Convention center expansion notebook: Site plan, variances, bond issuance cued up for 2025
At its regular monthly meeting on Wednesday, Monroe County’s capital improvement board got a status update on the project that the seven member group was formed to oversee—the expansion of the county convention center.
The current name of the facility at 3rd Street and College Avenue is the Monroe Convention Center. At least the new expansion, which is to be located across College Avenue from the existing building, will get a different name.
The task of recommending a process for deciding a name was assigned on Wednesday to a committee of the CIB—Jay Baer, Joyce Poling, and Jim Silberstein.
Wednesday’s update also included some crucial required approvals, which are cued up for early 2025. The site plan review is expected to be in front of the Bloomington city plan commission on Jan. 13. A hearing on some requested variances is planned for the city’s board of zoning appeals (BZA) ten days later, on Jan. 23.
A request for the city council’s approval of the bonds to be issued is likely to get a first reading on Jan. 22, with a possible vote on Feb. 5.
The bonds, to be issued against food and beverage tax revenues, will support a $71-million all-in total project cost. The schedule for the city council’s consideration was reported to the CIB by city controller Jessica McClellan, who attended Wednesday’s meeting.
McClellan did not give precise dates, saying that the plan is for two meetings, once in January and a second time in February. But that cadence squares up with the Jan. 22 and Feb. 5 meeting dates that appear on the recently approved city council annual calendar.
On the topic of the naming of the new facility, CIB president John Whikehart noted that the selling of any naming rights is subject to the terms of the interlocal agreement between city and county governments, under which the CIB operates. Those terms include the approval of the Bloomington mayor and the Monroe County board of commissioners—which Whikehart indicated is not a possibility that’s currently in the cards.
Offering a suggestion on Wednesday about one possible approach to the naming process was CIB member Doug Bruce, who talked about some kind of contest that would invite participation by residents.
Getting some discussion at Wednesday’s meeting were some landscape elements presented by Bill Riggert, an engineer who is working with Schmidt Associates on the design of the building. CIB member Adam Thies questioned the intention of constructing a 10-foot wide sidewalk along 3rd Street with street trees in the middle of it. The street trees are a requirement of the city’s UDO (unified development ordinance).
Thies put it like this: “This seems a little odd that we would want to propose a street tree in the middle of a 10-foot sidewalk—that leaves maybe three feet, maybe two feet to walk on—that’s barely wide enough for a person.”
Riggert pointed to the possibility of asking the board of zoning appeals for a variance on the street trees. In fact, the requirement on street trees is on the list of possible variances the project will be asking for from the board of zoning appeals.
During the time for public comment, city council president Isabel Piedmont-Smith pointed out that the city council’s mid-summer letter to the CIB about the project had explicitly addressed the idea of variances. The wording from the letter says: “If variances are requested, these should not undermine city policy goals as reflected in relevant city plans and city code.”
Piedmont-Smith noted that the point of the street trees includes the policy goals related to the city’s climate action plan. She questioned why the building had not been set back farther from the street, so that there was room to accommodate street trees and the need for a wide walkway.
A bigger setback from the street would mean a smaller building footprint. One of the design tweaks presented at Wednesday’s meeting was a reduction in the size of the exhibit hall, by about 2,000 square feet. But that area did not represent a reduction in the building footprint. Instead, the exhibit hall space was traded for additional “pre-function space” and a better layout for the kitchen.
The first meeting of 2025 for the CIB is set for Jan. 15.
