The City of Bloomington is planning a community discussion on data centers for next month.
The public forum will be held at the Bloomington Center for the Performing Arts on Wednesday, May 6. The event will be from 2-4 p.m. and continue from 6-8 p.m.
“Trying to bring in a couple individuals that are very neutral in the process of data centers, but to bring knowledge to those about what a data center truly is and what's associated with it,” said Mayor Dan Brady, who announced the event during the city council's meeting on Monday.
“There'll be more information coming about who those individuals will be, but I think it will be something that has great potential for the community to talk about data centers.”
City leaders have denied the existence of any plans to build a data center in the city, but those statements have not done much to calm concerns among those who are opposed to one being built.
“I do not believe that there is any efforts right now to slip in data centers under our noses. That's not how our city government works,” said council member Abby Scott. “However, folks are getting more and more nervous.”
Downtown street changes
Also Monday, business and safety priorities clashed in a discussion about the ongoing downtown streetscape project.
The council approved a measure, 6-2, to remove a planned flex lane along the east side of North Main Street in Downtown Bloomington, replacing it with parking and loading zones.
The change concerns the 300, 400 and 500 blocks of North Main, located in the center of Downtown. As a flex lane, it could be utilized as a bike lane or for deliveries, garbage pickup and short-term parking, based on signage and time of day.
That use would have eased concerns about vehicles stopping in the middle of the street or blocking bikes, but also would have removed 32 parking spaces adjacent to Downtown businesses.
The approved motion removed the flex lanes from the plan, instead adding permanent parking and loading zones. Downtown bicycle accommodations are planned on East Street, a block over, and Madison Street as part of the U.S.-51 Business project planned by the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Council members Mollie Ward and Jenna Kearns voted against the measure, saying it would make downtown less accessible for bike users. Cody Hendricks was not present.
“I believe this change is short sighted and prioritizes car storage over people. The flex lane supports a downtown that is accessible to everyone, not just those who arrive by car,” said Kearns.
Council member Sheila Montney said if there is not ample parking downtown, some people will elect to go back home rather than staying to patronize businesses.
“We've had a number of business owners express the need for this change. These are people who have taken tremendous financial risk in order to have businesses here in our downtown,” said Montney. “And just since these last 18 months, a number of small businesses downtown have actually closed.”
Montney added the measure was a compromise driven by those business owners.
“In my view, the flex lane is already the compromise,” said Kearns. “We've lost downtown buildings to surface parking lots, which shows that this isn't about a lack of parking, it's a question of priorities.”
Kearns also said she did not think using Business 51 as an alternative could provide as much accessibility to downtown for bike riders.
“It seems that in our very car-centric society, this is a small thing to ask,” said Ward.
Commissions and committees
A measure was proposed to merge the powers and duties of the Welcoming America Commission with those of the Human Relations Commission. It also increased the number of members on the Human Relations Commission.
Before a unanimous vote in favor, council members held a discussion on why the merger was recommended. Brady explained the Welcoming America Commission has held only two meetings annually, in 2024 and 2025, despite scheduling 21, due to cancellations or lack of a quorum.
At the same time, members of the Human Relations Committee expressed a desire to have more to do at its meetings.
Montney thinks Bloomington has too many governing bodies.
“We have more boards and commissions than any community that I'm aware of. We continuously seem to struggle with quorums. But I think what's most important also in considering that is these boards and commissions, with or without that scale, cost the community a significant amount of money,” she said.
Festival ordinance
A citywide ordinance was adopted updating fees and licensing requirements for festivals.
This rule applies to outdoor, open-air events with 300 or more attendees. The ordinance creates a tiered system establishing between $100 and $300 fees per day after a $100 application fee.
Events that are religious, political, or sponsored by the city, a school or university are exempt, as is the Bloomington Farmers Market. Nonprofits were added to the list of fee exemptions after an amendment suggested by Ward.
Water engineering
The city also approved a new $91,832 joint funding agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior for water resource investigations.
The motion broadened an agreement enacted in 2022 that allowed for stream gages at Six Mile, Money and Kickapoo creeks to also include the Mackinaw River. Stream gaging is the process of measuring water level and discharge. The sampling data provided is used to understand the behavior of the watershed program.
Expanding it to the Mackinaw River will allow monitoring of river flow and more efficient use of the Mackinaw River Pumping Pool, a critical component for the Bloomington Water Department’s ability to recharge its two reservoirs, Evergreen Lake and Lake Bloomington.
If the stream gages measure sufficient flow, it will allow water to be pumped into Evergreen from the the river.
