Delayed by Bloomington board: Right-of-way closures for Miller-Showers city gateway construction
In a change of plans, over the next few days, Reed & Sons Construction will not be starting onsite preparations for various improvements at the north end of Miller-Showers Park.
The scheduled work is supposed to include a 40-foot tall gateway monument costing about $400,000. The monolith features the word “Bloomington” in all caps inscribed vertically from top to bottom.
What delayed the parks department project was a decision made by Bloomington’s board of public works at its Tuesday night meeting.
In the area of College Avenue and Old 37, Reed & Sons had requested temporary sidewalk and lane closures, with proposed pedestrian detours, in order to make the construction work possible.
But the board voted to put off approval of those right-of-way closures.
After hearing several negative comments from the public mic about the proposed monument, and asking questions of her own, board president Kyla Cox Deckard said she wanted to put off a decision on the request for right-of-way closures.
“Seeing as we don’t have all the answers and we’re not going to have all the answers—I’m fully aware of that—I’d like to table this item,” Cox Deckard said.
Public works director Adam Wason immediately weighed in, to remind the board that its purview for evaluating the request was the use of the public right-of-way—not the art project and not the expenditures associated with it.
About Cox Deckard’s intent to delay, Wason said, “If that is the board’s desire, that is not my suggestion this evening.”
Wason continued, “I am asking for the approval of the use of the right of way, per the board’s purview.”
Cox Deckard replied: “And I very much respect that.” But she added, “And I’d like us to table.”
Her colleague, Elizabeth Karon, had indicated an interest in teasing apart different elements of the project, So it was not a surprise that Karon joined Cox Deckard to make the tally 2–0 on the vote to put off the request.
Responding to a B Square question after the meeting, Cox Deckard said she intends to have the right-of-way closure request back on the agenda for the next board of public works meeting, which falls on Sept. 26.
The board normally has three members, all of whom are appointed under state law by the mayor. But Jennifer Lloyd stepped down from the board after its Aug. 29 meeting, due to a family matter that takes her out of state for a substantial period of time.
Here’s the breakdown of the costs: Reed & Sons Construction for site improvement work ($575,000); Bo-Mar for fabrication of the gateway monolith ($395,105); and Rundell Ernstberger Associates for research and design ($133,925).
For Cox Deckard, a big question concerns the relationship between the planned gateway site work at the north of Miller-Showers and the potential need to reconstruct some of those elements, depending on the outcome of the College-Walnut corridor study. The park is flanked by those two streets.
One possible recommendation from that study is for the one-way pair of streets to be converted from one-way to two-way, with a range of possible new lane width configurations.
At the board’s Monday work session, city engineer Andrew Cibor had given some assurance that coordination—between the parks department, planning and transportation, and his own engineering department—was taking place, in connection with the corridor study.
Cibor said the placement of many of the features of the parks project is being planned in a way that is hoped to minimize the chance of anything needing to be reconstructed.
On Tuesday, planning and transportation director Scott Robinson described the College-Walnut study as “in process.” Robinson said, “We’re still collecting public comment.” It would be six more months before a “preferred alternative” would be revealed, Robinson said.
From the public mic on Tuesday several residents objected to the planned gateway monument on aesthetic or environmental grounds.
Leading off was artist David Ebbinghouse, who talked about the “Red, Blond, Black and Olive” sculpture by Jean Paul Darriau, which is also located on the northern end of Miller-Showers Park.
Ebbinghouse said he is concerned that the gateway monument would “dwarf” the Darriau sculpture, which he described as on a “human scale.” Ebbinghouse said, “This tower that’s being proposed is not on a human scale. And they’re calling it an artwork, but…in my opinion, it has no artistic value.”
Following Ebbinghouse to the mic was Mark Wroblewski, who supported the site improvements that will make the area more accessible to pedestrians and bicyclists. (One of the planned improvements is filling in the sidewalk gap on the former Steak and Shake property.)
But Wroblewski agreed with Ebbinghouse about the artistic merit of the planned gateway. He called it “the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen.” He said he simply wanted to be on record opposing the gateway element.
Weighing in on the Zoom video conferencing chat window was Jane Goodman, who wrote that the right-of-way considered by the board is “only for humans.” Goodman was concerned about the “avian right-of-way.” She continued, “Miller-Showers was built to be a lovely habitat for birds and waterfowl.” Goodman asked that the board take avian welfare into consideration, and if possible to relocate the gateway sculpture to a different location.
Also commenting from the Zoom public mic was Susan Brackney, who wondered which residents and how many residents offered feedback on the gateway design. “This is the first that most of us have heard of this, or seen this 40-foot-tall illuminated monument,” she said.
Invited later to respond to Brackney about the public process was director of park operations Tim Street. He described how the funding had been approved by the city council through issuance of the bicentennial bonds in 2018. Rundell Ernstberger Associates looked at various locations around the city that would be suitable for a gateway. The COVID-19 pandemic put things on pause, Street said.
Miller-Showers Park was identified as a good gateway location because it’s one of the busiest intersections in town, where a lot of people come in and out of Bloomington, Street said. In December of last year, public input was sought through a public forum in the lobby of city hall.
Different designs were then posted on the parks website for several weeks for people to comment on, Street said. The Bloomington Arts Commission was also consulted for some feedback on the preliminary design, Street said. After some adjustments were made early this year the final result was settled, Street said.
Brackney also raised several environmental questions. Will the illumination of the monument be solar powered? Has the Bo-Mar firm manufactured similar projects that would lend credibility to its claim that the monument will not contribute to light pollution? How many lumens will it emit? Can the LEDs be dimmed, if wildlife conservationists deem them to be too bright or too disruptive? Will area ornithologists be consulted to work out a “go dark” schedule to accommodate heavy bird migration times?
Some other speakers from the Zoom public mic echoed the environmental and artistic concerns, including an interest in tapping local artistic talent for such projects.
Susan Lepselter said that Bloomington should think “outside the box” for use of the bonds that had been issued for the gateway project. An investment in housing and food security could be made in a way that would be framed as a commemoration of the city’s bicentennial, she said.
Also weighing in on the Zoom platform, was resident Betty Rose Nagle who told the board of public works: “You, right now, are the people who can stop this. You can do it right now.” She continued, “It’s a tough lift. It’s a big ask. But that’s what we’re asking. I hope you will do that. Please do that.”
At least for another two weeks, the board has made the tough lift that Nagle requested.
