Rezone for “truckstop–small” denied by Monroe County, ends 30 years of overnight truck parking

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Off SR-37 south of Bloomington and just south of the spot where I-69 and the state highway merge sits Sunmart, a Shell gas station and convenience store that also allows overnight truck parking.

The overnight truck parking now has to end, because a requested rezoning of the nearly 5-acre property was denied on a unanimous vote of the three Monroe County commissioners at their regular Wednesday morning meeting.

The use of the land as a convenience store and daytime truck parking is legal under Monroe County zoning. So those uses can continue.

What seemed to be the key consideration weighed by commissioners was the fact that the use of the land for overnight truck parking had been in violation of zoning code for 30 years. And they were persuaded by a view expressed during public comment that to rezone the property to allow what had been a non-conforming use would amount to “rewarding” the non-conformance.

Commissioner Lee Jone said, “I don’t think it sets a good precedent to remove restrictions that have been violated for 30 years.” Continue reading “Rezone for “truckstop–small” denied by Monroe County, ends 30 years of overnight truck parking” →

Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council

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The orange area is the parcel where Curry Urban Properties is proposing a planned unit development.

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New Layout

In the pre-pandemic times of early February 2020, Bloomington’s city council approved the planned unit development (PUD) zoning for the 3.2-acre empty lot at the northwest corner of Pete Ellis Drive and Longview Avenue.

The lot is not yet developed with the project that the new zoning allowed: a building with studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom apartments totaling 344-bedrooms, which also incorporates a 306-space parking garage and 19,000 of commercial space.

It’s also not exactly the project that will eventually be constructed, based on a request from developer Tyler Curry (Curry Urban Properties) for the zoning to be tweaked.

After the Bloomington plan commission’s approval on Monday night, the next step for the changes to the PUD will be review and a decision by Bloomington’s city council.

Under the modified zoning request that was approved by Bloomington’s plan commission on Monday night, the bedroom count doesn’t change much—from 344 to 341 bedrooms.

It’s the mix of unit sizes that Curry would like to change. In addition to the studios, 1-bedroom, and 2-bedroom units previously proposed, Curry would like to add up to 35 3-bedroom units.

Besides the unit mix, the other significant change is a request to be released from a condition that a “green wall” be constructed as a facade on the south side of the building, to help mask the parking garage from view. Under a proposed new design, the parking garage is wrapped by apartments—it’s not visible from either the north or south side of the building. Continue reading “Requested tweaks to zoning for 340-bedroom mixed-use project on east side to be weighed by Bloomington city council” →

Monroe County commissioners reject another residential development south of Bloomington: “This is a lot of housing on not a lot of space.”

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Sample designs for paired townhomes in proposed Southern Meadows.

On Wednesday, Monroe County commissioners rejected a request for a rezone of 37 acres south of Bloomington for a housing project called Southern Meadows, a proposed development of 95 paired townhomes for a total of 190 housing units.

In that configuration, a townhome sits on its own lot with its own yard, and shares a wall on one side with its neighbor.

It’s the second time in about a month that county commissioners have turned down a rezone request in the Clear Creek area, south of the city of Bloomington boundary, but inside an area that’s a part of the current Bloomington annexation proposal.

In mid-May, commissioners rejected the rezone request for a much smaller proposal called Clear Creek Urban, just to the east of the Southern Meadows parcel.

Clear Creek Urban was mixed-use residential proposal that would have a developed a 4-acre parcel with five residential and commercial buildings that called for 31 new residences. The Clear Creek Urban petition, brought by Blind Squirrels, LLC, would have constructed attached townhomes, multi-family residences, and commercial space.

Blind Squirrels gets a mention in the meeting information packet about Southern Meadows, because of an easement granted by the owner of the smaller parcel to allow for access from Southern Meadows to the east-west That Road.

For both projects the stumbling block was density. As president of the board of commissioners Julie Thomas described the Southern Meadows project on Wednesday: “This is a lot of housing on not a lot of space.” Continue reading “Monroe County commissioners reject another residential development south of Bloomington: “This is a lot of housing on not a lot of space.”” →

Bloomington paves way for park-side mixed-use residential project with rezone for warehouse

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At its Wednesday meeting, Bloomington’s city council approved a rezone request that will allow the redevelopment of a warehouse—two-thirds of it, anyway—that sits just to the west of Switchyard Park and the B-Line Trail.

The approved rezone was a change to the existing planned unit development (PUD)—which would allow a seven-building mixed-use project to be constructed, with more than 200 bedrooms and up to 10,000 feet of commercial space.

The vote on the council was 9–0.

Councilmember Dave Rollo said, “I think that this is an excellent development. I think it’s actually a precedent-setting redevelopment.” Rollo added, “It’s sort of a setting-of-the-bar example, in my mind, of what to see in redevelopment petitions.”

The project associated with the rezone request would require the demolition of the southern two-thirds of the warehouse, which is the part controlled by McDoel Business Center owner Tom Brennan. The project also includes a parcel not in the footprint of the warehouse, on the south side of Hillside Drive, which is now a surface parking lot.

In place of the warehouse, and the parking lot, Brennan would like to construct seven buildings. A bedroom count of 215 was provided for the seven buildings in the preliminary plan, which was included in the addendum to Wednesday’s city council information packet. Of the 215 units, 15 percent are required to be “affordable.” Continue reading “Bloomington paves way for park-side mixed-use residential project with rezone for warehouse” →

Bloomington council says no to corridor zoning for 87-acre parcel

The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.

Parcel requested to be rezoned for jail.

A requested rezone for 87 acres of land at the southern tip of Bloomington, next to I-69, was rejected by Bloomington’s city council at its meeting last Wednesday.

The requested rezone by owner Bill Brown—from PUD (planned unit development) to MC (mixed-use corridor)—was based on the idea that it would improve the marketability of the land, which has sat undeveloped under its current zoning for more than three decades.

The vote on the nine-member council was 1–7. Ron Smith’s was the sole vote of support. Steve Volan abstained when the roll was called. Continue reading “Bloomington council says no to corridor zoning for 87-acre parcel” →

Proposed redevelopment of warehouse across from new Bloomington park sets stage for debate on density and green space

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Image is from the Pictometry module of the Monroe County online property lookup system. The red outline shows the part of the warehouse that is part of the rezone request.

The warehouse across the B-Line Trail from the pickleball courts in Bloomington’s new 65-acre Switchyard Park is the subject of a rezone request that landed in front of the city council last Wednesday.

The project associated with the proposed rezone would require the demolition of the southern two-thirds of the warehouse, which is the part controlled by McDoel Business Center owner Tom Brennan.

The associated project would construct seven buildings containing a total of 19 townhomes and 104 multi-family apartments.

Last week’s city council meeting was just the occasion for the first reading of the rezone. So it didn’t get any action from the city council other than a referral to the council’s land use committee.

The land use committee is chaired by councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith. She weighed in during public commentary at the plan commission’s early-January hearing on the requested rezone. That likely foreshadows at least some of the committee’s deliberations—on the question of greenspace. Continue reading “Proposed redevelopment of warehouse across from new Bloomington park sets stage for debate on density and green space” →

Century Village gets rezoned on 7–2 vote as Bloomington city council debates question: Who is saying college students are not people?

Locator map from rezone hearing.

A rezoning for a 10-acre parcel of land on the east edge of town, at the intersection of SR-46 (3rd Street) and SR-446, has been approved by Bloomington’s city council.

The council’s approved rezoning, which had been unanimously recommended by the plan commission, changed a planned unit development (PUD) to a mixed-use corridor (MC) district.

It’s the same zoning change recommended as a part of the citywide zone map revision project, which will land in front of the plan commission in early March. So the council’s approval on Wednesday could be analyzed as enacting something a few months earlier than might have been enacted anyway.

The impact of the zoning decision is that any proposal for a specific project that conforms with MC zoning, will be reviewed only by the plan commission, not by the city council.

Dissenting were Dave Rollo and Kate Rosenbarger.

Continue reading “Century Village gets rezoned on 7–2 vote as Bloomington city council debates question: Who is saying college students are not people?” →

Rezone request for 87 acres in Bloomington’s southwest tip continued by plan commission into 2021

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Parcel requested to be rezoned for jail.

On a vote taken by Bloomington plan commissioners in mid-December, a rezone request for an 87-acre parcel now zoned as a PUD (planned unit development) got continued to January’s commission meeting.

The request was first heard by Bloomington’s nine-member plan commission in November.

The planning staff’s position is that the commission should make a recommendation to the city council against the requested rezoning of the Bill C. Brown parcel at Fullerton Pike and I-69. The request is to change the zoning from its current PUD designation to MC (mixed-use corridor).

The owner’s position is that the existing zoning has contributed to the parcel’s lack of development over the last 30 years. Continue reading “Rezone request for 87 acres in Bloomington’s southwest tip continued by plan commission into 2021” →

Leftover rezone request for warehouse next to Switchyard Park to start Bloomington plan commission’s year

A mixed-use development with 123 residential units, 184 parking spaces and 7,000 square feet of commercial space might be replacing the southern two-thirds of the warehouse just north of Hillside Drive next to Switchyard Park.

The development would also stretch south of Hillside Drive by one parcel.

To make a residential project possible at that location would require a rezone from the existing planned unit development zoning (PUD). The request is to maintain the PUD designation, but use different development standards from the existing PUD. A PUD is a kind of custom zoning, which includes its own custom development standards.

In December, plan commissioners voted unanimously to continue their deliberations until January, even though they appeared inclined to send the rezone proposal to the city council, with a positive recommendation.

A main sticking point for the city’s planning staff appeared to be the way townhomes are proposed to be oriented to the park. As the city’s development services manager Jackie Scanlan put it when she commented on the project renderings: “When you look down the sides of these buildings, you can tell that these are the sides of buildings, and we would prefer that they look like the front of buildings.”

Planning staff wanted to make sure that the development standards of the proposed PUD rezone—that is, the written narrative—require that the townhomes present their fronts to the park. An alternative to written development standards would be renderings that show townhomes facing the park.

That means the rezone request is set to be considered again by Bloomington’s plan commission at its first meeting of the year, on Jan. 11. Continue reading “Leftover rezone request for warehouse next to Switchyard Park to start Bloomington plan commission’s year” →

Century Village rezoning request gets OK from plan commission, heads to city council for approval

Locator map from rezone hearing.

The site of the controversial Century Village 590-bed student housing project on the east edge of town, denied by the city council two years ago, got a positive recommendation from Bloomington’s plan commission on Monday night—for a rezoning from planned unit development (PUD) to mixed-use corridor (MC).

At its final meeting of the year, the city’s plan commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of the requested rezoning of about 10 acres of land near the intersection of SR-46 and SR-446.

A conceptual site plan that accompanied the rezoning request shows multi-family housing to be constructed in four buildings with a mix of one- and two-bedroom apartments adding up to around 168 units, with about 240 bedrooms. The conceptual site plan is not a part of the recommendation from the plan commission.

The question that will now be put in front of the city council will be the same one considered by the plan commission: Should the land be rezoned from PUD to MC?

Once the zoning is in place, a site plan that conforms to the new zoning could eventually be approved just by the plan commission. Because a site plan that meets zoning requirements doesn’t require a change to local zoning code, it would not need approval from the city council.

In 2018, the land was proposed for a student-oriented housing development that would have included 590 bedrooms. The question in front of the city council at the time was a revision to the existing PUD zoning to allow for greater density.

According to the meeting minutes of Nov. 14, 2018, the city council voted down the rezoning at 1:32 a.m. on a tally of 0–8 with one abstention, from then-councilmember Chris Sturbaum. Continue reading “Century Village rezoning request gets OK from plan commission, heads to city council for approval” →