Bloomington residents might have noticed yellow yard signs popping up around the city opposing the rezoning of a north side neighborhood.
Those signs refer to Hoosier Energy's old operations center just off State Road 37 on Ellis Road. The utilities company moved out in 2014, and now it's looking to sell the vacant property.
But the current property is zoned for public use, and that means in order to sell it to a private buyer, the operator would have to change its zoning.
It's a plan that's upsetting many who live in the neighborhood surrounding the 45-acre property.
"Just because these people have a large amount of money and political clout doesn't mean they need to get so much money for their property that it destroys the lives of 75-100 other people," says Larry W. Barber, who, like many of the neighborhood's residents, is retired. His front yard on Showers Road sports one of the yellow signs seen around the city.
Residents such as Barber are worried new zoning would cause dangerous traffic conditions in their neighborhood.
Hoosier Energy says it's been listening to the neighborhood's concerns.
Mary Lynn Beaver, a spokeswoman for the company, says Hoosier Energy has changed its initial petition in order to zone the property as a "planned unit development." That means the property would be under stricter scrutiny than if it was zoned as a purely industrial site, and before the zoning was completed, owners would be required to plan the area's use.
"It would lay out the future use of that property," says Beaver. "You spell out in the planned unit development, it's consistent with current mixed uses and zoning of the property and the petition specifies the requirements."
Monroe County Planning Department Director Larry Wilson says Planned Unit Developments offer a lot of flexibility for petitioners but also more regulation.
"It's a type of zoning that really allows a petitioner to create a custom zone for the property," he says.
In other words, different parts of the property with different uses (such as industrial or warehousing) would be able to be customized within the lot to fit their use but to also make the property more compatible with the existing neighborhood. However, it would still mean a large chunk of the property could be utilized for industrial use.
"[The proposed plan] would still include a large portion of that heavy industrial component," says Wilson. However, "it also allows the plan commission to review and add additional requirements such as buffers and elimination of uses and more control."
Beaver points this out when asked about resident's traffic concerns. She says the new proposal would stipulate trucks use a highway access road that's currently under construction.
But residents are suspicious. That same access road is being built by cutting off some of their backyards, and they're worried increased traffic would mean even more of their properties might be cut off.
"I just think we don't need any extra traffic around here," says Katheryn Taylor, whose yard is bisected by the new road. "And it will affect all of us you know. We're all getting pretty up in years."
Residents will be able to make their opinions known when a public hearing is held in July. After the hearing, the Plan Commission will make a recommendation to the County Commissioner's office, who has the final say on zoning matters.
"It's a complicated issue," says Wilson. "Our comprehensive plan shows this area as rural-residential, but we also have components of the comprehensive plan that promote the reuse of existing properties, which makes use from an economic standpoint and from a tax standpoint."
