City council approves Covenanter Hill project

A preliminary plan for expansion at the Covenanter Gardens development was approved by all council members in attendance at the Bloomington City Council on Wednesday. The council also approved a resolution to designate part of the property as an Economic Revitalization Zone. \nAn Economic Revitalization Zone is an area deemed not susceptible to normal growth and development. A ten-year tax abatement was approved for this E.R.A., located at the northwest corner of the Covenanter site. The tax abatement will designate 11 units in the development as affordable housing. The firm of Crowe Chizek determined that the abatement would save each unit $55,620 over a ten-year period.\nRenaissance Rentals, which owns the property, requested the approval to overhaul the site, building more residential units and integrating them with new office and retail sites. \nThe apartment community, which would be renamed Covenanter Hill, currently has a density of 7.3 units per acre. After the new units are built, the density will rise to 15.1 units per acre. \nWhen Renaissance Rentals purchased the community, the units were not in very good condition, and the areas around the community were not developed. With the recent development of communities such as University Commons and The Fields, Renaissance Rentals wants to transform their development to better serve the area.\n"We finished our improvements and asked, 'What do we have here?' Through streets and bus service is available at the door," said representative for Renaissance Rentals Tim Henke.\nJames Roach, zoning planner for the city, explained the details of the plan to the council. It calls for more apartment buildings to be built between the existing apartments, and some existing apartments to be converted into smaller units. The result will be 90 new one-bedroom apartment units. \nRoach also told the council that the plan commission approved the Covenanter Hill with eight of the 11 commissioners approving the plan.\nThe ground floors of some of the units will be designated for limited retail uses. Those uses include hair salons and barber shops, as well as some office use. The center of the development will have a bus stop facility to serve Covenanter Hill and the surrounding developments.\n"They are well thought out, they are well designed and they reflect what the community is looking for," said city council member at-large Tim Mayer.\nOne parcel of the Covenanter property, located on the east side of Clarizz Boulevard, will be developed exclusively as a retail and office area. The final plan for the currently undeveloped area is still under consideration.\nThe ordinance also calls for the profile of Covenanter Drive, which passes through the community, to be changed to allow for more on-street parking. Henke said he hopes this will help to transform the complex into a residential-pedestrian community.\nThe tax abatement approved for the area is particularly useful on the southeast side of town, because it lacks affordable housing at this time. Henke told the council that with the tax abatement, eight of the units will be rented for under $400 a month.\n"You absolutely cannot build affordable housing without a tax abatement," Henke said.\nCouncil Members Andy Ruff and L. David Sabbagh were both discouraged from designating the area an E.R.A., but were in support of approving the tax abatement. Ruff said he believes the designation of E.R.A. is "shameful" and does not correctly represent the area.\nChris Gaal, the city council president, hoped that more developments like this would follow the vision of Covenanter Hill.\n"I'm glad to see the direction this is heading," Gaal said. "I'd like to see more of this"