- and welcome to Cats Week. I'm Annalise Poorman. At the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission meeting
- on August 3rd, two development teams pitched their plans for the future of Bloomington's College Square
- site, a key parcel connecting the new convention center with downtown. The first proposal from Concord
- Hospitality, TWG Development and Ratio Design, would build a 160-room hotel alongside mixed-income housing.
- The team proposed a $4 million land swap with the Capital Improvement Board and estimated the project
- would require about $12 million in public subsidy. Ratio Designs' Adam Tease said the proposal would
- include affordable housing along the Beeline Trail.
- The competing proposal submitted by Dora and Partners calls for a 135 room hotel, 80 to 100 market rate
- housing units, retail space, and a pedestrian promenade linking College Avenue to the Beeline Trail.
- Unlike the first proposal, Dora and Partners said that they would purchase the property for $1 million
- and seek a $5 million tax increment financing incentive with no additional public subsidy.
- Developer Travis Wenzel said the housing would be aimed at residents rather than students. We think
- that there are 27 units that would be low to moderate income units that would be included in this development
- and it would be right along the beeline trail.
- Indora also hinted at plans outside the College Square proposal, saying that they are exploring affordable
- housing on the city's south side to replace units that will be lost through upcoming demolitions. During
- public comment, Bloomington resident Audrey Smith questioned whether downtown needs another hotel. We
- don't have a whole lot of market rate.
- apartments that aren't associated with student properties. We clearly don't want student here. The RDC
- has been clear that they don't want student here. We don't think students appropriate here. So that's
- how we arrived to the product mix. And that's why we're still somewhere between 80 and 100 units, because
- we'll still vet that out as we continue to work on our design. The commission took no action on either
- proposal, but will evaluate both submissions before selecting a development team for the College Square project.
- The commission will meet again on August 17th. Mayor Carrie Thompson held a traveling town hall on August
- 3rd at the Banneker Community Center, where she was joined by the city's new interim director of planning
- and transportation, Lynn Coyne. Mayor Thompson warned that the city's long-term finances are tightening,
- telling residents that the impact of recent tax changes will be felt for years. So how many hotels do we need?
- That's my question. And who are we making space for in downtown Bloomington? Thank you. On homelessness,
- the city is preparing a new strategy that pairs tighter rules on sleeping downtown with individual housing
- plans. The mayor said that the goal is to steadily bring people inside instead of managing permanent
- encampments.
- by 2029, we will be losing at least $30 million a year in what we're used to. So as things get more
- expensive, we are anticipating less income coming in. So things that are not critical for the municipal
- government to do, we are gonna be looking at not doing them. And you will see in our budget that we're
- not expanding a bunch of new shiny programs this year.
- We are committed to doing things like keeping our streets up and running, making sure your water is
- clean and your trash gets picked up and that we're seeking balance in all of those things. Speaking
- of those essential services, we have now as of today, this is a statistic I love, filled 8,661 potholes.
- this year. So kudos to our Public Works Department. Hi, Bill, come on in. We also made a decision not
- to close Kirkwood Avenue this year. That came to council later on. And you may have noted that I vetoed
- their resolution to
- to reopen or reclose Kirkwood. I did that for a number of reasons and there's a memo out there about
- it, but first and foremost, it was because we had really a great listening session and lots of input
- from the public that we're just not ready yet. That doesn't mean that we're not gonna close it in the
- future. It means that if we do it and when we do it, we need to put some significant investments into
- doing it right so it's safe for everyone
- their shade, it's a nice place to be. And that it actually is closing the street to cars means we're
- opening it to everyone and everyone can use it. The Hopewell redevelopment is also entering what city
- leaders describe as its first major housing phase. The mayor pointed to a recent decision by planners
- and council that clears the way for dozens of new homes on the south end of the site. We are partnering with
- heading home and a number of other providers launching a new initiative called Streets to Stability.
- This initiative will begin closing areas of downtown to sleeping and we will begin doing that this month.
- When we seek to close a district to sleeping, we will
- partner with the people who are currently sleeping there with a by name list that heading home is gathering.
- We will work with service providers and then those individuals will be partnered with housing resources
- one by one on an individualized basis. So this program is called Streets Disability.
- They are heading home, has a grant to fund some rental units that people will go directly into. Others
- are gonna need something other than a conventional rental unit. And so as we move through this process,
- we'll need to be looking at other resources as well. But the plan is month by month to increase that
- area of downtown where sleeping is not allowed and to get people who are sleeping outside
- inside. Inside City Hall, planning staff say that they're trying to make infill and small-scale housing
- projects more workable within the City's complex development rules. Interim Director Lynn Coyne said
- one of their goals is to make it possible to add new units on large existing lots. You know that we
- had a unanimous vote from both Plan Commission and ultimately City Council.
- to approve 98 new homes at Hopewell South. Those are compact lots. There's some multifamily there and
- the core building is still getting ready to open, but will be opening soon. This is the first phase
- of Hopewell.
- Farmers Market is there every Tuesday. You all can help by sending people to Farmers Market Tuesday
- afternoons. We're activating that with bands every single week during the summer. And it's right now
- an intimate gathering, but we would like to really expand that Farmers Market on Tuesdays at Hopewell.
- This month we expect to plait Hopewell, Hopewell South.
- and so then we can get moving on construction thereafter. And just to set the expectations, getting
- started on construction means infrastructure, not digging foundations for housing quite yet. Kirkwood
- Avenue remains an open question after the mayor vetoed a council decision to close it to vehicular traffic.
- She said a new planning effort is underway that could still reshape the corridor.
- We're looking at an ordinance now amendment that allows the division of a lot, a large lot, into two.
- And that seems like a very simple thing. No, it's not. Let's say if you have a large lot and you have
- a house on the front and you want to have room for another house behind it, there are requirements about
- frontage and I mentioned the FAR code. The FAR code
- More than you need to know, a standard fire hose is 150 feet long. And they have to be able to get from
- that right away, the main street, 150 feet back. So the building can't be any more than 150 feet from
- that truck on that hose, as measured by the hose. So we have to work that in. You also have to, a lot
- of those rear lots don't have stormwater drainage facilities. And how do you deal with that? Because
- it's a small parcel.
- Those are some of the challenges we met, but we're working on it. We think we've figured out ways to
- do that. And we're excited by that. That's exactly what we're trying to do. And so you need to find
- ways to make that work. The next traveling town hall will be in October.
- The city's latest community survey drew criticism from the Bloomington City Council during its regular
- meeting on August 5th. Several council members and local residents said that the survey intentionally
- excluded Indiana University students in an effort to focus on year-round residents.
- Jeff Anderson, president of Acuity Research, who conducted the survey, says they purposely designed
- it to reflect the views of what he calls, quote, permanent residents, unquote, rather than the city's
- large student population. The goal of the survey was, again, given that we wanted this to be more of
- a resident survey, we targeted
- those who are more likely to be year round residents and less students, because the opinions from the
- students, while important, we're recognizing that many of them are not long-term residents, haven't
- been in Bloomington very long, won't be in Bloomington very long. So we were designing our sample to
- be more representative of year round residents outside of the,
- significant IU population. Since those residents are obviously taxpayers are probably more engaged in
- the community, more familiar with city services and city issues than the IU population. So the reason,
- the difference in what you called out from census data versus our sample is taking that into account.
- Councilmember Sidney Zulik called the reasoning behind excluding students offensive. I second councilmember
- Stasberg's comment as someone who was very recently a student herself but also represents 10,000 plus
- young people. That is a stunningly insulting answer.
- Zulik asked how the firm was selected. Communications director Desiree de Molina said that the city
- changed its approach after receiving backlash from the 2023 survey.
- In 2023 we did receive a lot of feedback in response to the community survey that was issued out in
- terms of things like you know the questions and the questionnaire and some critiques and residents feeling
- that the questions were lengthy and maybe did not capture some of the concerns and considerations for
- the larger community and were pretty targeted. So I don't know if Jeff has anything that he
- would particularly like to add to this. Yeah.
- Yeah, we've also recently conducted surveys in other communities with a large student population. Our
- recommendation at the beginning of this was to take the approach that again, from those who are most
- engaged with the community that it should focus
- primarily on permanent and year round residents. When we've conducted surveys with student populations,
- we get a very low response rate, either because they're not familiar with the community or
- They're just not as, as interested. The council took no action on the survey during the meeting. However,
- several members signaled that they would continue discussing how future community surveys can better
- capture the voices of all Bloomington residents. The Monroe County waste reduction district's executive
- committee met on August 4th and advanced budget and policy updates while eyeing a long-term tax changes.
- Executive Director Tom McGlassen reported about $13,000 more in projected revenue and a matching increase
- in expenses, including staff training and a wrap for a new hybrid minivan. He said that state property
- tax changes could eventually cut the district's levy by about $150,000 annually, but not overnight.
- I think that regardless of what happens, you know, we're in a strong enough financial position with
- cash reserves that
- You know, we don't have to have a knee-jerk reaction to a substantial, I mean, obviously we can't,
- you know, absorb a $150,000 annual hit forever, but we don't have to turn right around and stop the
- program because we lost $150,000. We have enough money to have time to plan for how to best address
- this and minimize the impact on residents.
- The Waste Reduction District Board will meet again on August 13. The Monroe County Election Board met
- on August 6, where they engaged in lengthy discussions about a complaint filed against a candidate running
- for office. Earlier this year, Monroe County Assessor and a Democrat incumbent Judy Sharp filed a complaint
- against independent candidate Jenny Trimble.
- Clerk Nicole Brown stated that no law was violated, so the complaint should be dismissed. I am going
- to the third line of what we received, which is which says we do not have a law that makes it illegal.
- I assume the word two should be in there to offer property in exchange for signing a petition and that. That.
- I want to say I do not see why we should have a hearing in this manner and I would make a motion that
- we dismiss the complaint. The board ultimately voted in favor of tabling a decision until county assessor
- Judy Sharp could present evidence to support her complaint.
- Until that meeting happens, the board will also be seeking further clarification about definitions in
- Indiana code and election law. Members of the public expressed their opinions as well. Republican board
- member Danny Shields warned the public that he would have people removed for speaking out of turn. And
- it would probably be more fair to give an advance notice of a hearing so she would have more time to prepare.
- Okay, if people speak out, out of turn, I will have them removed. We're having a hearing. This is not
- a football game. I don't need your opinions until you get to the microphone. The board set tentative
- dates for a hearing about Sharpe's complaint. Before adjourning the meeting, the board allowed time
- for public comments. Jenny Trimble commented that there is no evidence against her. I just want to start
- off by saying,
- I don't mind if you guys have 50 more meetings or hearings over if I violated the state code because
- I did not. There will not be one piece of evidence presented because I didn't receive a sheet of signatures,
- one signature, not a dollar, nothing for the help and advice that I offered the taxpayers to tell them
- the public information that's on the Department of Local Government Finances website that they are allowed
- to access.
- anybody can talk about the tax assessment system. So I'm not worried about that. Have 20 more. There's
- not going to be any evidence. What I do want to say is I'm very concerned that you, Danny Shields, a
- sitting member of this board, you have for over a year targeted me, attacked me in person to
- to people, you've approached people on social media, you've text people in person, you've told them
- to stay away from me, don't support me, not have anything to do with me. You've actually threatened
- people within your own party that if they supported me, there would be retaliation against them. And
- you attended a signature event in Ellitsville to see who showed up. So that's very concerning to me.
- that a member of this board that has anything to do with my candidacy has been treating me this way.
- Although you have yet to have one conversation with me. That's the only thing I wanted to say other
- than Penny, I'm not even gonna address anything, so I'm not surprised by you. I don't even know how
- you're allowed to have anything to do with Monroe County after our current jail justice center debacle.
- You should have no input.
- with this county at all. And I do want to just thank Nicole Brown, because you're the only sitting member
- up here with common sense and integrity. And that's all I have to say. Danny Shields expressed
- his disagreement with Trimble's comment. First of all, quite an imagination there. Thank you. The meeting
- that I attended, here's how I attended the meeting. I had five hours of 15-year-old drivers that morning.
- and driver's ed. I went home at two o'clock, I got my trailer, I went to Menards, and I bought $400
- worth of treated lumber, including pieces 14 feet long. Anybody that's carried pieces of lumber that
- low know what it weighs. I took it home, I put it up on the deck to work on it. I said to my wife, let's
- just go to the Chinese restaurant in the Mislun Plaza, because by now it was 6.15 or so.
- I drove into the parking lot of Eastman Plaza. I drove up the first row of parking. There was no place
- to park. I made a circle around again. I came up and did find a parking place. I walked out of the car,
- went across the street, remembered I forgot my phone, went back and got the phone. We went into the
- restaurant where we spent about 35 minutes having dinner. I walked back out. We got in the car and I
- left. If that's attending your signing,
- If that's attending your signing, you do have quite an imagination. In the letter that you sent, and
- by the way, nice AI letter. I appreciate that. It said, we sat in the car and watched. We sat in the
- restaurant and had dinner. So you can continue. You can make up all the stuff you want to make up. I
- don't care. I don't care.
- we're not going anywhere okay the next election board meeting a hearing regarding the complaints against
- a candidate joe davis is tentatively set for august 12th at 9 a.m and that is all for cats week thank
- you for joining us for cats and wfhp i'm analise poorman