The Bloomington Board of Public Works threw a wrench into the Bloomington Gateway Project at its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
The board was scheduled to vote on approval of a lane and sidewalk closure request for the project, which was scheduled to begin next week.
But opposition to the $1.1 million project, which was greenlit by the city council in 2018 as part of the city’s bicentennial bond, grew after a release by the city last week highlighting the upcoming project, which included a 40-foot monolith to be erected at the north end of Miller Showers Park.
The recent outcry led to the board tabling the vote on the closure request, putting the project on hold.
Several residents spoke out against the project at the meeting.
“I want to make it known that this is going to have a terrible backlash, people are going to see this is not the best face of Bloomington that's being presented,” David Ebbinghouse said. “And in view of other social problems that I won't even go through, you know all the problems we have.
“This has nothing to do with this. This is like a vanity project. So, I just want to put it on record that this is a bad idea, bad design, bad placement of no artistic value, and it doesn't fit in the park.”
Board president Kyla Cox Deckard also had questions about the placement of some of the sidewalks outside the Miller Showers Park.
But Adam Wason, the city’s public works director, pointed out that the Gateway Project was not a public works project but a parks project, and they just needed the OK to begin construction.
“Again, I just remind the board that the purview of which you're being asked to approve is the use of the public right of way and not the art project not the spending,” Wason said.
The project was scheduled to begin September 18 with board approval.
