Tag: temporary housing

Bloomington posts 30-day deadline for encampment near Rail Trail, cites fire safety risks

The aerial image is from Monroe County’s parcel lookup system, from a flyover photograph taken on March 11, 2024.
The aerial image is from Monroe County’s parcel lookup system, from a flyover photograph taken on March 11, 2024.

On Monday this week, the city of Bloomington posted a 30-day notice to vacate the area at homeless encampments along the Rail Trail south of Country Club Drive and north of Gordon Pike.

That was a day before a storm blew through Monroe County, downing trees, powerlines and damaging several houses.

It will be the fourth significant encampment closure since the start of the year, when Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson first took office. The first came in early January, at a city-owned property on the northwest corner of the intersection of Fairview Street and Patterson Drive. The second closure came at the end of January, on a wooded stretch of city-owned property behind Wheeler Mission.

The third encampment clearance came in early May on public and private property at the southwest edge of Switchyard Park. Continue reading “Bloomington posts 30-day deadline for encampment near Rail Trail, cites fire safety risks” →

Group home rezone request withdrawn before hearing by Bloomington plan commission

A rezone request from The Indiana Center for Recovery, to allow construction of some group homes in central Bloomington, has been withdrawn.

At the first hearing of the ICR petition in February, the planning staff recommendation had been to continue it to the required second hearing.

But the staff recommendation for Monday night’s second hearing had been to forward the rezone request to the city council with a negative recommendation.

Several minutes before the plan commission’s Monday meeting started, Bloomington development services manager Jackie Scanlan told those who had arrived at city hall to watch the ICR hearing that the petition had been withdrawn.

Scanlan confirmed to The B Square that ICR had communicated its withdrawal of the petition—it was not just a request for a continuation.

Scanlan said that if ICR wants to build the group homes near Walker and 1st Streets, then ICR will have to file a new petition, starting from scratch. Continue reading “Group home rezone request withdrawn before hearing by Bloomington plan commission” →

Bloomington resisting rezone to allow 2 group homes for treating addiction, but second hearing set

Bloomington plan commissioner Jillian Kinzie. (Feb. 12, 2024)
Bloomington plan commissioners Chris Smith and Hopi Stosberg. (Feb. 12, 2024)
Bloomington plan commissioner Brad Wisler. (Feb. 12, 2024)

A rezone request from the Indiana Center for Recovery (ICR) will get a second hearing at the next scheduled meeting of Bloomington’s plan commission, on March 11.

But based on Monday night’s deliberations, in March it will be a tough slog for ICR to win a recommendation of approval from the plan commission for its rezone request.

The center would like to build two group home facilities in central Bloomington, near Walker and 1st Streets—one on the north side of West 1st Street, and the other on the south side. The homes would be used for treating patients with substance use disorders and mental and behavioral health conditions.

But to use the land for the purpose of treating patients in a group home would require a rezone of the property, which is currently designated as R3 (residential small lot).

The ICR wants the land rezoned to MH (mixed use healthcare), which was previously the zoning district for the property, before it was rezoned from MH to R3 as a part of the 2021 adoption of a new zoning map for the city.

It is Bloomington’s city council that will have the final say on ICR’s requested rezoning—even if the plan commission’s recommendation is something the council can weigh.

But looks likely that at least two councilmembers would vote against the rezone, if the question is eventually put in front of them. On Monday, councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith spoke from the public mic, already in opposition to the rezone proposal.

Hopi Stosberg, who is the city council’s appointed to the plan commission, said that the requested rezone “feels like a step back instead of a step forward.”

On the plan commission, vice president Jillian Kinzie said the proposal “seems incompatible with what we’ve outlined in the comp[rehensive] plan.” Continue reading “Bloomington resisting rezone to allow 2 group homes for treating addiction, but second hearing set” →