- Hello and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. The Bloomington City Council met on May 20th and
- established the Cottage Grove Conservation District. This marked the second reading of an ordinance
- that would give some historic protections for the Cottage Grove neighborhood. Deputy Clerk Susan Stoll
- introduced the legislation. In order to designate the Cottage Grove Conservation District, a neighborhood
- of 122 properties in the city of Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana,
- as a conservation district. The majority of structures in the proposed district date from the years
- before and after World War I and are built in the folk Victorian and Queen Anne styles representative
- of this period in Bloomington's history. Houses from the late 1910s and 1920s are mostly craftsman style
- with a conspicuous number of limestone Tudor revival houses.
- Many of the pre-war houses were built by employees of the showers brothers furniture company and bear
- the hallmarks of carpenter built folk housing While many of the larger post-war houses are associated
- with Bloomington's booming limestone industry the neighborhood demonstrates a high degree of integrity and
- many notable houses. During public comment, petitioner Amy Butler said Cottage Grove is worth protecting.
- In her view, the neighborhood's historic homes provide affordable housing and a sense of character that
- cannot be replaced. Our neighborhood is a great example of Bloomington's cultural heritage. It is facing
- significant development pressure and I encourage you to vote in favor of protecting it.
- Councilmember Sydney Zulik spoke in support of the district, saying historic preservation can help preserve
- affordable housing for renters. When I was in college, I started college in 2020, graduated in 23. The
- first apartment that I signed a lease for was for $1,200 with one other person, so I was spending $600
- a month, and that was pretty much all I could afford. There was
- no option for me to go to the luxury apartments. I now work two jobs and I still can't afford anywhere
- near that level of rent. And so when I look around and I think about historic preservation as one of
- the only opportunities to preserve some of the housing opportunities for people who look like me, for
- people who grew up like me, when we think about the working class,
- They are not in those luxury apartments. If we want to bring the working class back to Bloomington,
- we have to start providing real housing for them. And it's not new apartments guy rises. Um, so I'm,
- I'm really excited to support this. This is in my district. Historic preservation commission chair,
- Jeremy Hackard explained why the commission supported the cottage Grove district. And he pushed back
- against the idea that historic preservation prevents home improvements.
- Just two meetings ago, there was a notable house in a historic district where we approved an addition
- and an ADU Work can be done in these areas. We have no purview over work that is done inside homes You
- can renovate all the houses all you want on the interior. It's totally fine. You can keep these up. Um,
- We also have the support from my predecessor, Sam de Saller, who was chair before me. He asked me to
- read part of a letter out for him. He writes, I'm writing to express support for the proposed Coddish
- Grove Historic District. I'm a practicing architect and served on the Bloomington Historic Preservation
- Commission for over a decade. I've seen many proposals for historic districts. I did not vote for all
- of them, but this one has my wholehearted support.
- Cottage Grove is the type of neighborhood you think of when you think of Bloomington. It has a distinct
- architecture character and streetscape is contiguous and is under threat. On the flip side, local resident
- Greg Alexander said he believes that historic preservation will actually increase housing costs and
- limit landlords' ability to provide adequate living conditions for tenants.
- Historic preservation here will make this neighborhood more expensive and more exclusive and it will
- also Exacerbate the problem of people living in drafty and moldy houses because their landlords won't
- have the opportunity to make rational choices And just as an aside, I checked the names on the petition
- The address is almost entirely rentals. The names are not the names of the owners. That's fine You know
- as an activist, I really I envy that skill to get students to sign a petition and
- but the volume of names here reflects nothing but naive good wishes from people who were presumably
- told the city wants to tear down their house. The council voted seven to one in favor of designating
- Cottage Grove as a conservation district with council member Kate Rosenbarger casting the lone no vote.
- The Richland Bean Blossom School Board met on May 19th. Much of the meeting's public comment period
- focused on support for the appointment of Kyra Campbell as the next director of the Edgewood High School
- Choir Program. Given Campbell's history with the Edgewood Program, Jessica Foster said that Campbell
- could help create continuity between programs and strengthen student connections. Most importantly,
- she understands the importance of creating unity between the junior high and high school programs.
- These programs should not feel like two completely separate groups, but rather one connected music family
- that supports and builds upon each other. Because Kyra has personally experienced the program as both
- a student and an educator, she understands how to bridge that gap and create continuity, encouragement,
- and shared purpose between both schools.
- Several speakers described Campbell's mentorship and influence on students' confidence and personal
- growth. Andrea Andrews said that Campbell had already developed strong relationships with students and
- families. I saw the love that she has for these kids. She is from the seeds of greatness of that man
- down there who loved on her and poured into her life. And because of that, she has blossomed into what
- she is. And she's going to do nothing but continue to grow this program. She is Edgewood Choirs.
- Students also spoke about Campbell's role in helping them develop confidence and leadership skills.
- Ethan Staggs said that Campbell encouraged him to stay involved in choir and helped him believe in himself.
- She reminded me every single day that I am worthy, I am loved, and I am talented. Parents continue to
- describe the impact that Campbell had beyond the classroom. Molly Osgood said that Campbell helped her
- son gain confidence through show choir participation.
- Because Kyra believed in him, Luke began to believe in himself. Our once quiet boy now performs solos
- and competitions. He sings on stage with the confidence that I will never experience myself. And he
- has so much self-confidence, and he's willing to put in countless hours of hard work that challenges
- stamina, focus, and self-discipline, all under Kyra's guidance.
- The board voted to extend the public comment period beyond its planned 30 minute limit. Public comment
- continued for nearly the first hour of the meeting with speakers repeatedly emphasizing Campbell's
- leadership, mentorship and connection to students and the choir program. The school board will meet
- again on June 16th.
- The Bloomington Utilities Service Board met on May 18th and discussed the College Mall Road sewer system
- design study. Capital Projects coordinator Kevin White explained.
- This basis of design will implement some flow meters that you'll hear another contract later tonight
- with grip about. We'll set the flow meters out, study the system, figure out potential route and size
- of pipe needed to be upgraded to alleviate this ongoing SSO. As part of that basis of design study,
- they'll also
- estimate the construction cost of the different options. So this is really just the very beginning stages
- of what's going to be a much larger project down the road. White said that a contract with Commonwealth
- engineers for the study will cost $197,461. Engineer Phil Peden said that there has been an action plan
- in the area since 2004 to fix undersized pipes.
- That area around College Mall, we've done a ton of rehabilitation. We've done a lot of lining, we've
- done grouting. So we did connection remediation too.
- I'm going to say over $5 million, maybe $10 million in rehabilitation in that basin, try to eliminate
- I&I. We still occasionally still have the SSO there at Covent Enter and College Mall Road. So as part
- of that corrective action plan, it detailed upgrades to this system for more capacity all the way down
- to where the sewer crosses Sayre Road. It's significantly undersized. We've lined it.
- to try to eliminate I&I along the stream. And that was years ago, but that didn't correct it. Board
- President Kirk White asked if the area was mostly affected by heavy rain. Peden responded that problems
- only occur during rain, and it has only happened once in the past year. It's still happening, and like
- you said, there's a lot of development happening in that area, too. A lot of changes where we're seeing
- increased flow.
- The goal is to get this estimate so that we can put this on the next rate case for sewer so we have
- an accurate idea what the cost will be for the project. That's a good idea. The board passed the agreement
- for the design study unanimously. Next, they moved on to discuss a memorandum of understanding with
- the retreat at Switchyard that was tabled at their previous meeting. Utilities Director Catherine Zager
- introduced the resolution. It was suggested by the board that we added the
- added additional language that now reads, in the event retreat decides to sell the property before the
- balance is paid in full, the retreat shall immediately notify CBU and the remaining balance due and
- owing for connection fees shall be paid to CBU at closing on the sale of the property. So we have added
- that and are presenting this again.
- board member Megan Parmenter said the legal team has looked over the MOU and she hopes the agreement
- is holding the retreat to the board's expectations. I can see how it's been billed but they said they
- were not able to pay it so we've performed the services so I guess that's why I see it as more than
- like their bill that we've agreed to let them pay over five years. It's the services have been performed so like
- like somebody that go put on a new roof for a thousand dollars, they've performed the services. They're
- getting paid back. The MOU was approved unanimously. The next utility service board meeting will be
- held on June 1st. The Monroe County Commissioners met on May 21st. County Surveyor Tron Enright Randolph announced
- that the Monroe County Surveyor's Office won a Special Achievement in GIS award for its collaborative
- Hoosier Character project with the Monroe County Public Library. GIS coordinator John Baton demonstrated
- some of the site's capacities and how users can search historical residents and landmarks through digitized
- records layered over 19th century maps.
- This is an interactive website and it's growing and it's going to continue to grow and the goal here
- is for folks to contribute to this so we get a better idea of where we came from and maybe where we're
- going. The commissioners praised the collaborative nature of the project and discussed the possibility
- of residents contributing family archives and local historical material to expand the database further.
- Later in the meeting, Hoosier National Forest Supervisor Mike Chavis introduced himself and addressed
- misconceptions about the financial impact of federal land ownership on counties.
- property taxes, technically speaking, but we make payments in the form of payment in lieu of taxes,
- and then there's also a different fund called the Secure Rural Schools Act. So it comes in two different
- tranches, and in the 2025 payments were just recently made. So that amounted for Monroe County specifically
- to 119,000 acres. That's not a huge windfall, but that's funds that can be applied to roads, schools,
- public schools, that. And of course,
- We think there's other value besides that payment to having a national forest. The next Monroe County
- Commissioner's meeting will be held on June 4th. The Monroe County Capital Improvement Board met on
- May 20th. Project Manager Andrew Sherry from Weddle Brothers Construction gave a detailed construction
- update for the convention center expansion. We are preparing for the remainder of the site demolition
- existing curb so that we can start getting sidewalks, light pole bases and those types of things installed.
- and then starting our exterior features on the south side of the project. So, trash enclosures, our
- main entrance ramp, those types of things at the loading dock area. A big talking point over the next
- couple months will be the connector preparations. So, we are planning to proceed with the next closure
- of College Avenue on June 30th through July 24th. We have a Board of Public Works meeting June 2nd at
- 5.30. We have been coordinating with the Board of Public Works, talking through all the logistics planning,
- the closure. Luckily, we've
- or luckily or unluckily, we've been through this before. Luckily, we hope to not have two feet of snow
- hit the same day we plan to close. But if so, we do have a snow blower this time. So we currently have
- started our work to prepare for the closure. So we're getting ahead everywhere that we can. This photo
- of the closure, you can see the parapet wall is framed. We've framed underneath for the metal panels.
- We're buttoning up
- ramps for the elevation changes and then we will start installing curtain wall systems prior to this
- closure that way that we really focus on just getting across the road in this time period. So I want
- to eliminate any risks that we may have. Again, we will have the curtain walls, metal panels, plumbing,
- electrical rough ends and roof work completed during this closure.
- Next, the discussion moved on to the recommendation of a, quote, form of connection, unquote, by Ball
- Nogue's studio as the public art installation for the Convention Center. Board member Galen Cassidy
- summarized the work. We began our first round of public feedback in September of 2025, which helped
- us determine what the community was looking for in the art.
- By October, 2025, we were ready to release our call for artists. That call attracted more than 180 artists
- from around the world. Holly and I then formed the recommendation committee to help sort through these
- artists, which consisted of representation from the Blumenthen Arts Commission, the CIB, and the Beat
- Advisory Committee, as well as other members involved in the arts in this community. Our first round
- narrowed it down to roughly a top 60.
- then a top 10, and by the end of December and early January, we had narrowed it down to a top five.
- These five finalists then spent the next several months working on proposals based on the themes represented
- in our public feedback session, and we hosted several of the artists onsite for a chance to meet with
- the stakeholders and community members. By April, we had four finalists move on to the last stage, where
- a recommendation committee, along with Schmidt and Weddle Brothers, interviewed each artist,
- We also did another round of public feedback where the community got to see each proposal and vote for
- their first and second choices. We received nearly 1,000 responses to that survey. The board
- voted unanimously to approve the $400,000 art installation. Following this, board president John Weichart
- updated members on residential and commercial tenants occupying properties south of the Convention Center,
- outlining tenant assistant efforts. We're providing
- three more months from now, actually, for the tenants, for the residential tenants, to continue to look
- at relocation opportunities. As I said, we're meeting the business needs of Friendly Beast, and we're
- providing two additional months for my sister's closet relocation and extending the financial contribution,
- not only that the county is making, but by extending that lease, then we're actually extending an additional
- $13,000 of our own contribution
- in rent waiver that would bring support from the county and the CIB to $65,400 to my sister's closet
- to assist in their relocation. During public comment, Bloomington city council member, Isabel Piedmont
- Smith encouraged the board to consider alternatives that would preserve affordable housing while still
- accommodating a future hotel project. I wanted to also encourage the CIB to look at the homes for all proposal.
- And also consider whether a hotelier would actually need an entire block like College Square, because
- one possible avenue for the land swap would be to swap the southern property, which is assessed at quite
- a bit lower value than College Square.
- for part of College Square rather than the whole block, which would seem sufficient space for a hotel
- if we compare with the other large hotels we have downtown. The board unanimously approved extending
- lease options for remaining residential and commercial tenants. The next Monroe County Capital Improvement
- Board meeting will be held on June 17th.
- And that is all for Cats Week. Thank you for joining us. For Cats and WFHB, I'm Annalise Poorman.