By: Diane Benjamin
The Planning Commission delayed sending the new zoning ordinance to the Council over concerns in historic districts.
What you need to see are the minutes from their last meeting. They aren’t listed separately on the City website, but they are included in the packet for yesterday’s meeting. http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=20520
PDF page 3
City Planner Katie Simpson stated Zoning is the tool to implement the Comprehensive Plan.
The Comprehensive Plan was based on Bring It On Bloomington which was a survey of citizens conducted by the McLean County Regional Planning Commission. The goal was 10% citizen participation, they got 1.5%.
That means the opinions of an extreme minority of citizens are being used to shape the future of Bloomington using whatever boot government chooses to crush what doesn’t comply with the PLAN.
PDF pages 6 and 7 have public comments from three citizens. One about chickens, one about bee hives, and one from the Farm Bureau.
There are references in the minutes to jail time for non-compliance. Evidently it is in the current code but has never been used. Legal suggested removing it. The City has their own Administrative Court with the stated goal of compliance, not fines or worse. It should be removed!
PDF Page 7 has the Commission beehive discussion. Following is the chicken discussion.
PDF page 9 has discussion regarding the number of covered parking spaces required at your house. Of course exceptions were noted, one size fits all never works. Application of the code will be riddled with variances.
On the same page is requirements for businesses to provide covered parking for bicycles. Next up is required landscaping and parking requirements. We won’t know what makes the final version until it’s published.
I’m sure the minutes don’t reflect what occurred in enough detail to really understand what happened. The meetings are held in the Council Chambers where live stream is available but not used. Parts are fascinating reading however. The process of creating government utopia always is.
Is Live Streaming or at least video too difficult?
PDF pages 62 and following have a list of all the properties proposed to be re-zoned.
One more note: The word “grandfathered” is no where in this document.
The removal of the covered bike requirement is a resounding defeat for Bike BloNo and a victory for common sense and open marketplace decision making by private citizens. The vote was 9-0, I might add. Wonder how much longer it will take for the mainstream citizen anger toward uptopian government planning to travel from Normal over to Bloomington. Seems like it’s starting. Folks, we have the momentum. Keep it up! Failures of government central planning will continue. They are demonstrable. Point them out and rub it in the face of the members of town and city council.
The “Bike code” in THIS town is such a joke, it’s NOT worth the time to laugh at! Just travel down JERSEY in “Beautiful UPTOWN” and most ALL the residents have their leaves STILL sitting there.
WAIT! Leaves STILL on the curbs in DECEMBER, WHY when I was younger, the city crews would have had that DONE already and the Christmas lights would be on the light poles. Don’t we pay these yokels enough, are they lazy, no incentive @ $100 K a year or didn’t the MAYOR get a consultant to TELL him that leaves NEED to be picked up! Quality of life in BOTH towns has gone to hell at the end of a rainbow!!
I SEE NO provisions for HORSES! What If I REALLY want to be sustainable! I’ll need a covered shed for my horse and a covered hay feeder and a place for what comes out the other end aka: city codes!
I REALLY wish for CHRISTMAS that the mayors of BOTH cities would FOCUS on the PROBLEMS instead of their sustainable oblivious dream visions they call 2.nothing!
Didn’t Normal announce they are ending leaf pickup?
I suppose they want them composted now, then perhaps placed into tidy little bags that you can buy from the city (and only from the city) at an inflated price so they can be collected twice a year if you leave them sitting on the curb on the designated day in the precise location that they dictate. I know I know, don’t give them ideas…
Well Ronin-at LEAST they’d be PICKED UP! Next problem for “uptown” 2.1 is clogged sewers, leading to backed up home drains. MAYBE then the citizens will get a whiff of what “uptown” smells like..
Yes, it was mentioned in the Pantagraph. If I recall correctly, December 21 will be the final date for pickup.
Now I just want to buy up a bunch of houses and raise bees and chickens and plant wild flowers. Basically if I buy property in Bloomington I am going to be in a landtrust. The Representatives in this city gotta go. They have no idea how to represent, they just want to own us. See CHICAGO/Madigan politics. If this isn’t communism I’m not sure what is.