Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington City Council unanimously approved
a planned unit development for the Hopewell South project during its meeting on May 6. This comes after
months of deliberation on the first phase of a project aimed at bringing more affordable housing to
Bloomington.
The Hopewell Project is a city-led redevelopment project that aims to transform the former IU Health
Hospital site into a mixed-use neighborhood. City Clerk Nicole Bolden introduced the ordinance.
Ordinance 2026-06 to amend the city of Bloomington zoning maps by rezoning a 6.3 acre property from
residential urban lot and residential multifamily within the transform redevelopment overlay to plan
unit development and to approve a district ordinance and preliminary plan. The synopsis is as follows.
This ordinance amends the zoning of the property from residential urban lot and residential multifamily
within the transform redevelopment overlay to plan unit development.
Much of the discussion centered on balancing sustainability goals with long-term affordability. Council
member Matt Flaherty said energy efficiency measures could reduce costs for future residents. My orientation
to energy efficiency and electrification generally is about creating affordable, healthy homes. Gas
appliances cause childhood asthma at very high rates. They're unhealthy for all of us. We shouldn't
want those appliances. This is a health issue. Efficiency, similarly, it lowers utility bills over time, providing
dramatic return on investment. And Achillean Hanson, Director of Housing and Neighborhood Development,
warned council members about concerns from the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission regarding rising
construction costs and affordability expectations. What happens if we can't build a unit for what you
want us to sell it for? We don't have bottomless amounts of money.
To be able to subsidize between the cost of build like for instance Let's say that a build is going
to cost us fifty thousand dollars more just because lumber prices are going up gas prices are going
up What is that dollar amount across the number of units? That's pretty significant. So You know could
be millions of dollars that we would have to bring to the table just to get to your AMIs if
If we can't build it for that cost if we can great, we'd love to deliver even more affordability But
I just want to make sure that you guys have heard that the RDC feels like they really can only commit
to the 25% right now Of course, we would love to report back as we're able to
So not trying to muddy the waters, just wanna be perfectly clear with what they've authorized me to
say. Next, Council President Hopi Stasberg considered how far the city should go with permanent affordability
requirements in the project. I also like sticking with the 50% and I appreciate what Council Member
Rosenberger just said about that idea, like we could amend it later if it really became impossible to
practically do that, but that shooting for that goal might be really appropriate. The next Bloomington
City Council meeting is scheduled for May 20th.
The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission met on May 4. Angela Van Roy from the Housing and Neighborhood
Development Department presented on Resolution 26-30 concerning various neighborhood improvement grants.
The Spicewood Neighborhood Association requested funds for a native pollinator garden and they requested
$2,350 and that was
recommended for full funding. That one, a 16 year old in the neighborhood is the one who presented that
project. So we were all quite impressed with that. The resolution proposed distributing a total of $30,000
worth of grants in varying amounts among several neighborhood organizations. The resolution passed.
Next, the commission opened public comment concerning a potential land swap relating to Seminary Point
and College Square. A resident affiliated with Homes for All spoke on the power that the RDC has to
support a land transfer intended to preserve affordable housing. Indiana Codes grant RDC's powers beyond
the standard property transfer process to offer land to CDCs for the purpose of developing affordable housing.
We interpret this Indiana code as a means of encouragement to redevelopment commissions to find properties
well suited for affordable housing projects, projects just like Seminary Point, a property where super
affordable apartments already exist. Homes for All has finalized a partnership with a qualified community
development corporation, which will serve as our land grant recipient
We are also finalizing a formal proposal for Seminary Point with a five-year development timeline and
funding plan. RDC member Randy Cassidy concluded the discussion by acknowledging that the property remains
under Capital Improvement Board ownership and suggested tenants work with the board to pursue lease
extensions while negotiations continue. The next Bloomington RDC meeting is scheduled for May 18th.
The Bloomington Board of Public Works met on May 4th and discussed a right-of-way on a multi-use path
on Dunn Street. City engineer Neil Copper explained what the project entails.
This is a project to construct multi use path on the east side of North Dunn Street from the bypass
to Clover Lane. The project will require purchase of additional right away from up to nine parcels.
If approved by the board, this resolution confirms that the project serves a public purpose and it authorizes
the right of way acquisition. The board passed the motion unanimously.
Next, Public Improvement Manager Maria McCormick from Engineering requested a public improvement bond
for 15th Street. This is for the acceptance of a public improvement bond for the 15th Street sustainable
subdivision. Their public improvement bond is in the amount of $12,036 and is for new sidewalk and street
trees for this subdivision. The motion passed unanimously.
Then engineering field specialist Zach Bell requested right-of-way closures for city utilities. Peditioner
is requesting approval of temporary right-of-way closures along South Walnut Street from Dodd Street
to Grimes Lane to accommodate water and sewer service updates. The work will be completed in a phased
manner with closure shifting between work areas rather than occurring simultaneously.
project is scheduled from May 8th, 2026 through May 29th, 2026 during normal construction hours with
impacts limited to a single active work zone at any given time. And just received word from James that
they will hold off on starting until after commencement. The motion passed unanimously. The next meeting
of the Bloomington Board of Public Works will be on May 19th.
the Bloomington Utilities Service Board met on May 4th and discussed the Bloomington fuel charge. Board
member Amanda Burnham asked how it is determined since gas prices fluctuate. I guess just thinking more
about our fuel this month with gas prices that are up, how are we charged? Like when there's a delivery
of fuel and then we pay that rate until there's another delivery of fuel and then that's our rate, how
do they determine our charge for fuel?
A utility staff member responded that he did not know, but that he said he could ask. Next, Bloomington
Capital Project Manager Dan Hudson presented on planned electrical maintenance at the Monroe Water Plant.
About a year ago, we went under contract with a company to do maintenance on our large high voltage
and medium voltage equipment. That includes taking the breakers out and cleaning them and
and making sure everything works right and putting them back. But you have to shut down the plant to
do that. And in our planning process, we've decided that it's a good idea to keep our servers running
so we have data coming in and also keep the lab running because we do laboratory analysis like every
hour. And this may take like up to 10 hours to do.
So we would like to hire Electric Plus to help us wire an existing generator that we have, a portable
generator that we borrow from T&D to run the servers in the lab. We also want to rent a portable generator
to run one of the pumps. One of the pumps we can run because it is
a high level pump, it's on 480 volts, and we have a generator, we can run a generator to do that. The
idea is we don't want to lower the pressure in the system, so we have to have water notices during this
time. Hudson said that right now is a good time to do maintenance because students are leaving campus,
so water usage should be down.
A utility superintendent said that there is a two-week lull between IU graduation and when people start
refilling pools for Memorial Day. So now is a good time for maintenance. The board approved doing the
maintenance on May 12th. Then Assistant Director of Finance, Matt Havy, explained a memorandum
of understanding between the board and the retreat at Switchyard. The retreat at Switchyard is a development
here on the corner of Miller and Walnut
It was an affordable housing project that's been going on for several years now. And as part of this
project, they hooked up to the sewer. And as developments do this, we charge them proportionally to
the size of the sewer that they're going to use, what infrastructure that they're going to drive us
to buy. And as part of this development, it was
get the numbers that grow to say it's a little over $50,000 for them to connect to the sewer. Um, and
I think there was some little confusion on both sides is that they thought that since they were building
affordable housing, that they, this fee could be waived. Um, but then we took them through the city
statute and pointed out to them that we can only waive fees for a single family residences for, for
their connection fee. Um, and so.
They explained to us they were having a lot of challenges with this development and financially and
operationally. And so we, again, we communicated that we could not waive the fee. And so we had a meeting
and talked to them and came to an agreement that CBU would agree to give them a payment plan for five
years with no interest to pay this connection fee off.
Board President Kirk White said the Finance Committee discussed the MOU prior to the board meeting.
The subcommittee approved the amendment given that the property is sold during the agreed five-year
period. I think it's good public policy for us to be flexible with a project like this that's been worked
on by city government downtown, giving them this assistance more or less in
the time it would allow them, because it's an affordable housing project, it kind of shows our support
for helping those projects as they come along to us, because we all know that's a community priority
now. So I think that's a good thing for us to do. The board tabled the vote on the MOU. The next meeting
of the Bloomington Utilities Service Board will be on May 18th.
Monroe County Board of Commissioners met on May 7th. Financial Director Carly Woodroof from the County
Auditor's Office provided an update on American Rescue Plan Act funds. She says a federally funded projects
are supposed to come in under budget and the county wants to keep ARPA funds local. We have two projects
that we're aware of right now that are expected to come in under budget
And so that means if we don't re-obligate those dollars to another project that we may have to send
that money back to the federal government and we do want to keep those dollars local if possible. The
amount that we expect as of right now to come in under budget is just north of about $315,000.
We have received some requests from projects that are open that we think may be able to use some of
those fundings. One of them is for parks. It looks like they have some drainage situations going on.
The second project is another park project and because of the turf
extra traffic we've had going in with all the big trucks. They have some interest in getting some paving
done and that would fall well within an open project they have right now. The third project is for the
Monroe County Fire Protection District. That is also an open project and we would fund some of those
extra costs needed to get those ambulances up and going. And then the last one that would be most feasible
would be the airport stormwater drainage. Commissioner Julie Thomas asked if the county departments
could realistically spend the remainder of ARPA funds by the end of the year. Woodruff responded. So
that money does not technically have an expenditure deadline. We're just putting that on your radar
because it is closely tied to ARPA. And this money, while it doesn't have an expenditure deadline set
forth by the federal government,
They do have a chart and that last day on that chart that they provided is 2027. So our ARPA advisors
have advised that we spend those money prior to the end of 2027. The county commissioners also discussed
a separate related funding source that advisors recommend spending before the end of 2027. All in all,
Thomas said that the commissioners and the county council need to set a hard deadline with a plan to
spend ARPA funds.
We're going to need a drop-dead date. We're going to need a date that says, as of November 1, if this
isn't spent, we're allocating it here. But that's the decision that we have to make jointly as to where
to allocate those dollars, correct? Correct. Monroe County Auditor Breanne Gregory says at least three
out of the four projects could get done on deadline.
At least three of the four that we've received that are in the green on the memo. At least three of
those, I believe we could turn that money around very quickly. And so I would say Monroe Fire and the
two parks. They could spend it before the end of the year and get us receipts so we're not losing any money.
I believe as long as we give them enough time. So if we're making this decision in November, that's
a very short period to turn around. But if we're making that decision in June, I believe at least those
three projects would be able to get that out very quickly. Except they might not get money.
So that's the issue, right? Next, the commissioners considered approval of a partnership agreement with the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service for a prairie restoration project at the Monroe County Nature Preserve. Monroe
County Parks Director Kelly Whitmer presented the program. They are the same project as 14 acres of
prairie grassland at the Monroe County Nature Preserve. DNR is going to give us around, and I'm going
to round these numbers, $3,700 and
We get money, we pay for the seed and whatnot. We also, last week you approved Jettle Farms for not
to exceed 6,500. That's for our beans for the grassland area that we're planting. We will also be, we,
Monroe County is responsible for upkeep and maintenance, 10 years for the prairies for US Fish and Wildlife.
three years for DNR, served concurrently. So it's only 10 years. This is a wonderful opportunity because
on another note, we are also going to buy 10 more acres. That has nothing to do with these agreements
of the same grassland seed. So we can connect our two prairies around our gas well, which we don't want
to plant anything else beside grass around the gas well.
So this will be like 16 acres of contiguous prairie land. In total, it'll be 24 in the whole end of
it. Whitmer says the whole project will cost about $13,000. The commissioners approved the measure by
a three to zero vote. Lastly, Commissioner Jody Madeira reminded residents that it is graduation weekend
for Indiana University students and encouraged the community to plan accordingly. Just stay safe. It
is graduation weekend.
And we wish our IU graduates the best of everything and stay safe and have a wonderful celebratory graduation
weekend. The next Monroe County Commissioner's meeting will take place on May 14th. And that is all
for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.