Zoned Out in Bloomington! Parking & Electric Vehicle Variance Requests Denied by Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals

Screenshot of the live zoom meeting running synchronously with the in-person meeting.

Petition denied.

Two petitions brought up to the Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals were heard, but ultimately met their demise at Showers City Hall in Bloomington, Indiana.

What Was The Point?

The Board of Zoning Appeals is an advisory board that meets once a month on a Thursday to make final decisions on requests for variances within the city regarding developments and zoning laws & districts. The board is comprised of 5 members who are appointed by the mayor, the council, or a plan commission. Essentially, this board meets together to hear different appeals regarding zoning and land use within the city of Bloomington. Oftentimes, the board will hear from local property owners and developers who are looking to be granted variances. Variances are essentially exceptions from the local government (in this case the Bloomington Board of Zoning Appeals) that allows for a certain piece of land or property to be use contrary to how the rules allow it to be used in the regular zone that they are dealing with.

Who Was There?

Attending the meeting in person were Board of Zoning Appeals members Barre Klapper (President), Jo Throckmorton (Vice-President), Nikki Farrell, & Tim Ballard. They were joined via zoom by Eric G & Flavia Burrell. Within the zoom itself, there were about 9 people, some of whom were regular citizens, while the others were involved in the appeals or the actual board of zoning appeals.

What Happened and How Was the Meeting Resolved?

Petitions were addressed one at a time, and they were both listed on an online presentation shown on zoom and in person. There was also information about each petition listed in detail in an online agenda.

Here is a link to the the Meeting Files that had everything from the agenda, including information and files from the two petitions:

https://bloomington.in.gov/onboard/meetingFiles/download?meetingFile_id=11608

Screenshot of the request for the variance by the petitioner at the meeting.

Petition #1: David Howard (Tabor Bruce Architects) – 1301 S. Walnut St

The first petition was made requesting a variance from the minimum number of required parking spaces to allow the construction of two ground floor dwelling unites in a Mixed-Use Medium Scale (“MM: a district used to house a mix of housing and storefront/office retail areas” – City of Bloomington) zoning district. There was originally a variance given in 2019 to allow for one ground floor dwelling unit as well as two parking spaces accessed from an alley. The petitioner asked to get a variance to allow for them to create more two dwelling units without having to create additional parking spaces (they didn’t have enough space for more parking to be provided).

The board presented their findings based on research and standards from the Unified Development Ordinance. Essentially, this petition boiled down to the property size and area being relatively small, which provided a challenge for expanding and growing the property. In order for them to create more dwelling space there, they would be requirement to add parking space to offset a lack of parking that would show up. The application for the variance would’ve allowed them to forgo having to create a new parking space. However, the petition was denied after a reviewal of proposed findings from the Board of Zoning Appeals. The board also found that there was already a lack of parking for the current residents there, so a variance could potentially have adverse effects. This petition was quite odd since it was already given a variance, so it is interesting that they asked for another. That may speak to poor planning in the original stages of this development area, and shows how important it is to think ahead when creating our buildings and development.

Recommendation based on the findings of the department standards.

Petition #2: Walnut Star, LLC – 3391 S. Walnut St

The second petition was made requesting a variance from the minimum number of electric vehicle charging stations required in a specific area. The petition was regarding a Mixed-Use Corridor (“MC: a district used to accommodate medium-scaled developments with a mix of storefront retail, office, and/or dwelling units along collector corridors”- City of Bloomington). Essentially, this property was approved to develop a property with multi-family buildings that include around 103 dwelling units and a clubhouse and pool. The project also includes a surface parking lot with 121 parking spaces. In the city of Bloomington, parking areas that have 50 or more spaces are required to accommodate that at least one parking space for every 25 parking spaces be an electric vehicle charging station. For this site specifically they would be required to have a minimum of at least 5 electric vehicle charging stations.

The petition asked to reduce the amount of electric vehicle charging stations that they would have to build from 5 to 2 spaces. Their reasoning was that in the state of Indiana, only about 0.49% percent of vehicles were electric vehicles, so it would put “undue practical difficulty on the development” if they were to build about 4-5% of their parking as electric vehicle charging stations. Ultimately the petition was denied because the board wants Bloomington to be forward thinking. The findings of the board showed that there wouldn’t be any practical difficulties in the use of the property if they were to build those electrical vehicle charging stations, and that there was nothing unique in particular about his zone that would not allow them to install the chargers as needed. Board members talked about how electric vehicles are the future, and that the demand for them will only continue to rise in the future. The harped back upon how Bloomington stands out from cities in their ways of forward thinking, and that the board should always look to think about the future when considering these issues.

Findings from the development standards.

Right after the second petition was denied, the meeting was adjourned and the zoom concluded.

Smart City Technology Opportunities

A common thread between the two petitions was parking. Many different stakeholders within Bloomington can attest or speak to the fact that Bloomington has some issues with parking spaces, especially in downtown, urban, and residential areas here. In a country that is so dependent, it may take a while to create and switch infrastructure to other modes of transportation beyond cars and make them sustainable. However, in a city like Bloomington that is fairly progressive and forward think, there is potential to not only create change, but be a trailblazer in adopting smart city technology opportunities.

Could electric vehicles be the next big thing in Bloomington?

One area in which massive improvements could be made feasibly is in electric vehicle infrastructure. If Bloomington continues to invest resources and require electric vehicle charging stations, then we can see a uptick in a switch to Electric Vehicles. More EV charging stations in strategic areas of the city could help create better parking management around the city through integrated apps that allow for citizens to track where parking is available and where it is unavailable. These stations can be placed in areas around the city such as shopping centers, office buildings, public parking lots, and residential areas. Overall, this would allow for better direction of traffic and parking flow, and we can create less logjam with regards to parking in the city. Overall investment in EV technology and infrastructure would also help to make electric vehicles themselves more feasible in the city, as well as more financially affordable and usable. This could also encourage EV car makers to invest and put more resources in the city itself to build on the EV culture. Overall, a higher usage of electric vehicles can help us reduce our usage of fossil fuels and our emissions when it comes to cars.