Plan commission OKs The Mill, 130 more apartment units to be added to Bloomington
Given site plan approval by Bloomington’s plan commission at its Monday meeting was The Mill, a five-building, 130-unit apartment complex in a development in the southwest part of town, near Summit Elementary. Construction is expected to start by August or September.
Completion of the project is targeted for August 2020, according to an email to The Beacon from Steve Brehob, who is president of Smith, Brehob & Associates, which is handling the site planning for The Ridge Group, a Muncie-based firm.
According to documents in the plan commission’s packet, each of the five buildings will include 26 units with a mix of studios, 1-bedroom and 2-bedroom apartments.
Conditions for approval recommended by city staff included:
- Construction of about 300 yards of the Clear Creek Trail on the west side of the site. That section of the trail could include some exercise stations if the city’s parks department approves it.
- Additional landscaping at the intersection of Ezekiel Drive and a
private street that is a part of the development. - Limitation on occupancy to three unrelated adults or the unified development ordinance (UDO) definition of family. According the the UDO, “family” means an individual or a group of people all of whom are related to each other by blood, marriage, or legal adoption, and any other dependent children of the household.
- Provision of bicycle parking standards, including the minimum number of covered spaces and long term storage. Bicycle parking be reviewed with the grading
plan. - Inclusion on the grading permit of a sidewalk connection between Buildings #3 and #5.
The zoning for the site, which is part of a larger development, is planned unit development (PUD). The PUD zoning was approved two decades ago by Bloomington’s common council on a 5–4 vote.
The plan commission’s role on Monday was a final decision on the site plan for The Mill—the question won’t go in front of the common council.
At Monday’s meeting of the plan commission, The Mill was handled as a consent agenda item. Commission chair Joe Hoffmann asked for comment from the public and commissioners on the question of pulling the project off the consent agenda for a full hearing. Hoffmann got no takers. The commission voted unanimously to approve The Mill.
