Local Government

Union at Crescent, a 5-story affordable housing development with 146 units in the northwest part of Bloomington, will continue to receive a tax abatement. The city council concluded that “any failure to substantially comply was caused by factors beyond the control of the property owner.”

Mayor Kerry Thomson said at a press conference on Tuesday that other Indiana jurisdictions were sending homeless individuals to Bloomington, claiming that an influx of nonresidents was straining city services. She declined to specify which jurisdictions have sent people to Bloomington.

Bloomington will argue one of its annexation cases in front of the Indiana Supreme Court on Oct 30. The case affects five of the annexation areas. It’s not about the merit of the city’s desire to annex those areas but about the constitutionality of a 2019 law.

It will take another month before the sidewalk along the north side of 3rd Street from Walnut Street up to the B-Line Trail is open again. At Tuesday night’s meeting of Bloomington’s board of public works a contract increase with Specialties Company was approved, from $17,500 to $86,500.

Monroe County’s plans to design a new jail were set back for months because of cost estimates that grew to more than $260 million by mid-spring, well over the planned budget. A meeting for public presentation of schematics set for May 29 didn’t take place and might not happen until Aug. 19 or later.

On Tuesday, the county council sat down with two county commissioners to revise a joint letter asking the legislature to modify state tax law to allow more funding for a new jail. But some residents want the county to rethink the jail project, continuing debate that started in 2008.