The Bloomington City Council on Monday approved purchasing the former site of Owen Nursery to house its Public Works Department that has long needed a new home.
City Manager Jeff Jurgens described the current Public Works building as “outdated” and “not large enough.”
The city says the department’s current location is “the best location for a water detention basin to address flooding and provide stormwater management,” and Jurgens echoed that assessment at Monday’s meeting.
The city has long hoped to find a new home for Public Works; a study conducted in 2019 estimated the need for 20-30 acres and 60,000-160,000 square feet of office space at any potential new location. At the time, the cost was estimated to be between $68 million and $93 million.
The Owen Nursery location, at 1706 Morrissey Drive, comes in at significantly below that price point, with the approved purchase being in the amount of $5,425,000. The site is 34 acres with 130,000 square feet of potential office space, said Jurgens.
Jurgens added “the bones are very good” at the nursery site, and needed improvements including a new fleet building and improvements to the office space will bring the total cost to around $24 million, still well under the estimated cost.
“All in, this is going to be a substantial savings to the city,” Jurgens concluded. “Substantial is not even the word for it. It is going to be a tremendous savings to the city to be able to do this.”
Ward 3 council member Sheila Montney raised concerns about the deal during the discussion period, though she clarified she had “no concerns with the location.”
Rather, Montney said she is “uncomfortable” with the decision to retain real estate assistance from a firm based in Decatur instead of Bloomington, and with the 5% commission rate the firm will earn from the city’s purchase.
Montney said the commission “translates to $271,250 that will be leaving our community and going to Decatur to pay for a commercial Realtor when we have a realty community here who certainly could’ve helped support this transaction.”
Montney added she believes the 5% commission could have been negotiated down, and asked Jurgens if any effort had been made to do so. He confirmed that it had not, and said that he would look into doing so in future transactions.
Montney also read an email from former city manager Tim Gleason, who orchestrated the deal, responding to her concerns. He wrote the city avoided working with a local Realtor out of concerns about potential conflicts of interest and not offending any Realtors who were not chosen.
“That conveys to me a lack of trust and confidence in our local realty community,” Montney said of the response.
Ultimately, Montney and all other council members voted to approve the purchase agreement for the Owen Nursery location.
Homeless situation
In his comments at the end of Monday’s brief meeting, Jurgens took note of the local homelessness problem. He reiterated that communications are ongoing between the city and various actors on the issue, including Home Sweet Home Ministries.
“I’m really hoping that we can solve that,” said Jurgens, adding there are now about 20 people living in the tent encampment in Bloomington, down from 34 earlier this year.
Jurgens also reported on the city’s Lead Service Line Detection program. Residents can request that their water lines be tested for lead on the city’s website.
So far, 514 tests have been delivered with 237 results reported. There have been “no actionable detections” of lead, said Jurgens.
