Bloomington RDC: $5M for roads, $145K for Hopewell South rezone, $58K for police HQ Study

At its regular meeting on Monday, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission (RDC) got an in-depth briefing on the state of its TIF (tax increment financing) revenue, which did not require any votes.

But the RDC still transacted significant business in connection with development in the southwestern part of the city, and in Hopewell, the site around the former IU Health hospital site at 2nd and Rogers streets.

The RDC approved a $5-million set-aside for planning and design work for infrastructure in the southwest part of the city.

The location of a planned new police headquarters, at 714 S. Rogers Street also got some attention, because of the vacant building’s close proximity to Hopewell South, the current focus of Hopewell redevelopment. The RDC approved a $58,250 feasibility study for the building’s use as a police HQ, and a $145,000 contract with a consultant to shepherd Hopewell South through a rezone process.

$5 million for southwest quadrant

At Monday’s meeting, the RDC set aside $5 million for infrastructure work in the southwest quadrant of the city. That was a leftover item from the RDC’s previous meeting, when the RDC did not have enough members present to vote. A bare minimum quorum of three was present, but the recusal of Randy Cassady, as an adjoining landowner, meant that the group would have fallen short of the three votes needed for action by the five-member RDC.

The funds that are getting set aside would be devoted to design and planning work—such as roadway layouts, potential new intersections, and solutions for traffic bottlenecks arising from increased residential and commercial demand.

Dana Kerr, an assistant attorney in the city’s legal department, described in more detail the concept of some of the road and intersection improvements that the planning work could target. Intersections mentioned by Kerr included: Weimer and Wapehani roads; Weimer and Bloomfield roads; Weimer and Sudbury roads; Allen and Adams streets; and Vanguard Parkway and Tapp Road.

One possible new road alignment could extend Vanguard Parkway north to join Weimer Road at Wapehani Road. Another new road described by Kerr could fill in the gap in Adams Street by extending it southward across the county-owned Thomson PUD to join the Adams Street stub north of Summit Elementary School. A third potential new road would extend Sudbury Drive from Weimer Road eastward to join the new segment of Adams Street.

Some of the new road infrastructure would support the Summit District PUD, which was approved by the city council in May 2024. The other area targeted for development is property owned by Public Investment Corporation (PIC), north of Tapp Road, and east of the Wapehani Mountain Bike Park.

Travis Vencel, one of the Summit District developers, attended Monday’s RDC meeting. He told commissioners he supports setting aside some of the TIF money for design and engineering work for the roads. He estimated it was about three miles worth of roadway that needs to be constructed or reconstructed, across territory that is somewhat unknown. That makes it a way bigger project than a smaller four-block residential subdivision that’s getting designed in a place where all the factors are known, Vencel said.

Contract for Hopewell South PUD rezone

Approved by the RDC at Monday’s meeting was a $145,000 contract with Flintlock LAB to shepherd Hopewell South through a rezone process.

That comes on top of a previously authorized contract with Flintlock LAB for up to $300,000 for the design of pre-approved plans for Hopewell South houses. Hopewell South sits south of 1st Street. After two requests for proposals (RFPs) did not yield submissions that the city wanted to pursue, Bloomington is now pursuing an approach to the development of Hopewell South that is supposed to make it possible for smaller, local builders to get into the mix.

Monday’s contract was for Flintlock LAB to shepherd Hopewell South through the PUD (planned unit development) rezone process. A PUD is a kind of customized zoning, based on the existing zoning district.

The Hopewell South PUD rezone is now hoped to be in front of the Bloomington City council in spring 2026, according to RDC director Anna Killion-Hanson. The point of the rezone is to increase the number of houses from 28, which would be allowed by-right, to somewhere between 84 to 118 homes with a PUD.

Killion-Hanson ticked through a possible timeline for the rezone, which would get a look from the planning department’s development review committee in early December, and possibly appear on the city plan commission’s agenda for its first meeting of 2026 in January. If it needs a second hearing in front of the plan commission, that would mean a February plan commission hearing, setting the stage for consideration by the city council in March.

The minimum size for a PUD rezone is 5 acres. To get to the required minimum area, will mean including in the PUD a parcel adjoining the planned Hopewell South housing development—which includes the RDC-owned former Bloomington Convalescent Center building at 714 S. Rogers Street, which is now vacant.

714 S. Rogers as police HQ

The 714 S. Rogers building was also the subject of RDC action on Monday night. The RDC approved a $58,250 feasibility study by American Structurepoint, to determine whether it will be possible to convert the building into a new headquarters for Bloomington’s police department. The study will assess the building’s structural suitability, possible renovation costs, spatial adequacy for modern policing needs, and implications for neighboring land use.

The 714 S. Rogers building has been targeted by Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomas as the future replacement for the police department’s current headquarters on 3rd Street. John Hamilton’s mayoral administration had pursued an option to put the police headquarters in Showers West, but when Kerry Thomson took office, she did not follow that plan. Thomson’s logic was that there was not enough money in the bond issuance to complete the police headquarters relocation to Showers West, and there was solid opposition from police officers to that location.

There was not a formal RFP process to select a consultant to do a review of the 714 S. Rogers building. Assistant city attorney Dana Kerr told the RDC that four firms had been invited to a meeting, three had attended, and of the three, American Structurepoint had risen to the top.

Capital projects manager Anna Dragovich told the RDC at Monday’s meeting that American Structurepoint had done a lot of work for the city of Bloomington over several years.

The city’s online financials show that since 2015 the firm has done about $2 million worth of work over the years, pretty evenly spread out over that time, mostly related to transportation engineering, traffic-signal optimization, trail and corridor construction oversight, and utility relocation.

Dragovich said at Monday’s meeting that American Structurepoint also has experience in building design and engineering, giving the recently completed police headquarters in Lafayette as an example.

Bloomington resident Seth Mutchler weighed in through a Zoom chat message with a public comment, opposing the use of 714 S. Rogers as a police headquarters. His remarks concluded with this: “Now is the time to invest in community members, not a larger police headquarters which inevitably will mean more police. I understand the moral question is not exactly your purview but I ask you to please consider it in tonight’s decision and decisions moving forward.”

The feasibility study for the 714 S. Rogers Street building is expected to be completed in six to eight weeks, according to Dragovich.