close, I guess on your permanent financing and activate the pilot At that time they will pay this predetermined fee so I think what miss Betsy is saying is that It's a different situation in this case where if the pilot doesn't go forward The tax exemption would likely kick in but the pilot is essential for them to complete their capital stack and add the benefits of The the care coordinator on site and the increased rent of improvements that they're able to make to the units Okay, thank you are there questions Councilmember Piedmont Smith so do I understand correctly that The Henderson court project is actually eligible for a total tax exemption and they're delaying That until after this pilot Runs its course. So no the tax exempt status is available to them at this time because The nonprofit foundation owns the property when they close on their permanent financing I think I'm way up on the mic when they close on their permanent financing They will have a private partner as an investor and that would push them out of their tax exempt status so they anticipate that they will lose that tax exemption and That is why they are requesting the pilot it is complex. So we I'm happy to pause and have us Talk about this in more detail Yeah Are there other questions right now Okay, I'll go then so if We vote no on this pilot then it would stay in the non Profit or the exempt the foundation and continue to be exempt and not have Improvements made is that because because you said the but for and we were talking about the but for earlier So like so like you as staff are saying unless we do this like these things won't happen Yeah, and I think I'll just look to Jeanine while I'm making statements and tell me if this isn't correct but I assume that based on what they have communicated there would be a reduction in the types of improvements that would be made the scope of the renovation would be reduced and The care coordinator position would be in question And so the care coordinator position I Just want to highlight the city's perspective having spoken with housing and neighborhood development our legal department We are supportive of this pilot and in part because of who the partner is the Glick Company has a great track record in our community and it is because of the ways that they manage their properties That they are able to successfully safely Cleanly house people at lower income levels some of the challenges that we're seeing with the properties that we discussed on a very Surface level and our abatement presentation for example do not have the baked-in structure that Glick Relys on for their properties that they have across the country. So this model is really critical to the success of the property Okay, thank you are there other questions Questions All right seeing none Let's go ahead and go to public comment on ordinance 2025 - 22 So at this time if there are members of the public who would like to comment on this ordinance and this pilot project specifically for the Henderson court housing if you're in chambers You can go ahead and make your way to the podium and if you're online you can go ahead and use the reactions tab to Raise your hand or send a chat message to the host. I Don't see anybody moving in chambers right now. I'm gonna give a minute and make sure that if people want to raise their hand they're able to Does anybody raise their hand on zoom no Okay, seeing no public comment we are back to councilmember comment Are there council members who would like to make a comment regarding ordinance 2025 - 22 Councilmember sorry Just just a super quick one. I mean, obviously I this is the third time. I've got to hear this presentation So that's why I didn't ask any questions, but I mean I just just to emphasize the fact that this is The proposal is fantastic. It Creates long-term affordability at that am I rate that we've talked about in so many cases is really missing And for a large number of units And so a lot of them at that 60% or below area me am I in many cases below that while allowing the developer to complete much-needed renovations without sacrificing affordability and So I just think that it's a really really positive the type of things that we want to see in the way that we want to Use this tool and so I'm in great support of it and the lines very well with so many of the other things that we've Brought up another context. Thank you Thank you any other council members wish to make a comment I'll make a comment. I appreciate a council member daily bringing up MCCSE and the other taxing entities that will Kind of lose in this in this deal and The thing for me personally that kind of stopped any other Questioning did have to do with that tax tax exempt status and it's certainly better to have More fully renovated spaces and have some element of taxing coming in so that there can be some Public good coming from the taxing but also a whole lot of public good for the residents and the folks who are actually living There so I will plan on supporting this this evening And unless somebody else raises their hand for a council member comment, which I don't see Will the clerk please call the roll on ordinance 2025 - 22? Council member Stossberg. Yes, Daley. Yes, Zulik. Yes, Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Flaherty Yes, Ruff Rallo Yes, and Piedmont Smith. Yes. Thanks Thank you. And now we will move on You I move that ordinance 2025 - 21 be introduced and read by the city clerk by title and synopsis only second It's been moved and seconded to introduce ordinance 2025 - 21 Will the clerk please call the roll on that motion to introduce council member Daley? Yes, Zulik Yes, Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry. Yes, Flaherty. Yes Ruff Rallo Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes I Will abstain on this one. Oh Sorry, so that motion passes eight zero one Will the clerk please read I'm forgetting my job. Oh, it's my job. I oh no No, well the clerk. Yeah, the clerk has to read first There we are ordinance 2025 - 21 authorizing and approving a payment in lieu of taxes pilot agreement with Cambridge Square of Bloomington LP synopsis is The Indiana code provides the opportunity for municipalities and owner developers to partner in the development of affordable housing through a payment in lieu of Taxes pilot agreement per IC 36 - 1 - 8 - 14 point 3 This agreement ensures that the city receives some taxes from the property owner on real property subject to a tax exemption under state law the Indiana code requires the developer to agree to the terms of the pilot including the Amounts and timing of the payments to the city The common council must approve the pilot by passing an ordinance if approved The Cambridge Square pilot will result in the rehabilitation of a 153 unit community of flats designed for residents 62 Plus or differently abled whose incomes are 60% or below the area median income Thank you So now I move ordinance 2025 - 21 be adopted second Thank you. And before we do the presentation on this one I need to recuse myself from this discussion about Cambridge Square, which is why I stopped you earlier from Presenting on that one at all. I have a family member living at that complex So in order to ensure there's no appearance of conflict of interest I will not be participating in discussion or vote on this matter and will hand proceedings over to vice president Piedmont Smith Thank you All right, miss Cooper Smith, do you have further presentation on this particular project Just a just a few words on this one. I think if I could if we could have the slide deck back. Thanks So Cambridge Square of Bloomington is located at 307 North Pete Ellis Drive nestled between I don't know what well Yeah, Woodbridge Post Office on 10th Street and the cat cafe in Williamsburg Court off of 3rd Street. You're welcome They're just kidding. The property is 45 years old and features 153 one-bedroom units They are available to residents 62 and up or differently abled and earning 60% or less of the AMI. Sorry, the 60% AMI applies to everyone and Residents can be 62 and older or differently abled Just a reminder of the income limits the AMI at 60% is 65,000 and 40 for a four-person household or 45,000 540 for a one-person household Yeah, you did it okay and then The proposed agreement details are quite similar The payments smaller because the assessed value is lower So the Cambridge Square agreement would include an annual payment in lieu of twenty nine thousand three hundred seventy six dollars with a three percent annual escalation That makes the annual subsidy thirty five thousand eight hundred and forty one dollars in the annual per unit subsidy 392 dollars the term of the pilot is Seventeen years, which is the length of the financing for the project again. However, the term of affordability is no less than 45 years The agreement auto terminates after 17 years It can terminate if both parties agree and it can terminate if the property through sale to a different developer or through non-compliance so if it sells to a developer that is does not meet the code requirements for 60% AMI and having a long-term agreement with IH CDA that would terminate the Affordability or sorry that would terminate the pilot I think those are the broad strokes and then on this pilot it is Entirely on the private side of the organization. So there's no tax exemption Change happening So I think that's Enough for the overview I guess Happy to answer questions Thank You director Cooper Smith, are there any questions about the Cambridge Square? Yes councilmember. Sorry, just a super brief one Am I right in remembering that though the tax payment last 17 years that the requirement that it served that population is Forever or something like that. It was so long ago that we had this conversation Jeanine can speak to that So there the IHC da Agreements, could you please remind us of your name for the record? I'm sorry my name is Jeanine Betsy and Yeah, so the The affordability period from IHC da is governed by a land use restricted agreement the Lura And that is a 15 year initial period and a 30 year extended use period and you are not Able to opt out of the extended use period anymore Additionally the bond Lura that also is in the project Requires that as long as you have section 8 in the property that you will continue to maintain affordability and Cambridge Square is a hundred percent section 8, so We would be required to keep it affordable in perpetuity Again the section 8 requirement contract requires that as well We really value section 8 as you can't get new contracts anymore And that means that the residents are not paying more than 30% of their income towards rent and HUD covers the balance These are not part of the intended Budget cuts at HUD And these are long-term subsidies that likely will never come back For any new project so it's that we find at our organization It's imperative that we maintain them and keep them affordable as long as possible Because it's some of the most important things that we can do and a lot of these properties are located in some of our best neighborhoods Like you couldn't build Henderson Court where it is today Nor could you build Cambridge Square where it is today and keep it affordable for residents? but so it's a We make a commitment to keep our properties affordable in perpetuity But those are the documents and the timelines that guide The three or four agreements that will sign to keep it affordable Thank you Thank you any other questions about the Cambridge Square pilot proposal I Guess I will ask one and I just noticed a big difference in the per unit subsidy between Cambridge Square where it's one hundred ninety two dollars and Henderson Court where it was nine hundred thirty five dollars. Is that just the extent of the renovation? That's different or Could be I can say - yeah It's primarily driven by the acquisition because Henderson Court was just purchased in December 2024 and the other project has been in the portfolio for such a long time And frequently when properties are sold that have a hundred percent section 8 units They're sold above the value that can be financed Because the section 8 contract has a long-term value. So the Cambridge Square of Bloomington as is appraisal was significantly less than the Henderson Court Family sized appraisal and cost to purchase those properties So that's the really the difference Henderson Court also needs more work than Cambridge Square of Bloomington Glick has an extensive ongoing maintenance Program at all of our properties. We do asphalt every year if we don't if we're not doing a big rehab We're still doing a certain amount of windows and doors every year HVAC system So frequently a property that's been in the click family portfolio for a number of years is better Kept then a property that we purchased and so since we just purchased Henderson it both cost more per unit and the need of the work is greater Thank you for that I had another question that I meant to ask with the other item and now I need to find it. Sorry It's in the the actual text of the resolution I For pilot for country view or or sorry for Cambridge Square or Henderson Court Cambridge Square, okay I believe this language was in both of them, but So at the bottom of the first page of the actual ordinance language That whereas clause at the the last one on that page It says 192 dollars per unit blah blah blah do honor before May 10th and November 10th for each assessment year after the closing of the project in Accordance with section 1.4 of the agreement. What is the closing of the project? What does that mean? So I think that means the closing of the financing to facilitate the renovations Okay, so so it doesn't mean the completion of the renovations it means the closing of the financing That's my understanding Audrey is that And I'm gonna follow up with a naive question and that is what does closing of the financing mean So I can tell you what that means Closing of the financing on a 4% tax credit deal like this. My name is Janine Betsy, by the way it means that you close the tax credits you're selling the bonds that makes up the debt and you are Also That's all of the sources So that's everything closes at once and then you enter into a fully amortizing loan at closing So we're immediately paying on that loan just like you do on your mortgage at your house when you close But the closing means that you close all those sources of financing at one time. It's really fun and But it does not mean we will close the project. We will just close on the sources of funds And I guess in that context then When do we can we expect the first pilot payments since they're expected after the closing of the project? Sorry, Audrey Brittingham city attorney, so We agree that that it really is closing of the financing and then it references section 1.4 in the agreement And so if you go down to section 1.4 it that just outlines They both outline when the payments are due and you'll notice in 1.4 It makes it clear that the pilots essentially starts January 1st 2026 of the assessment year payable 2027 so we wouldn't actually see Pilot payment until 2027 for the payable 2026 year so close 2025 this increase or assessment 2026 payment 2027 Okay, and that's the first payment of 17 years, yes, okay. All right. Thank you so much for clarifying that You know, we're late people up here trying to understand all the lingo Are there any other questions about the Cambridge Square? pilot Okay, we can go to the public. Is there any member of the public who would like to comment on This resolution about Cambridge Square pilot Payment in lieu of taxes. I see we have one person coming to the podium Please state your name for the record and you'll have up to three minutes Randy Cassidy local community individual and somewhat of a historian based on what I just heard in 1981 I worked at Walker standard which is at Kingston and 3rd Street and It had just been built and there was a 65 year old woman I cannot remember her name, but I can tell you she had a 1967 XR cougar lemonade or that she brought in and She it was something she had got for her son after he graduated college. She lived at Cambridge Square She had been widowed and she said can you believe I can live here? At what I have And I she would come in I would take her back and I don't know about the financing I do know that Cambridge Square was taken care of then as I drive by it now It still looks in as good a condition as it with was when I took her home So from a condition of what Glick has done. I didn't even know Glick owned it and I thought I knew a lot about Bloomington and It's just one of those things when you drive by it and you see it it's been taken care of and from that long-term Affordability, I still remember her saying that and when I heard that at least I should get up and say something about that Thank you Thank you Are there any hands raised on zoom for people who want to speak to this? No No, okay. I don't see anybody else in council chambers. So we'll come back to Council members, are there any final comments on? resolution 20 25 - 21 Seeing none will the clerk please call the roll on resolution 20 25 - 21 Councilmember Zulek. Yes Sorry, I'm sorry Rosenberger. Yes. I'm sorry. Yes Flaherty Yes rough Rollo Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes Stasberg And daily, yes All right that passes with a vote of eight zero do we count the recusal as an abstention Anybody know It counts it doesn't count So is it count as an abstention eight zero one then okay, there we go and I'll hand the gavel back to President Stasberg. Thank you moving on to our last piece of legislation for the evening. I Move resolution 20 25 - Oh Nine put my glasses on. Yes. Thank you be introduced and read by the city clerk by title and synopsis only Second so moved and seconded to introduce resolution 20 25. Oh nine. Will the clerk please call the roll? Councilmember Rosenberger. Yes. Sorry. Yes clarity. Yes rough. Yeah, Rallo Yes, Piedmont Smith. Yes Stasberg yes and daily. Yes. Oh and Zulek. Yes. Thank you Res oh, sorry. It's late. I move ordinance 20 25 - oh nine be adopted Thank you Don't I need to read it first, oh, oh gosh, I'm sorry that was me boy. It is late. It's late. I am so sorry I'll go for it resolution 20 25 - oh nine authorizing the allocation of the Jack Hopkins Social Services program funds for the year 20 25 and related matters the synopsis is This resolution brings forward the recommendations of the 20 25 Jack Hopkins Social Services Committee The principal task of the committee is to recommend funding for local social services agency Proposals that best meet program criteria and best meet the needs of the community. This resolution allocates a total of five hundred and ten thousand Seven hundred and seventy seven dollars and 27 cents to 35 different agency programs the resolution also approves the funding agreements with these Agencies and authorizes the council president to execute such agreements Accepts the report of the committee and authorizes the chair of the committee to resolve any questions regarding the interpretation of the agreements Thank you, I'm sorry that I'm already on summer recess right now Yes, I move ordinance 2025 - oh 9b adopted resolution I Move resolution 2025 - oh 9b adopted second. There we go Councilmember Asari, are you gonna present the resolution on the funding recommendations? Already did if you have any questions happy to answer them And I don't know if there wasn't the amendment for the clerical error. Is that necessary? Yes, so just make mention of that. But yeah, any questions happy to answer them Shall I move thank you. Yes was amendment one and the It was omitted from the packet by accident was it in the addendum. Nope. Oh Its absence was Discovered about 4 p.m. Today Yes, please amendment one be introduced and Something just just be introduced second All right. So this is just correcting a typo in the resolution the table where it lists the recommended funding and the purpose for each grant the purpose for Bloomington Cooperative Living was Was incorrect so this just replaces the current text with this HVAC upgrades to communal living home for Bloomington Cooperative Living Does anybody have any questions on the amendment Let's go to the public then I'll take public comment on this amendment one to resolution 2025-09 if anybody wants to Make a comment about this Correction of purpose if you're in chambers, please make your way to the podium If you're online, you can go ahead and raise your hand. Is there anybody raising? There's one. Okay I do want to make sure that that public commenter We are specifically taking public comment on the amendment To the resolution not the resolution itself. So when you are unmuted, you can go ahead and state your name for the record and Then you'll have up to three minutes Her hands not raised right now, okay, but I was wondering if she might want to comment on the whole resolution instead of the amendment So for a lack of any public comment about the amendment if the clerk could oh going back to council Do council members want to make any closing comments on the amendment? I'll just say thank you councilmember Piedmont Smith for cross referencing things and noticing that Will the clerk please call the roll on amendment one to resolution 2020 509 councilmember? Sorry. Yes Flaherty. Yes, Ruff. Yes, Rallo Yes Piedmont Smith. Yes, Stasberg. Yes, Daly. Yes, Zulek. Yes and Rosenberger. Yes. Thank you Great. So now we are back to the resolution as amended So are there any council member questions about the funding? recommendations from the committee No questions, um, I have a question Oh, maybe I don't have a question hang on I might have gotten that answer already. Oh I actually do have a question and it's a question from the The funding agreement between the city of Bloomington and so it's attachment a So this might be a question for our attorney that I noticed this afternoon one of the things that we are asking the agencies to provide and See if I can figure out section for part D the reporting requirement Requires that the report be submitted in word format and I'm wondering if there's a reason why we require it to be in a word I'm not aware and aware of a reason in the past that has been the case This is essentially the same funding agreement that has been used last year And I believe largely in prior years Okay, is there like could we change that and would we have to? Do any kind of official I mean does does the resolution reference the way that this is worded yes Yes part of the resolution Adopting this funding agreement. So to change the funding agreement we would Okay, I Guess I don't really feel like doing an amendment on the fly if agencies haven't complained about this in the past but if in the future, maybe we could amend that so that We don't require that in word anymore just because a lot of people don't necessarily use word now because of Google Docs, etc etc Which is an issue we've come across in something else lately recently. So If we could just keep that in mind in the future, that would be great Will do thank you. Thank you I don't think I have any other questions. So let's go ahead and move to public comment on Resolution 2025 - oh nine as amended if you are a member of the public who would wish to comment on this If you're in chambers, please make your way to the podium If you're online, you can go ahead and raise your hand using the reactions tab or send a chat message to the host I do believe we have somebody online now So if when you're unmuted if you could state your name for the record, and then you'll have up to three minutes I I'm not sure if that was a glitch of your audio Or if that was deliberate if you could maybe send a chat message to the host to let us know What might be going on with that and we'll just give it a minute here for you to take a minute Does it appear that we should try again to see if that audio can be corrected we'll try it again, okay We've had other other audio work, okay Is there any chance that this person could type their public comment into the chat? Do we have any information from the staff table? No, no chat message at this time. Okay. Yeah, any public, any comments, of course, can be sent by email. I'm really sorry that that audio seemed to be malfunctioning. We've had other Zoom comments today. So I'm not sure what there is on our end that we could do with that. Has anybody else raised a hand? No, no hands are raised. Thank you. Seeing any public comment in chambers, we will bring it back to council for any last questions or closing comment. Any comments from council? Councilmember Piedmont-Smith. Just to thank all of the good agencies that are helping people who are in need of assistance in our community, and thank you to my colleagues and the three members of the public who served on the committee. Thank you. Any other comments? I would also just like to thank everybody who served on the committee, including our community members. We had three community members on that committee. With that, if the clerk could please call the roll on resolution 202509. As amended. Councilmember Flaherty? Yes. Ruff? Yes. Rallo? Yes. Piedmont-Smith? Yes. Stasberg? Yes. Daly? Yes. Zulek? Yes. Rosenberger? Yes. Asari? Yes. Thanks. Thank you. And that completes our legislation for the first part of this year, as a matter of fact. And now we've moved on to the second period of public comment for items not on the agenda. If you are a member of the public and you would like to comment on something not on the agenda, if you're in chambers, you can make your way to the podium. If you're online, you can go ahead and use the reactions tab to raise your hand or send a chat message to the host. I don't see anybody moving in chambers, but I'll give it a minute for anybody online. Has anybody raised their hands online? No. Okay. Thank you very much. I'll move on then to our notes of council schedule. As I mentioned, this is the final meeting before summer recess and we will convene our next regular session on Wednesday, July 16th at 630. And as a reminder and clarification to the community that just because there's a break in Wednesday night meetings does not mean that we are on vacation as a council. There are still other meetings and work still does happen. Are there any other scheduling notes from council members? Then we are adjourned. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.