On Wednesday night, Bloomington’s city council took a half hour to complete the tedious process of introducing 10 separate ordinances that would change the city’s basic law on land use in the city.

After that, in just about three hours, the council wrapped up its initial discussion on eight of the ordinances. That sets up a possible vote to enact them at the council’s regular meeting next Wednesday, April 21.

The remaining two ordinances will almost certainly require more time in front of the city council, just as they did previously when the plan commission heard them.

They’re controversial enough that they’ve led to competing websites and yard signs.

One of the disputed ordinances covers the allowed use of duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes in residential neighborhoods. The other ordinance is the proposed new citywide zoning map.

The city council will take a first crack at the two more controversial ordinances, starting April 28 when it convenes a committee-of-the-whole session.

Even if the eight ordinances discussed by the council on Wednesday cover less contentious ground than the other two, they aren’t without their own controversies. And it could be too heavy a lift for the council, at next Wednesday’s regular session, to take votes on all eight.

On Wednesday, councilmembers indicated that they’d like to propose amendments to some of the eight ordinances. Debate and public commentary on any amendments will factor into the time it takes to complete the council’s work on the eight pieces of legislation.

One theme that cut across two different ordinances was the required daylighting of projects to the public. Continue reading “8 of 10 zoning ordinances now teed up for possible vote on April 21 by Bloomington city council” →