Another I-69 completion delay, high levels of lead in utility soil, annexation of 15,000 more residents and inclusionary zoning.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: You met with Governor Holcomb regarding the delay of I-69, did he offer any more assistance in getting it completed?
Hamilton: I am encouraged that he has personally stood up and said this is the new date and is taking that on himself as a responsibility to commit to. It was a civil and frank meeting. I want to give him a change to do it right given what he inherited. He assured transparency, he assured the Department of Transportation commissioner would work closely with us. They committed two lanes each way will be open by August of this year.
Hren: I wanted to follow up about soil testing at the site of the former city utilities Dyer water tank on N. Monroe St. where tests revealed lead in the soil. Since then we've spoken to some of those who live nearby and are concerned about their health, what's the next step?
Hamilton: We informed IDEM immediately and they indicated this is a very typical issue, we're going to have to clean it up. It may involve some soil replacement so we'll find that out.
Hren: The sanitation task force has just released their recommendations, have you had a chance to take a look at it yet?
Hamilton: I have started to look at that. They do recommend going to these automated trucks that lift the trash on its own, carts that will be uniform and provided to everybody in the city, continue to focus on volume pricing so you pay less depending on how much trash you put out. And the big improvement is weekly recycling that will be single stream recycling. City of Bloomington has declined in recycling tonnage over the last five years. This should help.
Hren:Annexation has drawn much attention since you announced a plan that would include 15,000 more people into the city. Former Mayor Kruzan from what I remember, didn't act upon this, what made you propose this now?
Hamilton: Coming into office and realizing the city hasn't done any substantial annexation for fifteen years during which we grew a lot and our history is as we urbanize and areas build out next to the city, we've annexed them. We haven't been doing that and you can look into the reasons into that, but looking into the future of the city, we need to be a coherent whole economically, politically, socially and it just became the right thing to look at.
We'll have a period of several months now where the community can look at these and react to them.
Hren: Obviously annexation brings more tax revenue but more spending on city services, what do you say to residents who's tax bills will double and don't feel like their level of service will change?
Hamilton: A lot of people would like to live right next to the city and have many of the amenities of city life, but not pay the city support and I understand that. That's why over a 199 years we've done hundreds of annexations. An urban setting deserves, in my view, should have good police protection, good fire protection, EMS, the kinds of park services they want, the kind of sanitation they want, the kind of road cleaning and clearing, snow plowing and sidewalks. I also hope broadband service will be part of this, we're going to find that out in the months ahead.
Hren: Something you've campaigned about is inclusionary zoning to create affordable housing, but state government is looking to limit cities from doing this. We've seen in some of the more recent developments being proposed in Bloomington being required to set aside some residential area or funds for affordable housing. The reasoning is that this is too much governmental control over a developer, but you don't think so?
Hamilton: This is exasperating. I am deeply committed to making Bloomington work for people of all walks of life. To have the state legislature tell us you can't use some very important tools used all across the country to create affordability is exceedingly frustrating. They have not passed the bill, it's been proposed by someone a long distance from Bloomington and it's not as if the state legislature is helping with affordable housing.
We have a very strong real estate market, we have very active developers and we can work with them to create affordability. Several developers have been very cooperative and view it as the fabric of Bloomington. Investors understand if you're going to partner in a successful community, you've got to understand what the goals of the community are.
