Artist rendering of the proposed townhome development at 106 E. Hillside Drive. The project calls for a new sidewalk to be separated from the road with a row of trees.
(Courtesy: WS Property Group/City of Bloomington)
A multifamily housing development near the intersection of South Walnut Street and East Hillside Drive is moving forward.
Bloomington’s Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) granted a variance and conditional use approval for the development Thursday despite some neighboring residents’ opposition.
WS Property Group’s project at 106 E. Hillside Drive includes five three-bedroom townhome rentals. Each unit includes a ground floor garage, with access to an alley off Hillside Drive.
Considering more than 33 percent of units will have three bedrooms, Bloomington’s Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) classifies the project as “student housing or dormitory.” This type of project requires conditional use approval from the BZA given the current “residential multifamily” (RM) zoning classification.
“I have nothing against student housing in town,” board member Jo Throckmorton said. “I’m concerned if this project is built here, and everyone is not really aware what this is really designed for... It is not designed as student housing.”
In multifamily housing developments, ground floor parking must be located at least 20 feet behind the building façade facing a public street. Therefore, the petitioner also requested a variance to encroach the 20-foot standard.
If the developer were to change the design to two-bedroom apartments, there would be no need for a BZA hearing because the project could be constructed by-right. This change would also prevent the “student housing or dormitory” classification.
“There is a way to do this project without the three bedrooms if they want,” Throckmorton said. “I think the residents are bringing forward questions about ‘does this site need 15 bedrooms?’ That’s a lot of bedrooms, and that’s why it’s in front of us.”
“They are asking for a conditional use because of the number of bedrooms they chose to build.”
However, board member Flavia Burrell supports the project as is.
“I can see five families living here,” she said. “You can see families living here that are not all able to afford a home, but they are able to afford rent.”
The proposed project site at 106 E. Hillside Drive. The property is now a vacant lot after the previous home was demolished. The retaining wall will be demolished to make way for staircases to each unit. (Holden Abshier, WFIU/WTIU News)
People living nearby spoke out against the development during public comment.
Colin Johnson lives five houses down from the property, with the Bloomington Transit 7 Route stopping directly in front of his house. He said this results in his front yard becoming a waiting area for the bus, and he is worried the development will make the problem worse.
Marian Conaty lives two blocks from the property and opposes the size of the development.
“I’m concerned about cars coming out of that alley so close to the intersection of Hillside and Walnut,” Conaty said. “I think a smaller project would probably be fine, but 15 beds seem excessive for the location.”
Board member Throckmorton said he cannot support the current variance because there is uncertainty surrounding the development’s impact on parking in the area, despite garage space for each unit. He also pointed out discrepancies in the amount of proposed parking inside each unit.
Currently, the design calls for each unit to have its own three-car garage. However, city code only allows three-quarters of a parking spot for each bedroom. This means the developer will have to either move forward with only 11 parking spaces or return to the BZA for a parking variance in the future.
Board members Throckmorton and Barre Klapper voted against the parking setback variance; however, both expressed interest in tabling the petition to answer more questions next month. Board members Burrell, Tim Ballard, and Erik Coyne voted in favor of the variance. All five board members approved the conditional use approval of “student housing or dormitory” for the property.
The project is pending site plan approval from city planning staff.
