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Commissioners heatedly reject $30K for Bloomington Economic Development Corporation

By Lucas González

Posted May 16, 2024

(From left) Monroe County Commissioners Lee Jones, Julie Thomas and Penny Githens. (Courtesy, Community Access Television Services)

The Monroe County Board of Commissioners has rejected a $30,000 request to support the Bloomington Economic Development Corporation’s efforts.

The commissioners denied a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the BEDC Wednesday by a two-to-one vote. Commissioners Penny Githens and Lee Jones voted against it, and Julie Thomas voted for it.

The county council already appropriated the requested dollars from the county general fund in its 2024 budget.

Commissioners said they were upset by the BEDC’s support of a bill to allow development on steeper slopes in Monroe County.

Gov. Eric Holcomb signed House Enrolled Act 1108 into law earlier this year. It aims to make land more available for housing by allowing developers to build on slopes as steep as 25 percent.

The county previously restricted development on slopes steeper than 15 percent.

Githens said several local officials, herself included, lobbied against the bill. The BEDC and the Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce supported it.

“We felt that it would not increase housing ability or capacity, or housing stock, here in Monroe County” she said. “The BEDC went against its own members in lobbying for this bill, and I cannot imagine the BEDC doing that kind of thing to its business partners.”

Githens said the BEDC has two memberships with the BEDC. She said she appreciates the agency’s partnership but added she was disappointed by this.

Thomas, who said the supported the BEDC’s request reluctantly, also spoke out against its support for the bill. She said it has created more problems for the county.

“The fact is, you cannot put septic on a slope that high,” Thomas said. “You’re not talking about making homes more affordable; you’re talking about the builders serving themselves. It doesn’t serve the community, and now we’re going to have to figure out how to inspect for this, and how to manage this.”

Thomas also criticized a Regional Opportunities Initiative study which concludes Monroe County will need 7,412 homes by 2035. She called the report deeply flawed and said it is used too often to justify overdevelopment.

Thomas said she was also frustrated by a Herald-Times column authored by BEDC President Jennifer Pearl.

Pearl wrote the Monroe County Development Ordinance, an effort led by the commissioners, could downzone more than 9,300 acres of land from residential to rural. Thomas called this claim inaccurate and said she has repeatedly pushed back on it since the article’s publication.

“I cannot tell you the number of times I’ve had to go and explain to people because of a lack of care in ensuring that information is correct,” Thomas said. “I don’t want to spend my time correcting inaccuracies and myths and legends, and whatever else goes on. I don’t think that’s a good use of anyone’s time.”

Thomas told Pearl she wants the BEDC to be a better partner to the county in the future. She also urged Pearl to speak with planning officials or the commissioners about any concerns she may have with the county development ordinance.

“You should be working with planning, not against planning,” she said. “I just find it crazy that we’re being asked to now go ahead and support a continuation of business as usual.”

Pearl was not immediately available for an interview with WFIU/WTIU News.

The BEDC does outreach for business attraction, expansion and retention and provides the local community and the county with an inventory of land and buildings suitable for employment by ensuring proper infrastructure, zoning and other needs are in place, according to information from the commissioners’ Wednesday meeting packet.