Category: Local Government

The Mill to pay $4.6M for Bloomington Trades District land, means all 4 developable tracts now sold

The sale of Tract 1 and Tract 2 in Bloomington’s Trades District for a total of $4.6 million was approved by the city’s redevelopment commission at its regular Monday meeting.

The purchaser is The Mill, which is a private nonprofit operating out of the former Showers Brothers furniture factory dimension mill building on Madison Street. That’s south of 11th Street and north of the city hall building. The Mill is a coworking space that describes itself as a part of the city’s “startup ecosystem.”

To pay for the land, The Mill is using part of a $16 million award to the Indiana University Foundation, from the Lilly Endowment, through Lilly’s College and Community Collaboration (CCC) initiative.

When the land deal closes sometime in the next few weeks, Bloomington’s redevelopment commission will have sold all four tracts in the Trades District, which it offered for sale in June of last year. The sale of Tract 3 and Tract 4 to Alluinn IU Trades District Hotel for $1.2 million LLC  was approved by the RDC in early November.

The $4.6 million figure reflects the sum of the individual $2.55 million and $2.05 million price tags for the parcels, which amount to roughly 3 acres. Continue reading “The Mill to pay $4.6M for Bloomington Trades District land, means all 4 developable tracts now sold” →

Hopewell East land offering made by Bloomington, follows Hopewell South, West to come

The city of Bloomington, through its redevelopment commission (RDC), has put up for sale another $6 million worth of land.  It’s a bit south of downtown, at the site of the former IU Health hospital at the intersection of 2nd and Rogers streets.

The land was acquired by the RDC from the health care provider, and a new neighborhood is planned there, called Hopewell—which could see as many as 900 units of new housing built there.

Two months ago, the RDC issued a public offering for the part of the planned neighborhood south of 1st Street, which is called Hopewell South.

This time around, the land sits at the southwest corner of 2nd and Morton streets, running essentially along the west side of the B-Line Trail—it’s called Hopewell East. The public offering for Hopewell East was approved at the Bloomington RDC’s regular Monday meeting.

Eventually to be offered is the land where the actual IU Health hospital building stood, before it was demolished. That’s Hopewell West.

The specific real estate in this week’s offering is made up of three lots totalling about 3.5 acres: Block 1 ($1,972,000); Block 2 ($1,839,000); and Block 3 ($2,325,000). That total comes to $6,136,000. Continue reading “Hopewell East land offering made by Bloomington, follows Hopewell South, West to come” →

Early payoff of debt on existing Monroe Convention Center to be mulled by CVC

Monroe Convention Center looking northwest. (Nov. 17, 2024)

The expansion of the current Monroe Convention Center at 3rd Street and College Avenue could take another small step forward early this week.

At its noon meeting on Monday, the Monroe County convention and visitors commission (CVC) could vote to pay off the existing $917,844.77 worth of debt on the convention center building.

That would clear the way for a cleaner transfer of the property from the existing owner, which is legally, the Monroe County Convention Center Building Corporation. That’s a nonprofit with a board of directors, which through the end of 2023 consisted of Jerry Neely, Joyce Poling, Cindy Kinnarney, and Thom Simmons. Continue reading “Early payoff of debt on existing Monroe Convention Center to be mulled by CVC” →

Analysis: Bloomington city councilmember demands decorum, but what about First Amendment?

The mayor and the city council of Bloomington make up an all-Democrat group of elected officials, who are approaching the one-year mark in their four-year terms.

They were all sworn into office on Jan. 1, 2024.

Despite their all-Democrat makeup, a certain rift has evolved between some members of the city council and Kerry Thomson’s mayoral administration.

It’s a rift that was evident in the recent stand-off over an appointment to the city’s historic preservation commission. It was a conflict that was initially invisible to the public.

However, completely visible to the public from the start was an accusation by councilmember Matt Flaherty, against deputy mayor Gretchen Knapp, that her remarks during a city council meeting breached the council’s rules of decorum that are ensconced in Robert’s Rules. Continue reading “Analysis: Bloomington city councilmember demands decorum, but what about First Amendment?” →

OK’d by Monroe County election board: 60 of about 400 provisional ballots, no impact on results

From left: Judith Benckart, John Fernandez, ad Nicole Browne, Kylie Farris, and Ashley Lirot. (Nov. 15, 2024)
Monroe County election supervisor Kylie Farris. (Nov. 15, 2024)

At 12:01 p.m. on Friday, Monroe County’s election board started its work to review the provisional ballots that were cast in the Nov. 5, 2024 election.

Out of the roughly 400 ballots, 60 were accepted as valid, while the others were rejected. There was no impact on the outcome of any of the races.

Noon was the deadline for “curing” some categories of provisional ballots, like those cast by someone who was not able to show the required identification on Election Day.

Such voters had 10 days to submit their identification to the voter registration office. Continue reading “OK’d by Monroe County election board: 60 of about 400 provisional ballots, no impact on results” →

Monroe County jail project now has approved contract with construction manager

Chris Ciolli, with Weddle Bros. construction briefs county councilors and county commissioners on construction inflation costs at a joint meeting of county electeds on Oct. 22, 2024. (CATS screen grab.)

The day after the Monroe County council approved its side of the real estate deal for the site in North Park where the new jail and justice complex will be built, county commissioners approved a contract with  a group called WGS as construction manager for the project.

The letters in the acronym come from three different construction companies who are working as a kind of joint venture–Weddle Bros. Building Group, Garmong Construction, and Smoot Construction.

Under the terms of the deal, WGS will receive $200,000 for pre-construction activities, in addition to 2 percent of the construction cost, and $100,000 a month during the construction period.

The ballpark overall project budget is around $200 million, with the hard construction costs around $160 million. The 2-percent figure works out to at least $3.2 million.

Construction is expected to take two and a half years, or 30 months. At $100,000 a month that works out to $3 million.

County commissioners approved the contract at their Wednesday (Nov. 13) meeting. Continue reading “Monroe County jail project now has approved contract with construction manager” →

Approvals now complete for purchase of North Park property as new Monroe County jail site

Monroe County commissioners administrator Angie Purdy and county attorney Jeff Cockerill (Nov. 13, 2024)
Monroe County council, from background to foreground: Marty Hawk, Geoff McKim, Trent Deckard, Jennifer Crossley, Kate Wiltz, and Peter Iversen. (Nov. 13, 2024)

At its Tuesday meeting, the Monroe County council approved a $11.375-million purchase agreement for the land where a new county jail and co-located justice complex is now planned to be built.

The property that the councilors agreed to buy amounts to about 52 acres in North Park, off SR46, south of Hunter Valley Road, which is owned by Steve Crider through Logan Land Development.

Councilors approved the agreement on a 5–1 vote, with dissent from Marty Hawk. Cheryl Munson was absent.

For such a land purchase, approvals from both the board of commissioners and the county council are required under state law.

The council’s approval on Tuesday followed the authorization given by county commissioners in late October.

According to county attorney Jeff Cockerill, a next step will be to make a request of the county plan commission for a revision to the current PUD (planned unit development) zoning of the property. Cockerill told The B Square that the requested rezone could be in front of the plan commission by January 2025.

Construction is expected to take at least two and a half years.

[Added Nov. 15, 2024. A wrinkle has emerged. It turns out that a second vote by the county council will be required, because under state law The council’s action was taken in the form of an ordinance, which means that it will need another vote at a second meeting—because the first vote was not unanimous. That’s how state law works for ordinances (as opposed to resolutions) that are enacted by the county council.]
Continue reading “Approvals now complete for purchase of North Park property as new Monroe County jail site” →

$370K for security in 2025 OK’d by Bloomington park commissioners, will push total since 2021 to $1M+

Bloomington’s board of park commissioners from left: Israel Herrera, Kathleen Mills, and Ellen Rodkey. Jim Whitlatch was absent. (Nov. 12, 2024)
B-Line Trail looking north from the Grimes Lane bridge (Nov. 12, 2024)
B-Line Trail and Switchyard Park looking south from the Grimes Lane Bridge. (Nov. 12, 2024))

On Tuesday, a $370,000 contract  with Marshall Security, Inc (MSI) was approved by Bloomington’s board of park commissioners at its regular monthly meeting.

Based on payments recorded in Bloomington’s online financial system, from 2021 through mid-November 2024, the city of Bloomington has paid $950,019 to MSI for security in the city’s parks.

By the end of 2025, that figure will reach around $1.3 million.

According to the memo from parks operations coordinator Amy Leyenbeck, which is included in the meeting information packet, based on the incident reports in the parks to be patrolled by MSI, “there is a daily need for [MSI’s] presence.”

The patrols by MSI are provided by “unarmed uniformed security officers.”

The memo continues, “We look forward to continuing the contract into another year to help promote a safe environment at our core parks and trails throughout 2025.” Continue reading “$370K for security in 2025 OK’d by Bloomington park commissioners, will push total since 2021 to $1M+” →

Bloomington mayor rebukes city council for lack of public deliberations on HPC appointment

Bloomington city council. (Nov. 6, 2024)
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. (Nov. 6, 2024)
Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. (Nov. 6, 2024)

This past Wednesday, at Bloomington’s city council meeting, mayor Kerry Thomson used her time at the mic to make a clarion call for applications to serve on the city’s historic preservation commission (HPC).

Appointments to positions on the HPC are somewhat unusual, because they are the mayor’s to make, but are subject to approval by the city council.

Thomson also used her time to report to the council that Alyson Baer—who was Thomson’s appointment to the HPC that she had previously asked the council to approve—had withdrawn herself from consideration.

Here’s how the mayor put it, speaking to the council on Wednesday:

I selected as my appointment the only non white-male that had applied to the HPC. And unfortunately, my original appointment, and the only candidate of any diversity, no longer wishes to be considered for this volunteer position, as the initial appointment process was unwelcoming.

The “unwelcoming” process that the mayor described included an under-the-radar rebuff of Thomson’s appointment, which took place at the council’s Oct. 16 meeting. That’s when the council did not consider Baer’s appointment, during the time on the standard council agenda that is labeled “Appointments to boards and commissions”

That’s despite the fact that Baer’s selection by the mayor to be appointed to the HPC was reflected in the clerk’s memo about the appointments, which was included in the meeting information packet.

Three days after the Oct. 16 meeting, Thomson emailed city councilmembers  with a full-throated condemnation of the council’s failure to give public consideration to Baer’s appointment. In her email message, she describes the approach the council took as “behind-the-scenes” lobbying.

Thomson also described it as “a breach of public accountability.” Continue reading “Bloomington mayor rebukes city council for lack of public deliberations on HPC appointment” →

Monroe County BZA to appeal court ruling against denial of variance for logging road near Lake Monroe

Property owned by Huff family where disputed road was constructed (March 2024 imagery)
Monroe County Board of zoning appeals meeting, from left clockwise: Margaret Clements, unidentified, Pamela Davidson, Guy Loftman, Jackie Jelen (planning director), David Schilling (county attorney). (Nov. 8, 2024)

On Oct. 15, special judge Erik Allen ruled against the Monroe County board of appeals (BZA) in a lawsuit  filed by William and Nicole Huff, about the denial of a use variance for a logging road near Lake Monroe.

But at a Friday morning meeting, Monroe County’s board of zoning appeals (BZA) voted to appeal the ruling.

The BZA also voted not to ask the court for a stay on any road construction activity to install the road, reasoning that a stay would only increase the risk of possible damages, if the court of appeals eventually also ruled against the BZA. Continue reading “Monroe County BZA to appeal court ruling against denial of variance for logging road near Lake Monroe” →