View of 523 West 7th St. facing north towards Fairview Elementary School on Jan. 21, 2020. A house stood there until late September 2019.
View of 523 West 7th St. facing south on Jan. 21, 2020. A house stood there until late September 2019.
After the owners of a house on West 7th Street demolished it last year, the city of Bloomington imposed an $83,500 fine—for not first getting a certificate of zoning compliance.
Before the house was demolished, it was reviewed for possible historic designation. According to city officials, it was still under the review process, when it was demolished.
Extract from 1940 U.S. Census for Bloomington, Indiana.
Map showing the newly created Near West Side Conservation District.
Betty Bridgwaters delivers public comment at the Bloomington city council meeting on Dec. 4. (CATS screenshot)
When the 1940 U.S. census was taken in Bloomington, Indiana, the enumerator who visited 935 W. 7th Street took down the information about the residents of the house from Ada Deal, a 40-year-old Black woman.
She was born in Kentucky, like her husband, Maceo, who was one year older. The Deals had nine children at that time, ranging from seven-month-old Charlotte to 19-year-old Mary. They owned the house they lived in, which was valued at $1,200.
Maceo Deal, who’s listed as the “head of household,” is described as an “interior decorator” who worked for a department store.
Deal got a mention a couple weeks ago, at the Dec. 4 meeting of Bloomington’s city council. That’s when the council gave unanimous approval to a new conservation district on the west side of town, where Deal used to live. A conservation district is similar to, but less restrictive than, a historic district.
It was Near West Side citizen Betty Bridgwaters, who cited Deal, when she made remarks from the public podium.
At its committee-of-the-whole meeting last Wednesday—the day after municipal elections were held in two city council districts—the Bloomington city council’s deliberations included the outcome of a different kind of public vote.
A referendum among the owners of 325 properties in the proposed Near West Side Conservation District came out 70-47 in favor of establishing the district. It’s the area roughly bounded on the north by the railroad right-of-way alongside Butler Park, on the south by Kirkwood Avenue and on the west by North Adams.
The council’s vote on Wednesday to recommend (to itself) approval of the conservation district was 8–0. The conservation district is planned to be taken up for a council vote at it’s Dec. 4 meeting. Based on the committee vote, it can be expected to pass.
Another, future vote among property owners, to be taken three years after the district is approved, will determine whether the district remains a conservation district or is elevated to a historic district. Unless a majority of property owners object, the conservation district automatically converts to a historic district.
According to a press released issued Monday afternoon and subsequent clarification from the city, Bloomington’s department of planning and transportation has levied an $83,500 fine against the owners of a house on 7th Street. They demolished the house in late September without first obtaining a certificate of zoning compliance.
523 W. 7th Street on Sept. 30, 2019 (Dave Askins/Beacon)
On Aug. 8, the city’s historic preservation commission (HPC) recommended the house to the city council for historic designation. The commission’s resolution did not explicitly say that the house was being put under interim protection.
But the requirement of a certificate of zoning compliance before demolition applies to structures whether or not they’re under consideration for historic designation. It was the owners’ request for such a certificate that led to the demolition delay process, which the HPC was following when it made its recommendation for historic designation.
The amount of the fine, according to the press release, was based on a penalty levied for each day the property was in violation of the city code, but capped at the most recent assessed value of the house and garage by Monroe County’s auditor.
Late Monday afternoon, Bloomington’s corporation counsel, Philippa Guthrie, told The Beacon that the property owners, David Holdman and Judie Baker, had filed an appeal of the city’s decision to fine them.
A notice of the violation was sent to Holdman and Judie Baker on Oct. 16, according to the press release. The press release says that the property owners have a right to appeal to the city’s board of zoning appeals within five days of the date of the notice.
523 W. 7th Street on Sept. 30, 2019 (Dave Askins/Beacon)
523 W. 7th Street on Sept. 30, 2019 (Dave Askins/Beacon)
523 W. 7th Street on Sept. 30, 2019 (Dave Askins/Beacon)
The demolition late last week of the house at 523 W. 7th Street was initially analyzed as a flagrant flouting of Bloomington’s due process for assigning historic designation to a property. That’s because the city’s historic preservation commission passed a resolution on Aug 8, recommending to the city council that it vote to designate the house as a separate historic district.
Conor Herterich, the city’s historic preservation program manager, told The Beacon on Monday that the demolition violated the property’s interim protection against demolition—a protection provided by the commission’s resolution.
As of late Tuesday afternoon, however, it appears that the commission’s resolution, initially believed by city officials to have given the house interim protection, was not worded so that the intended protection was given. The meeting minutes from the Aug. 8 meeting say: “…the HPC recommends its historic designation under Title 8 of the BMC to the Common Council with the attached map.” There doesn’t appear to have been any explicit mention of “interim protection.”
Based on information from a source with the city, there’s been an preliminary conclusion by city staff that the property owners did not flout any interim protection, because the wording of the resolution didn’t explicitly mention “interim protection.” According to the source, there’s a second technicality that’s apparently in favor of the property owner, David Holdman. The second technical glitch is the city’s possible failure to give Holdman proper notice of the HPC’s finding and recommendation. Continue reading “Historic house teardown technicalities could add fuel to upcoming UDO debate”→
