Commission moves forward with growth plan

The Bloomington Plan Commission approved the fourth draft of the Growth Policies Plan on Monday evening, sending the plan to the Bloomington City Council for final approval.\nThe plan is a comprehensive idea for the growth and development of Bloomington. It serves as a guide for all major growth in the city, and highlights areas which require special attention when considering growth.\nThe main debate was focused on concurrency, a policy which requires infrastructure improvements before any development can take place to a certain area.\nCommissioner Marcia Donnerstein felt that this part of the plan would cause urban sprawl, and hurt Bloomington in the long run.\n"There is no greater impediment to infill development than concurrency," Donnerstein said.\nInfill development is the development and redevelopment of existing land in the city. Some citizens feel that under the GPP, development will move to the outskirts of the city, areas under the jurisdiction of the county, causing urban sprawl.\nCommissioner Joe Hoffman thought that there were some problems with the GPP, but he said the results of previous plan commission decisions spoke for themselves.\n"There have been mistakes, there will be mistakes, but our planning has worked pretty darn well," Hoffman said.\nDonnerstein and Commissioner Susan Fernandes both felt that many parts of the plan were very vague, and needed to be changed for the plan to be executed better.\n"We are making Bloomington an entire mixed-use community," Donnerstein said.\nCommissioner Kurt Zorn tried to unite the commission by reminding them this plan was a compromise of many different views in the community.\nPrior to the meeting there were three amendments to the GPP on the table, suggested after the last plan commission meeting in May.\nOne amendment which was struck down by the commission was proposed by the Monroe County Homebuilders Association. It requested the inclusion of a Housing Affordability Commission in the GPP. Bloomington did have a task force which studied housing affordability, but it was recently dissolved.\n"It had no direction and it had no mission," said David Schleibaum, in reference to the task force.\nSchleibaum, who represented the homebuilders at the meeting, assured the commission that there was a need for this group, based on the number of people working in Bloomington who do not live in the city.\nThe commissioners asked Schleibaum who would be on the commission, and what its main functions would include.\n"(The commission) would be driven by people who are knowledgeable in the industry," Schleibaum said. "They would consider the financial ramifications for someone to live and work here."\nJeffrey Willsey, a plan commission member and city council member, agreed that there was a need for consideration of housing costs, but disagreed that the GPP was the best place for it.\n"I think the basic idea is a great one," Willsey said. "I think the place to take up the creation is the city council."\nTom Micuda, city planning director, reminded the commissioners that the creation of a commission is a legislative act, and not dealt with in the plan commission.\nTwo of the changes met little opposition. The first was submitted by the Environmental Commission and it requested more greenery to be required in potential developments in the city. The other was submitted by the parks department. It proposed changing the text for a planned extension of Weimer Road on the city's southwest side.\nAccording to the plan, Weimer Road, which is a north-south thoroughfare connecting Bloomfield Road to Tapp Road, is to be extended to 3rd Street. The parks department requested the amendment because the extension would cut through Twin Lakes Park, a popular park for youth baseball games. \nOther problems with the proposed route included steep slopes and a railroad track which would have to be crossed, both of which would have caused the extension to be very expensive. The plan commission changed the text in the event that this extension would never be built.