The Greater Bloomington Chamber of Commerce represents the voice of business in our community. When issues arise that impact our member businesses, we're there to understand the issues at hand, collaborate with other community partners to offer alternative options or to explain how changes will affect our businesses now and in the future. Some current issues we are focusing on include:
Monroe County Urbanizing Area
The Monroe County Urbanizing Area Plan final draft is complete. The Monroe County Plan Commission and the County Commissioners held a joint meeting in late August to get public input on the final plan. The Chamber has supported the Plan and has applauded Monroe County officials and consultant group MKSK for including stakeholders and the public in the process for the plan’s development throughout the past year. Along with support for the plan, The Chamber is advocating for the County hire a consultant to develop the ordinances that will support the plan, recognizing the limited staff resources for the County and the time it would take to create the ordinances.
Plastic Bag Ordinance
City Council has been approached by a local advocacy group that wants to ban “single-use” plastic bags at all retail locations in Bloomington and charge $0.15 for any bag provided to customers. It is not clear yet how City Council intends to respond, but Council members are looking at the issue and are interested in hearing from the business community and their customers about the impacts. In response, The Chamber is contacting retail members to understand their perspective on the issue.
Provisions of the proposed ordinance include:
- During the first year, all retail establishments would charge 15 cents per single-use plastic or paper bags. Retailers would retain this money to help offset the cost of implementation.
- In the second and subsequent years, all retail establishments would charge 15 cents per single-use carryout paper bags and for plastic bags thicker than 2.25 millimeters. Plastic bags thinner than this would be prohibited.
- All paper bags must contain at least 40% post-consumer waste.
- Plastic bags around "wet" items (i.e. ice cream), plastic bags used for bulk items (i.e. nuts), paper bags used to weigh candy, paper pharmacy bags, paper bags used to protect greeting cards, and paper bags to protect bottles.
Chamber members in the retail industry are encouraged to take our survey to share thoughts on the plastic bag ordinance.
Transit Focus Group
Members of The Chamber’s Legislative Council, along with key stakeholders in the City and County, are working with our state legislators on expanding transit options for Monroe County. During the 2015 legislative session, Senator Mark Stoops authored SB 379 to give the Monroe County Council authority to expand Bloomington Transit into Monroe County through an increase in the County Option Income Tax. The bill passed the Senate but did not receive a hearing in the House. The Transit Focus Group is developing a strategy for moving the legislation forward in 2016. Part of this discussion includes a plan on how to best integrate existing services with Bloomington Transit and Rural Transit to provide services for Monroe County’s residents and workforce.
I-69 Section 5 Update
Current work on Section 5 in Bloomington includes:
- Added Travel lanes—reconstructing the SR 37 mainline median (between That Road and SR 46) to add another travel lane in both directions along with new concrete median barrier. Completion expected by the end of 2015.
- Mainline improvements and access roads—reconstructing the SR 37 mainline to interstate standards as well as constructing access roads from just south of Chambers Pike to the northern end of the project. This work is anticipated to be completed by mid 2016.
- Vernal Pike—Constructing the center bridge pier, then a new bridge over I-69 and realigning a section of this road. This work is anticipated to begin in early spring 2015 and be completed by early 2016.
- Kinser Pike—constructing a new bridge over I-69 and realigning a section of this road. This work is anticipated to begin in late summer 2015 and be completed by the end of 2015.
- Fullerton Pike—constructing a new interchange with roundabout intersections. Anticipated to begin in late spring 2015 and completion by the end of 2015.
Additional work expected to begin soon:
- Sound Walls—construction two new sound walls along the northbound side of SR 37 starting in mid-summer 2015 and completed by the end of 2015.
- Sample Road—constructing a new interchange with roundabout intersections. This work is anticipated to begin in fall 2015 and be completed in late spring of 2016.
- Liberty Church Road—Constructing a new interchange. This work is expected to begin by late summer 2015 and be completed by mid-2016.
- Utilities Relocations—several utilities relocations will take place throughout the project limits. This work is anticipated to begin in late summer 2015 and be completed by fall 2015.
Additonal project information can be found on the I-69 Development Partners’ Website: http://www.i69section5.org/
I-69 Section 6 Update
INDOT has reviewed 14 alternatives for the final leg of the I-69 project connecting Martinsville and Indianapolis and narrowed the choices down to five preliminary alternatives for further study. Over the past few months, INDOT has accepted public comment on the Section 6 Draft Purpose and Need statement, project goals and the 14 alternatives for Section 6 that made it through the initial screening process. Further refinements of the options included weighing each alternative within the context of the project purpose and need and project goals, resulting in the five preliminary alternatives. Each of these preliminary alternatives will be further refined and analyzed over the next few months through traffic modeling, field work, access evaluation and other screening methods. From this process, the most reasonable alternatives will be identified and included in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) which is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2017. A preferred alternative will be selected through the DEIS process, with the Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision expected in the first quarter of 2018. During each of these steps, there will be opportunity for public comment. Further information about the Section 6 project can be found on the INDOT website: http://www.in.gov/indot/projects/i69.
I-69 Summit: Driving The Future
Plans are currently underway for the 2015 I-69 Summit for November 19 here in Bloomington. The event builds on the success of the 2014 Summit that drew more than 400 attendees from all along the I-69 Corridor between Texas and Canada. This year’s Summit will bring together stakeholders from various sectors to enable collaboration and leverage the new and existing I-69 corridor from a statewide and national perspective. Speakers include Peter Rogoff, Undersecretary of Policy for US DOT; Jeff Davis, Senior Fellow at the Eno Institute; and Tom Easterday, Executive VP of Subaru of Indiana Automotive and Canadian Consul General Douglas George. Topics will focus on transportation and infrastructure of the future, infrastructure funding, interchange development and regional marketing and branding through a variety of speakers and breakout sessions. For more information including registration, please visit the I-69 Summit Website: I69Summit.com.
Downtown Parking
Service Vehicle Parking
In mid-June, the City implemented several changes to downtown parking including suggestions from The Chamber on areas including hours of enforcement and technology improvements with the app to improve the customer experience. The Chamber has also advocated for changes to the commercial vehicle parking policy to improve the ability of service vehicles to park and conduct business more efficiently in the downtown. The Chamber’s recommendations were the result of a roundtable discussion to identify parking challenges among member businesses that service the downtown. The Chamber continues to advocate for the recommended policy changes for commercial vehicles with the City administration.
An info sheet on downtown parking is available below for businesses to distribute to employees and customers.
City of Bloomington parking information
Parking information for Businesses
Smartphone App for parkers
In partnership with ParkMobile, the City of Bloomington is introducing the ParkMobile smartphone app, which can now be used to pay for parking in Downtown Bloomington. ParkMobile for iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile allows users to activate meters using their smartphone, top it up when the meter is about to run out, and take advantage of special offers from local merchants near your parking spot. Check out the tutorial video below or the linked resources to learn more.
ParkMobile Costs for Customers
ParkMobile Presentation- delivered 11/14/13 at City of Bloomington City Council Chambers
ParkMobile contact for business owners
Business owners can work directly with ParkGlobal to obtain promotional materials and guides about using the app to post at your location or to send special offers to nearby parkers through the ParkMobile app. For any of these needs, please contact:
Brent Paxton
brent.paxton@parkmobileglobal.com
(770) 818-9036
ParkMobile Take Ones for your customers
IPS Smart Meter M5 How-To from IPS Smart Meters on Vimeo.