2023 Democratic Primary candidates for mayor of Bloomington, from left: Don Griffin, Susan Sandberg, and Kerry Thomson. (March 28, 2023 Heading Home forum)
At a Tuesday evening event for mayoral hopefuls in the Democratic Party’s May 2 primary, moderators from Heading Home of South Central Indiana quizzed the candidates about housing for low-income residents and homelessness.
The hosts also flipped the usual script for part of the event.
Each candidate had submitted one question for the audience to answer on arrival at the venue—Crestmont Boys and Girls Club on the north side of town. The questions were accessible through a QR code that appeared on a handout at the reception table.
Out of the roughly 100 people who attended, 58 responded to the three questions.
Co-moderator Leon Gordon, who is administrative director for Bloomington Housing Authority, reported a perfect 50-50 split for the question submitted by Don Griffin:
Are we as a community scared of being the best at taking care of those that are less fortunate?
Bloomington plan commissioner Brad Wisler (Nov. 14, 2022).
Monroe County commissioner Julie Thomas (Nov. 14, 2022)
Bloomington plan commissioner (Nov. 14, 2022).
Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill (Nov. 14, 2022)
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
The Monroe County government’s planned construction of a new jail on an 87-acre parcel in the southwest corner of Bloomington hit a snag on Monday night.
By a 6–3 vote, Bloomington’s plan commission supported the planning staff’s recommendation to send a negative recommendation to the city council about Monroe County government’s request for a rezone of the 87 acres, so that a jail could be built there.
The county government’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be allowed under MI.
A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
That means even if the city council were to approve the rezone, Monroe County government would still have to go through the conditional use approval process in front of the city’s board of zoning appeals.
On Monday, a staff attorney for the county, Jeff Cockerill, told the plan commission that Monroe County had a purchase agreement for the land, contingent on approval of a rezone—but that agreement expires at the end of the year.
There’s now a 10-day timeframe for planning director Scott Robinson to certify the outcome of the plan commission’s Monday recommendation to the city clerk. That would set up Monroe County government with enough time to hit the deadline for submission of the materials to the city council office for the council’s Dec. 7 meeting, when the rezone could get a first reading.
Monroe County board of commissioners president Julie Thomas addresses the Bloomington plan commission (Oct. 10, 2022)
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
On Monday, a lot of ground got covered at the Bloomington plan commission’s first hearing about a rezone request from Monroe County government.
The rezone is needed if a new jail is to be built in the southwest corner of the city.
But one topic emerged as a big concern for plan commissioners: Should they depart from the “employment center” designation for the area that is reflected in the city’s comprehensive plan?
The current mixed-use employment (ME) zoning for the 87-acre parcel squares up perfectly with the comprehensive plan’s designation. The county’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be allowed under MI. A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
President of the plan commission, Brad Wisler, put it like this: “A large chunk of our employment in Bloomington comes from those uses that the ME zone is designed for.” Wisler added, “If you look at things like Cook, Catalent, et cetera, if we ever want to attract another one of those types of employers, this seems like a prime spot for it.”
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Should an 87-acre parcel in the southwest corner of Bloomington be rezoned so that a new Monroe County jail can be built there?
That’s the question that Bloomington plan commissioners will start tackling at their regular meeting on Monday (Oct. 10).
Instead of voting at that meeting on the rezone request from Monroe County, city plan commissioners will likely move the matter to a second hearing to be held at their November meeting.
The county’s request would change the zoning of the land from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI). Use of the property as a jail would not be allowed under ME, but could be under MI. A jail is a “conditional use” under MI zoning.
Posted notice of zoning hearing at Northeast Corner of I-69 and Fullerton Pike, looking north from Fullerton Pike(2022-09-10).
Posted notice of zoning hearing at Northeast Corner of I-69 and Fullerton Pike, looking north from Fullerton Pike(2022-09-10).
Parcel requested to be rezoned for jail.
An expected hearing next week on Monroe County government’s request for a rezoning of 87 acres in southwest Bloomington has been put off until October.
The reason for the delay was a failure by Monroe County government to post the required signs at the property, 21 days before the hearing.
The rezoning, from mixed-use employment (ME) to mixed-use institutional (MI), was expected to be heard by the Bloomington plan commission next Monday (Sept. 12).
But that hearing has been put off until October 10. In the vocabulary used by the plan commission the hearing has been “continued” until the regular monthly meeting in October.
The aerial image, dated April 2020, is from the Pictometry module of Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
Image of the Monroe County jail from the east is from Monroe County’s online property lookup system.
If Monroe County builds a new jail, where will it be located? The answer to that question came Wednesday morning.
A $10.02 million purchase agreement for an 87-acre piece of land at the northeast corner of I-69 and West Fullerton Pike was approved on a unanimous vote of the three Monroe County commissioners at their regular Wednesday meeting.
The land sits inside Bloomington in the southwest corner of the city.
The land deal is part of a plan to replace the jail currently located in the justice center building at 7th Street and College Avenue in downtown Bloomington. County officials hope to have the deal done by year’s end.
