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Bloomington City Council Meeting

On October 22, 2019, the Bloomington city council introduced Chapter 3 of the

proposed Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), the document that lays out the rules for land

and development in Bloomington. In attendance were Bloomington residents, council members,

and planning staff. From the meeting agenda, one of the city council members read out the

proposed changes in housing that included the addition of new duplex, triplex, and fourplex

houses and to promote the creation of more housing and to diversify housing stock. The meeting

also had a question and answer section where the residents raised concerns about the proposed

changes in housing.

The first hour of the meeting was comparative to the Camelot simulation activity from

class. Both the Bloomington council meeting and Camelot simulation activity had a similar

structure whereby a proposal was presented, and later there was a question and answer section

for the residents. However, the Bloomington council meeting had a planning staff that lacked in

the Camelot simulation activity.

Various concerns were raised at the Bloomington council meeting. Some members were

concerned that by adding more duplex, triplex, and fourplex houses, their taxes would upsurge.

There was also an issue of whether increasing homes in an existing neighborhood was a smart

growth strategy. Another issue that was raised was the differences in services on the different

house units proposed.

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From the video, it can be argued that Bloomington council members and the planning

staff had a good working relationship. This is because there were no raised concerns to indicate

that the two groups conflicted with the proposal presented. Besides, a conclusion on the plan was

established at the end of the meeting, which both groups agreed.

In the Bloomington council meeting, there were both supporters and opponents from the

residents that represented the entire community. The supporters of the council’s proposal argued

that allowing single-family houses to be converted into community units was going to yield more

housing opportunities for people that could not afford to buy their own homes. However, the

opponents of the council’s proposal argued that there was a probability of outside developers to

build divisions among the residents on the basis of developing separate community housing.

Based on the video, the number that attended the Bloomington council meeting was

alarming. From observation, seats seemed hard to come by in the city council Chambers as

residents spoke for hours on the UDO. It was also surprising that none of the residents left before

the meeting was over. This is an indication of how much the community of Bloomington was

involved in the development of its city. The Bloomington meeting was organized, and nothing

was confusing.

The Bloomington council meeting had the right amount of attendance, and opinions from

both sides of the discussion were put into consideration. However, even though the meeting took

four hours, some issues from the council proposal were not addressed thoroughly.
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Work Cited

“Community Access Television Services.” Monroe County Public Library. Uploaded October

22, 2019.http://catstv.net/m.php?q=7464. Accessed 15 Dec 2019.