Bloomington's proposed bus transfer center and parking garage will reduce the number of public parking spaces downtown.
The transfer center will be at the site of the current Market Street parking garage.
City manager Jeff Jurgens says city staff recommends the new garage go to three levels.
“We’re also going to look at potentially adding some other parking around the area. There are some other lots by the BCPA [Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts] that we are looking to improve, so we should have sufficient parking and that’s going to be key for downtown,” Jurgens said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas.
He added the cost of a third level is not yet known.
The current parking garage, which is more than 50 years old and is undergoing repairs, has 550 parking spaces. Jurgens said the garage is not used to capacity. The new garage would be between 300 and 450 spaces, depending on how many levels it has.
The city council on Monday approved contributing its $450,000 portion for architectural and engineering services for the new parking garage and Connect Transit transfer center.
Connect Transit has secured $18 million in state and federal grants for the project.
Jurgens said the city is also talking with Connect Transit about adding a shuttle service downtown during construction when hundreds of parking spaces will go offline starting next spring.
Construction is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026.
Jurgens also said the city has been in talks with the U.S. Postal Service about keeping its downtown post office, adding he he’s confident the postal service will find a new location downtown, but no agreement has been finalized.
Housing shortage
Jurgens said a consultant will help the city come up recommendations to change city zoning laws to help address the housing shortage.
Those kinds of changes will require some buy-in from the community, and Jurgens said change can be difficult.
“We need to bring all of the community together with those conversations. We don’t want to fundamentally transform this community and what it’s going to look like without a lot of community involvement and a lot of communication from the stakeholders,” he said.
Jurgens said he was unaware of a McLean County group that’s pushing a co-housing model that proposes building individual living quarters along with some shared spaces, including kitchens, laundry and dining. But he said the city is open to all ideas.
Housing advocates have recommended more flexible zoning to allow for more housing units to be built.
Trail speeders
Jurgens said the city has fielded more calls about speeders on e-bikes and other motorized vehicles on Constitution Trail recently. He said he wants the city, Town of Normal and McLean County to establish uniform rules and enforcement — since each has jurisdiction over different parts of the trail.
“It’s one thing to put some bans or speed limits or prohibitions on the trail, but then we also need to enforce that and have the personnel to monitor that,” he said.
Normal Mayor Chris Koos said he supports greater enforcement on the trail.
Jurgens said enforcement might fall to parks and recreation staff in addition to police.
Hamilton Road extension
City officials say the final leg of a major road improvement project in south Bloomington will generate economic development and improve safety in south Bloomington.
Jurgens said the city plans to complete the $22 million Hamilton Road extension by late next year.
“There’s going to be additional economic impact from this,” Jurgens said. “It’s going to be easier to get around this area of the city, and there are going to be areas that are opened up for more economic development. Hopefully we’ll see from business growth and other growth from this as well.”
The city will widen the existing part of Hamilton Road and include a path along the Constitution Trail. The city plans to request bids for that portion of the project in November.
The project also will link Hamilton Road across Commerce Parkway, and the Rhodes Lane intersection with Morrissey Drive will be closed to route traffic onto Hamilton, eliminating what city officials say is a dangerous intersection.
