Bloomington City Council continued to move forward in its meeting Tuesday after a “consensus-building activity” it held Sept. 11 to engage members of the community in solving Bloomington’s housing crisis. While the council expressed appreciation for the opportunity to hear from and work with constituents directly, several council members also noted areas for improvement during Tuesday’s meeting.
The council also voted not to approve an ordinance that would designate the Green Acres neighborhood a conservation district after the petition was withdrawn by its committee. The council had received several letters from Green Acres property owners in opposition to the ordinance. In its letter to withdraw the petition, the Green Acres Conservation District Development Committee clarified that it plans to return to the issue.
The council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance that had its second reading at the city council meeting Sept. 18 regarding allocation of funds to a public works position created earlier this year. The vote was pushed to Tuesday due to unanswered questions after nearly an hour of deliberation at the last regular session. Public Works Director Adam Wason said the confusion was due to an oversight in which the ordinance to create the position was not accompanied by the ordinance to fund it.
Piedmont-Smith also appointed a committee to review the salaries of elected officials.
The council took some time to reflect on the consensus-building activity before reading ordinances. .
“I really appreciated the community involvement, how many people did show up and were eager to work with us,” councilmember Courtney Daily said. “It made me more motivated to make sure that we do have follow-through.”
Adding single room occupancy to the city’s unified development ordinance, allowing it as an option for development, seems to be a clear first step forward based on responses from community members at the meeting. Several participants in the consensus-building activity said adding single room housing would increase low-cost housing options. Councilmembers Hopi Stosberg and Kate Rosenbarger both said they have met with planning staff to discuss the possibility.
“I thought it was really helpful just in terms of narrowing in on what our Bloomington community thought would be productive and what wouldn’t necessarily help us combat homelessness,” councilmember Sydney Zulich said.
She said the people she spoke with found incorporating single-use occupancy to be a better solution than just changing the definition of family within the unified development ordinance.
Some council members said they hoped to see more community engagement. Daily said she thinks not enough people were aware that they were encouraged to attend.
“I didn’t feel like there was really the robust diversity of viewpoints of the groups that I know are out there in the community that have some thoughts and concerns and direct experiences with this,” councilmember Andy Ruff said.
Council President Isabel Piedmont-Smith also said that while the council can work on changes to the unified development ordinance, the meeting highlighted a disparity between what is expected of the council and what it has the power to do, much of which falls under the executive power of the mayor and her administration, she said.
The council will meet next in a special session Oct. 9 to vote on three ordinances that comprise the budget of the civil city, utilities and Bloomington Transportation. The next regular session will take place Oct. 16 and will include a public hearing about an ordinance to appropriate funds from the clerk’s office for personnel expenditures.
