Multiple property owners in the Cottage Grove neighborhood have requested demolition permits in recent months, sparking efforts from residents to designate the area located northwest of campus as a conservation district.
Becoming a conservation district limits both demolition and new construction within a neighborhood, requiring approval from the Bloomington Historical Preservation Commission.
“It's not like a homeowners association where you might have a set of rules about, you know, I don't know, sort of daily issues,” John Butler, an organizer of the districting efforts, said. “It's more of a set of guidelines for properties. And so, unless you're planning on tearing your house down, it won't have a huge effect on you.”
Property owners, residents and non-residents met Sept. 29 for the second of three public information meetings required by the city’s Housing and Neighborhood Development Department. The meeting, held at the downtown branch of the Monroe County Public Library, focused on issues such as outlining boundaries for the district and deciding on a name.
While the neighborhood is referred to as Cottage Grove on the City of Bloomington website and as the Cottage Grove Historic District in city brochures, it is not yet designated as a historic district. Multiple residents at the meeting said the neighborhood has never had a specific name.
The meeting was led by Butler and his wife, Amy Butler, both of whom are residents and property owners in the area. They estimate around 89% of the neighborhood residents are renters, including many students.
One IU student, senior Tyler Kern, has lived in the area for the past two years. He lives on East 12th Street with four friends who were looking for “the classic college feel of an old house” when deciding where to live. Kern is in favor of efforts to designate the area as a conservation district.
“I feel like the main points of it are preserving the culture and preserving the value of IU and as well keeping the housing affordable for students because that's what this community is built on,” Kern said.
The Butlers first began looking for a way to prevent possible demolition in their neighborhood after John Butler’s childhood home located on East 12th Street faced demolition this summer. They are concerned that demolition could lead to the development of larger complexes that would take away from the character of the neighborhood.
“We're just afraid that other things will go, because what they'll do is they'll put in the largest thing they can there, and then other neighbors won't like it, and maybe then they'll consider selling out, and that's what we're afraid of,” Amy Butler said.
In a letter to the HPC, Judith Barnes, a former owner of the home, expressed concern over the structure’s possible demolition.
“I am devastated to think that such a lovely, well built, 100 year old house will be reduced to rubble,” Barnes said in the letter.
Additionally, the HPC considered the demolition delays of two houses within the proposed conservation district on East 11th and North Grant Streets this summer and recommended the release of both demolition permits, which would allow the demolitions to move forward, although the structures currently remain standing.
While the Butlers believe the owner of the home on East 12th Street is open to selling instead of demolition, residents still have concerns that more houses in the area could be demolished, possibly to create larger developments.
“And, you know, once these 100-year-old houses are gone, they’re gone,” Amy Butler said. “They don't come back. And the trees are all torn down. And then you've got these big buildings that do not fit the fabric of the neighborhood, that totally change the look and the feel.”
After the Sept. 29 meeting, a minimum of one more public information meeting is required before the HPC will consider a proposal for conservation district designation. The Butlers plan to hold another meeting Oct. 16.
"As they start coming together, they will define — they'll settle on the boundary issue,” Karen Duffy, a non-voting member of the HPC, said. “What is this area exactly? Where are the edges of it?”
Going forward, the group will have to compile an application to submit to the HPC for conservation district designation after the required meetings. The HPC will then have a public hearing and choose whether to recommend the designation to the Bloomington City Council. The City Council, which has final say, will then vote on the designation.
In recent years, other neighborhoods in Bloomington have also worked toward conservation districts designations. The HPC recommended in August 2024 that the Bloomington City Council designate the Green Acres neighborhood as a conservation district.
After significant community backlash due to the possibility of increased cost of living, the Green Acres Conservation District Development Committee withdrew its petition to the City Council on Sept. 30, 2024. The proposed district would have included 447 homes, including five that had been slated for demolition in August of that year.
James Ford has resided in Cottage Grove for 40 years and is working with the Butlers to have Cottage Grove designated as a conservation district.
“And maybe there won't be so much support as a whole for Green Acres, but ours is more confined, it's more historic, it's more preserved, more valuable to that,” Ford said.
The current draft of the conservation district map, which was first reported on by the B Square Bulletin, includes about 100 homes, less than the proposed Green Acres Conservation District.
If successful, the neighborhood will be a conservation district for three years, after which it will be elevated to the level of full historic district unless a majority of homeowners object. In that case, it will remain a conservation district.
Currently, Bloomington has 13 historic districts, with the Near West Side Historic District and the Maple Heights Historic District being the most recent additions.
“Well from my point of view, it’s because these buildings are not just nice to look at, but they are evidence, physical evidence of the community's past,” Duffy said on the importance of preservation.
The next public information meeting is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 16 in meeting room 1B of the downtown branch of the Monroe County Public Library.
