Bloomington council adopts changes to right-of-way permitting, sets winter moratorium and new fees

Bloomington City Council on March 31 adopted an ordinance that updates the city’s right-of-way permitting and management rules, changing how the city charges for underground and aerial permits, adding restoration enforcement tools, codifying a winter moratorium and removing a local registration requirement.

The amendment, which modifies City Code Chapter 17 and Appendix A, passed on a 6-0 vote. Council also authorized summary publication of the ordinance.

City engineering staff told the council the changes respond to a surge in utility work in 2024 — driven largely by fiber-to-home installations — and repeated resident complaints about slow or poor restoration after trenching. Brian Hanson, staff presenting the item, told the council the city permitted roughly 1.6 million feet of underground and aerial work in 2024 and ran into capacity and restoration problems. He said staff is proposing four main changes: a new per-foot fee structure, clearer restoration requirements, defined winter…