A majority of Bloomington City Council is pushing Mayor Kerry Thomson to change plans for a prospective new neighborhood, Hopewell South.  

In a letter released Monday, six of the council’s nine members said the current Planned Unit Development proposal falls short on ensuring permanent affordability, street improvements and energy efficiency.  

The signatories are the same council members who voted to postpone a vote on the ordinance twice this month: Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Kate Rosenbarger, Hopi Stosberg, Dave Rollo, Andy Ruff and Matt Flaherty.   

“We are all excited about the potential embodied by the Hopewell neighborhood,” they wrote. “However, we believe the Hopewell South Planned Unit Development (PUD) proposal, presented by Mayor Thomson on behalf of the Bloomington Redevelopment Commission, can and should deliver greater benefits to our community.”  

Council members who voted against the delay, Isak Asare, Sydney Zulich and Courtney Daily, did not sign the letter.   

Read more: Council passes affordable housing incentives; asks for more   

The city acquired land for Hopewell in 2021, on the site of the former IU Health hospital on West Second Street. The neighborhood is supposed to include a mix of housing types at a range of prices, although the focus is small owner-occupied lots.   

The PUD created by the redevelopment commission first came before City Council in February, but the question of how many housing units in Hopewell will remain permanently affordable has held back a vote on zoning.  

As presented, the proposal ensures 15 percent of units will be permanently limited to households earning less than 120 percent of the area median income. 

Opponents on city council want to raise that to 50 percent but say they would agree to 25 if a share is reserved for lower-earning residents. They also say they want the neighborhood to meet citywide standards for pedestrian and green infrastructure. 

The Mayor’s Office and dissidents on city council have expressed concerns about the delay. As councilmember Zulich expressed last week, council has “let the ‘perfect’ prevent ‘good.’”  

The letter refutes accusations “that the city council is a source of major delay.”  

“The executive branch of local government, under the previous mayor and this one, has taken years to bring forward a development proposal, which has been before us for consideration for less than six weeks,” it says.  

City Council has another chance to vote on the PUD Wednesday at its regular meeting.