The Johnson’s Creamery apartment project is still up in the air, and Bloomington City Council members are calling the process ‘messy.'
Council voted Wednesday to indefinitely delay legislation on the project, which is now set to go back to plan commission. Plan commission approved the design in October 2021, but it is contingent upon council vacating a public alley.
In return for the land, city administration asked Chicago-based Peerless Development to invest $250,000 in public art. Peerless proposed this week to relocate the alley directly south, but city administration still wants the art installation.
“This is market rate housing that’s going in,” Bloomington Corporation Counsel Beth Cate said. “It’s not affordable housing, we’re not getting that public benefit from this.”
Cate said city administration and Peerless could not come to an agreement on the art installation since council recessed June 15. The administration lowered its requirement to $200,000, but Peerless would not exceed $75,000.
Peerless filed a claim with its title insurance company for potentially missing the alley, but insurance denied the claim. Peerless president Michael Cordaro said the company would consider selling the property if the alley is not vacated and moved.
“Redesign at this point, in terms of cost and time, would probably not be in the cards for us,” Cordaro said.
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Several councilmembers said they did not see a connection between the alley and the administration’s request for public art.
“Does that have to be where public art is in the City of Bloomington? Is that the only space available?” councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith said. “We have the smokestack, yes. We can put a plaque there. But do we have to have a $200,000 public art investment there?”
She said the current alley has value, but the proposed one might improve the site.
“This actually might be a little more useful location for the alley because it would be a drive for the parking spaces,” Piedmont-Smith said.
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Between city staff and the property owner, it was unclear as of Wednesday if the new alley encroaches the recently established Johnson's Creamery historic district. However, Cordaro said there is enough wiggle room for the apartment building, alley, and historic district.
Peerless asked council to vacate the alley Wednesday, and the company promised it would then replat the land with plan commission. However, council did not like the proposed order of events and voted 6-2 to table the issue until plan commission acts first. Any change to the alley would require council approval, which could set the stage for alley vacation and replacement in the same meeting.
Councilmembers Dave Rollo and Jim Sims voted ‘no’ to tabling. Rollo said he is in favor of the current alley, and that vacating it would allow a large, monolithic building on the B-Line Trail. Councilmember Kate Rosenbarger was absent.
