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.