The City of Bloomington's proposal to open Kirkwood Avenue to vehicular traffic was met with skepticism at a Bloomington Common Council meeting Wednesday.
Last year, the council and the city agreed to close portions of Kirkwood to cars every summer for an outdoor dining program. The decision was, in part, an effort to offer business owners long-term stability.
City staff now say the program needs to change, but council members and public commenters pushed back. At a Wednesday meeting, the council heard recommendations from the city’s Economic and Sustainable Development Department.
“After reviewing data, community engagement, departmental input and operational realities, city staff recommends that in 2026 we keep Kirkwood avenue open to vehicles year round, we enhance and expand the market program and shift resources towards micro-activation efforts that strengthen the entire corridor,” said Chaz Mottinger, Economic and Sustainable Development Department special projects manager.
Instead of shutting down vehicular traffic for the dining program, Mottinger said the city wanted to focus on high-quality festivals and sidewalk extensions to draw visitors to Kirkwood. City staff also proposed another corridor study in 2027.
Mottinger said last year’s outdoor dining program brought additional costs for the city, including an $80,000 annual loss of parking revenue, overtime pay and maintenance needs.
“We must shift to a more cost effective model that still supports vibrancy,” Mottinger said.
Council members questioned the city staff’s authority to change the program. The ordinance creating Kirkwood’s dining program states the city engineer can suspend the program “in cases of emergency, lack of participation, or any other reason that may render the program impractical.”
“The city staff is tasked with writing the guidelines,” said council member Kate Rosenbarger. “And it doesn't give city staff the authority to stop part of this program.”
Rosenbarger said she was disappointed by the city’s recommendations.
Bob Costello, president of Kirkwood Community Association and a local business owner, also said he was disappointed to “spend more time talking about an issue that I thought was resolved."
“Once again, we are here in February talking about whether we're going to keep this open or closed,”Costello said. “I feel like it was disingenuous of the city administration to enter into that arena last year, only to come here this year with engineering issues that they think they need to implement.”
Noting the time, council President Isak Asare suggested discussing the matter in future sessions.
“I hope we can come up with other solutions for some of the difficulties staff have raised and still close at least part of the street,” said council member Isabel Piedmont-Smith.
