Bloomington’s city council unanimously approved two resolutions Wednesday night, officially restarting the process of changing the Unified Development Ordinance.
The resolutions address incentive changes for developers who are required to provide affordable, workforce housing units in their properties. The resolutions, which only start the process to make changes, also allow multi-room buildings in residential areas.
Both resolutions were originally passed by the council last fall, but the city’s plan commission missed the deadline to hold public hearings. With both resolutions having been passed again, the plan commission will need to hold public hearings on each item.
The city’s plan commission is already in the process of receiving public input on multi-room buildings in residential areas. The next public hearing is Aug. 11, which satisfies the new hearing deadline set by the resolutions passed Wednesday night.
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During discussion on each resolution, councilmembers Matt Flaherty and Isabel Piedmont-Smith expressed frustration over the city missing previous deadlines.
“I don't know if that's just sloppiness or if that's a certain disrespect for what the council has set out as deadlines and as requests, but either way, it is disappointing to me,” she said.
Bloomington’s legal staff and plan commission are still working to clarify how the proposed change to allow multi-room buildings in residential areas is different from allowing other similar buildings across the city.
The lack of clarification on the difference led to confusion among commission and community members at Monday night’s public hearing.
“That was actually really positive public input, in terms of not just dissing the whole concept, but in terms of making suggestions and citing concerns, and basically asking for edits, which is exactly what the public input process is supposed to do,” said Hopi Stosberg, president of the city council and member of the city’s plan commission.
