The Bloomington City Council heard reports Monday on the affordable housing situation in McLean County, and on progress of the first phase of the downtown streetscape plan the council approved last month.
The McLean County Regional Planning Commission [MCRPC] presented the Regional Housing Recovery Plan, a draft of which was released in March. The MCRPC also presented the plan to the Normal Town Council last week.
To complete the report, community planners conducted research and reached out for community input in drafting recommendations for the council and related bodies. They received nearly 1,200 responses to the survey, roughly two-thirds of which came from Bloomington households.
Their research found both rising housing need and lower availability in Bloomington-Normal since the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, the report pointed to the Rivian hiring surge as indicative of the problem.
They found that 50%-80% of Rivian’s workforce commutes at least 45 minutes one way to get to work, and assemblers and fabricators were the professional category most likely to have a long commute to McLean County, closely followed by those in computer-related occupations and food service workers.
MCRPC executive director Raymond Lai and community planner Mark Adams provided a series of recommendations to address the housing crisis; including forming an implementation committee, hiring a housing coordinator or policy analyst, creating a housing trust fund, as well as a landlord incentive fund into which both public and private entities could provide funds to help landlords take on the risk of renting to the “precariously housed,” or those who do not meet the federal definition for homelessness, but who nonetheless do not have a “stable roof” over their heads.
Ward 2 council member Donna Boelen, who was acting as mayor pro tem in Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe’s absence, spoke about the report’s recommendation for the construction of more multifamily units as opposed to single-family homes. The MCRPC’s data shows Bloomington has significantly more multifamily units as a proportion of the city’s housing options than Normal does.
“My focus, really, is not necessarily apartment complexes that are large, but the townhomes and the attached,” said Boelen, referring to attached homes that are not part of large apartment buildings. She said this is because these types of residences “are significantly cheaper, but the city still gets the tax revenue because the combined unit is more tax generating than if it was a single-family home.”
Streetscape plan update
The council also heard a report from Deputy City Manager Billy Tyus concerning the first phase of the downtown streetscape plan. Tyus reported that Springfield firm Crawford, Murphy & Tilly [CMT] has begun its work.
“Things are already happening,” Tyus said. “CMT has actually hit the ground running.” He went on to explain that surveyors are in downtown Bloomington conducting topographic surveys to complete a “detailed first project design.”
A Community Outreach Plan about the project will come this summer, with an anticipated December project bid followed by a March of 2025 continuation, subject to council approval. There is an upcoming July 22 deadline for potential state capital grants to help fund the project.
Tyus also spoke about the proposed downtown TIF district and how it could help the streetscape project.
“We believe that TIF can be a critical part of helping to fund the streetscape work, but it’s bigger than streetscape,” he said, adding there are “significant housing projects” in the downtown area waiting for the plan to continue to proceed.
The city held a public meeting about the proposed TIF district in April, and hopes to come before the council for approval sometime between July 15 and Sept. 29. There will be a public hearing on July 1.
Council members expressed cautious support of the TIF during their discussion of the streetscape plan and the proposed TIF district.
Ward 1 council member Jenna Kearns said while she understands the council will approve the TIF district itself before looking at specific projects for development, she wants to have some idea of what will come before voting.
“I want to approve a TIF that has vision,” Kearns said.
Also Monday, City Manager Jeff Jurgens gave his first report after predecessor Tim Gleason’s exit last month.
Jurgens reported the newly-renovated O’Neil Pool will have its ribbon-cutting on May 24, and will open to the public the following day.
Additionally, Jurgens announced the new area hockey team, the Bloomington Bison, will have a national affiliate that will be announced later this month. About 500 season tickets already have been sold, well above average for a new team in a city of this size. The team’s first game will be in October.
