Council votes to tear down Wylie Annex

Wednesday night the Bloomington City Council voted 6-1-1 to demolish Wylie Museum's Annex House and the alley running between the 300 block of East Second Street. \nWith these changes, IU hopes to unify the land to create a new building housing better offices for staff, an education center and Wylie Museum's library, the contents of which are currently stored in boxes.\nTaking out the approved alley, which sees a fair amount of traffic, raised concerns among Council members. Slow traffic flow has also been a continuous problem on campus.\n"I hate to hold this (Wylie annex) hostage to Seventh Street," said Councilman David Sabbagh. \nSabbagh hopes talks between IU will remain open to address traffic problems. \nThe council members were concerned closing the alley would congest the already busy campus streets.\n"Opening up Seventh Street would relieve some pressure from 10th Street," said Councilman Andy Ruff.\nSeventh Street has been closed since 1998 creating even more traffic problems.\nSabbagh urged IU architect Bob Meadows to open Seventh Street so traffic could flow better. Meadows said the large buses could not fit down Seventh street in its current condition. \nHe believes a possible solution would be the usage of smaller buses.\nLynn Friedmeyer, enforcement manager for the Bloomington Planning Department said the removal of the alley would not impede traffic in the area surrounding Wylie House because the west alley will remain open.\nThe new building will resemble a carriage house that might have accompanied the Wylie House when the surrounding area was farm land. The goal is to create a farm-like setting and the appearance the area once had. The Bloomington Planning Commission and the Bloomington Historic Preservation Commission both gave their approval for the current plan. \nThe unified land will create a better yard allowing school children to play and eat lunch, the Council members said. IU hopes to create a program allowing graduate and undergraduate educational students to help educate elementary school children. \n"This is an important thing to preserve our past," Councilman Chris Sturbaum said.\nThe Wylie Museum is open to the public, not just IU students.\nThe Council also voted to approve the zoning for the Century Village Planned Unit Development. \nBloomington's Century Village currently contains the Century Suites Hotel, Chapman's restaurant and the Bill C. Brown offices. According to developer Brown's preliminary plans, the city will expand Century Village from 6.2 acres to 13.7 acres, modify standards and add to the list of permitted uses.\n"I support this petition," Councilman Dave Rollo said. "They've done a good job creating a potential community activity center."\nThis plan will combine three differently zoned PUD's into one unified development. Ruff does not want the lighting in the PUD to be blinding or obtrusive. He believes Bloomington residents should be able to look up and enjoy the stars or an occasional lunar eclipse without overbearing lights.\n-- Contact staff writer Jill Brooks at jimbrook@indiana.edu.