Johnson’s Creamery: No new alley means no swap, but council’s vacation stands, project can proceed

On the list of Bloomington public rights-of-way there is no longer an east-west alley cutting across the former Johnson’s Creamery parcel off 7th Street and The B-Line Trail.

The city council took care of that when it voted 8–1 to grant a request from Peerless Development to vacate the existing alley at that location.  The dissenting vote came from Dave Rollo.

That clears the way for a housing project that Peerless wants to build.

But on Tuesday night, Bloomington’s board of public works denied a request from Peerless to dedicate a new alley, just to the south of the one that had been vacated.

The denial of the new alley dedication does not stand in the way of the plans that Peerless has for development of the parcel with a 51-unit apartment building. The site plan for the building has been approved by the city’s plan commission.

The plan commission’s approval of the building’s site plan was contingent just on the vacation of the alley. The proposed apartment building would have sat partly in the middle of the alley that was vacated on Monday night. Continue reading “Johnson’s Creamery: No new alley means no swap, but council’s vacation stands, project can proceed”

Bloomington sewer, stormwater rate increases get city council OK

Approved by Bloomington’s city council on Wednesday night were increases to sewer (wastewater) and stormwater rates. Not affected are drinking water rates.

Stormwater rates will increase from $5.95 a month to $7.50 a month for about a 26-percent increase. That works out to $18.60 more a year. [($7.50 – $5.95) * 12] The stormwater rate increase will take effect in January 2023.

On the sewer side, the increases are in two phases, the first in January 2023 and the second two years later, starting in January 2025.

For the sewer monthly service charge, the first bump is from $8.19 to $9.17 and then to $9.72. From the current rate to the Phase II rate, that’s an 18.6-percent increase. [$8.19/($9.72 – $8.19)]

For the sewer usage rate, the first bump is from $7.99 per 1,000 gallons to $8.95, then to $9.49 in the second phase. From the current rate to the Phase II rate, that’s about an 18.7-percent increase. [($9.49 – $7.99)/ $7.99]

Based on past B Square reporting, an average city of Bloomington utilities (CBU) customer who lives inside the city uses 3,300 gallons of sewage service a month.

Comparing current rates to what the rates will eventually be under Phase II, an average inside-the-city customer would see an annual sewer bill increase from $414.68 to $492.44.

The votes on the rate increases were unanimous. Continue reading “Bloomington sewer, stormwater rate increases get city council OK”

Johnson’s Creamery alley vacated by city council on 8–1 vote, BPW to see request for new alley next week

By an 8-to-1 tally, Bloomington’s city council voted Wednesday night to vacate an east-west alley that cuts across the old Johnson’s Creamery property off 7th Street and The B-Line Trail.

Taken at face value, giving up that right-of-way clears the way for Peerless Development to construct a 51-unit apartment building, which has site plan approval from the city’s plan commission. The plan commission’s approval of the building’s site plan was contingent on the vacation of the alley.

The proposed apartment building would sit partly in the middle of the alley that was vacated on Monday night.

But the city council’s approval was part of a kind of swap that Peerless is proposing: The vacation of the existing east-west alley would be made in exchange for the dedication of a new alley, just to the south of the existing one.

The dedication of the new right-of-way would have to be accepted by the board of public works. That’s queued up for the board’s meeting next week, on Nov. 22. Continue reading “Johnson’s Creamery alley vacated by city council on 8–1 vote, BPW to see request for new alley next week”

Bloomington city council preview: Johnson’s Creamery alley vacation; higher sewer, storm rates

Next Wednesday’s meeting of the Bloomington city council (Nov. 2) will likely feature a renewed consideration of a request by Peerless Development to vacate an east-west alley on the old Johnson’s Creamery building.

According to a memo in the council’s nearly 500-page meeting information packet, it’s expected that a motion will be made at Wednesday’s meeting to take up the item again for consideration. The request was tabled at the council’s meeting in the third week of July.

Also on Wednesday’s agenda are first readings for increases to the monthly sewer and stormwater fees. Because of a 68-year old clause in Bloomington’s local code, no discussion of the rate increases can take place at their first reading on Wednesday.

Based on their pattern of the last couple of months, councilmembers might spend some time debating whether to discuss the rate increases at a committee-of-the-whole meeting the following week, or to skip the committee meeting. A vote to enact the rate increases, to start in 2023, could come on Nov. 16.

Already anticipated on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of the Bloomington city council was a proposal to install a stop sign at the intersection of Maxwell Lane and Sheridan Drive.  Based on the discussion at a committee-of-the-whole meeting this past week, the stop sign ordinance probably has at least five votes of support, which would be enough on the nine-member city council to pass it. Continue reading “Bloomington city council preview: Johnson’s Creamery alley vacation; higher sewer, storm rates”

Column: Let’s try making journalists out of Bloomington’s elected officials

Bloomington has way fewer local news reporters than in years past.

This image extracted from the boilerplate section of a Bloomington city council agenda. Yellow highlights have been added to reflect the topic of this column.

In a column published last November by The Limestone Post, former Herald-Times reporter Steve Hinnefeld put some specific numbers on that trend. The newsroom at his former paper has diminished from 50 to just a dozen, Hinnefeld wrote.

If you didn’t read it at the time, or even if you did, the link to Hinnefeld’s column is worth a click.

The shortage of reporters is not confined to any one beat. But the one I care most about is local government news.

How can we, as a community, pull together to make up for the current deficit in local news coverage of local government?

I think Bloomington’s city councilmembers could help fill the gap. To be clear, I am not suggesting that city councilmembers start writing articles for local news outlets.

The idea is simple: Bloomington city councilmembers should rethink the way they use their time that is labeled on their meeting agendas as “reports” from councilmembers. Continue reading “Column: Let’s try making journalists out of Bloomington’s elected officials”