Chapters 6 and 7 of the UDO are more administrative, with 6 focusing on management and procedures, while 7 defines words and phrases used in the UDO.
After a couple of residents commented on Chapter 6, discussion among councilmembers turned to conditional use permits, which allow property owners to use his or her land in a way that would normally not be permitted.
Although the conversation began about accessory dwelling units, the controversial multifamily plexes inevitably came up. They would be considered conditional use under the current drafting of the UDO.
District 1 Representative Chris Sturbaum said he was concerned things that are considered conditional use would quickly become by right, or automatic.
“When I talked to [former Bloomington Planning Director] Tim Mueller, he said Council makes the decision that these are uses that are acceptable in the neighborhoods,” Sturbaum says. “So once Council makes this decision that duplexes and triplexes are acceptable in the neighborhoods, on occasion, the conditional use could be turned down. I think 90 percent of all conditional uses in the last 3 or 4 years have been approved. So, it’s essentially by right unless they can prove harm or damage to property.”
While conditional use acceptance rates are high in Bloomington, Planning and Transportation Director Terri Porter said that’s because the cases that make it to the Board of Zoning Appeals are the ones that have the best chance of being approved in the first place.
“It’s a little misleading to think about conditional use being almost the same as by right because there is a high percentage of cases that go before the BZA with conditional use that are approved,” Porter says. “We believe the main reason for that is because our staff is meeting with petitioners and potential petitioners daily. And if it’s something that is just not gonna be considered, we let them know. Usually the cases that come forward, we think they have merit.”
With the public hearing portion of the UDO finally coming to a close, City Councilmembers gave their final thoughts as they will now focus on amendments.
“From this point on I encourage the language of being respectful, regardless of where people are coming from,” Sandberg says. “They mean well. They’re well-intentioned. Our job up here [on the City Council] is to sift through the confirmation bias, the academic politics, to get to the truth of the matter – what do we need in Bloomington.”
Council President Dave Rollo said deliberation on the UDO will continue on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 6 p.m.
Residents are allowed to propose amendments to the UDO by sending them to a City Councilmember. The deadline to do so is Monday, Nov. 4 at noon.
New Ordinances
The City Council also introduced two ordinances.
The first is Ordinance 19-23, which would amend an existing planned unit development and approve a PUD District Ordinance and Preliminary Plan to allow a new multifamily residential development at 1201 W. Allen St.
The second is Ordinance 19-25, which would create a new historic district in the city, the Near West Side Conservation District. A conservation district is less restrictive than a full historic district. At the end of three years, the district would become a full historic district, unless a majority of property owners object.
