Council passes road renovations, resolutions

Westside residents who travel near Curry Pike and state Road 48 might soon see a decrease in traffic congestion. The Bloomington Common Council unanimously approved a joint city-county plan to extend Profile Parkway to connect with Wayne's Lane, situated near the General Electric facility. The county will move Wayne's Lane approximately 75 feet to the west and then connect it with Profile Parkway.\nThe plan will transfer $120,000 from the city's Westside Industries Fund to Monroe County, which will allow the county to extend Park Square Drive, eventually intersecting it with state Road 48. \nCity Controller Tom Guevara said the extension of Park Square Drive would allow for a safer entry and exit point for residents living near the street. \n"The benefits we would expect to see from these projects are improved traffic flow both into and out of the westside industrial area," he said. "With the addition of this roadway improvement from Profile Parkway into Wayne's Lane, we can eliminate some of the traffic congestion that is created during shift changes of the industries there."\nJerry Siefers, president of the Highland Village Neighborhood Association, said many of the residents in his neighborhood approved of the plan but had several concerns regarding safety.\n"A number of trucks, cars, vehicles will be traveling at fairly high rates of speed coming westbound past Curry Pike on state Road 48 almost right on top of the entrance to Highland Village South," Siefers said. "And we're concerned any additional traffic will only make the safety concerns greater."\nSiefers also said the neighborhood association was concerned about the Park Square extension not being completed in a timely manner.\nAbout 15 Highland Village residents attended the meeting to hear the council's discussion.\nMonroe County Engineer Bill Williams said the city would look into bids for the Park Square project as early as June and construction could begin shortly after. Williams said the Wayne's Lane project would be bid on in August and the county would begin construction on both projects after right of way acquisition issues are sorted out.\nCouncil member Patricia Cole said she was in favor of the project but more needed to be done.\n"We have some very, very major traffic concerns in the area," she said, "and I don't think anybody really understood the impact of some of our developments as we put them in place." \nIn other action, the council gave unanimous approval for the adaptive reuse of the Stone Mill, administration buildings at Woolery Farm and the addition of new structures, some of which would be residential areas. \n After hearing recommendations from both the Planning and Environmental Commissions, the council opted to pass the amendment, which allows expansion of the tract of land the farm is on while also permitting non-residential uses of the land. \n "This is an attractive proposal," council President Chris Gaal said. "In a lot of ways, this is a model project for the re-development of an abandoned industrial site."\nThe council also voted to codify Bloomington's policy against discrimination in its implementation of programs and services. The amendment makes the city's anti-discrimination policy more explicit and re-affirms the city's commitment to equality, said Marsha Bradford, the city's Safe and Civil City director. The amendment passed 9-0.\nWith no legislation on the agenda for next week, the council voted to cancel both the Jan. 23 and Feb. 6 meetings and will instead hold a double-session 7:30 p.m. Feb. 13 at City Hall.