Members of Bloomington City Council have rejected an effort to require council oversight on traffic calming and greenway projects.
The ordinance, sponsored by council member Dave Rollo, sought to involve city council in and make its approval a necessary final step for resident- and staff-led projects under the city’s Traffic Calming and Greenways Program.
The city’s transportation plan defines greenways as low-speed, low-volume shared roadways. Traffic calming methods and restricting vehicular traffic are used to promote speed and volume reduction, according to the plan.
Council approval was previously required on such projects under the city’s Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program, the previous version of the greenways program. An October 2020 ordinance removed that step as a requirement and renamed the program.
Council members voted on the latest ordinance two days after the city’s bicycle and pedestrian safety commission unanimously recommended against its adoption.
Commissioners said they were concerned about giving council members the chance to reject a project at the very end of the process, which they described as a political override.
The ordinance was listed on the council’s agenda last week, but members postponed voting until Wednesday to give the commission time to provide a recommendation.
The topic of requiring council approval was broached at a council meeting last November and at other public meetings at which residents expressed their views on the proposal. Several council members described previous meetings as contentious.
Rollo’s proposed ordinance was motivated in part by the Hawthorne and Weatherstone neighborhood greenway project, which many residents who live in the area said they oppose. Rollo represents the city’s fourth district, which includes that area.
The ordinance originally included a provision to increase the threshold of affected housing units that have to give signatures in support of a project before it can move forward from 30% to 50%. That provision was removed prior to Wednesday’s meeting.
Council members rejected the measure by a vote of 4-5. Council member Sue Sgambelluri cast the deciding vote, as her eight council colleagues indicated their leanings ahead of time. She said she was largely on the fence but decided to reject the ordinance because she does not think the current processes of the greenways program is fundamentally flawed.
The ordinance was supported by council members Susan Sandberg, Ron Smith, Jim Sims and Rollo. It was rejected by Stephen Volan, Matt Flaherty, Kate Rosenbarger, Isabel Piedmont-Smith and Sgambelluri.
Rollo said he sponsored the ordinance out of an obligation to his constituents, many of whom he said came to him directly to express concern about the Hawthorne-Weatherstone greenway.
One of residents’ most common concerns, according to Rollo, is that the greenway is unnecessary because they believe the road is already low-volume, low-speed and accessible to bicyclists. Rollo also said equity was a motivation for sponsoring the ordinance because he thinks there are other parts of the city with greater infrastructure needs.
He also described the project as deficient because he did not believe members of the public were consulted enough.
Volan questioned whether he had only considered input from “loud” residents who expressed their concerns directly to him. He also said requiring council approval again would be a step backward and result in lengthy council meetings.
Members of the public present Wednesday were split. Many residents, some from the Elm Heights neighborhood, said they supported the ordinance and saw council involvement as a necessary democratic process. Others saw the ordinance as an attempt to add unnecessary bureaucracy and take power away from residents.
Some council members suggested that Rollo consider alternatives such as amending the city’s transportation plan. Rollo did not respond to those suggestions.
