Planning commission forwards Hopewell South PUD to council after accessibility debate

The Bloomington Planning Commission on Feb. 9 voted to forward a petition from the City of Bloomington Redevelopment Commission to rezone parcels at 723, 709 and 607 West 1st Street into a Planned Unit Development known as Hopewell South, asking the Common Council to consider the PUD with staff-recommended conditions and additional accessibility and text-cleanup requirements.

The petition covers about 6.3 acres and would replace former hospital and convalescent uses with a unified plan that, in the petitioner’s materials, would yield roughly 98 homes across a mix of single-family, small-multifamily and accessory dwelling units. The petitioner and staff said the PUD allows several departures from the Unified Development Ordinance — including narrow 20-foot “lanes,” lots that do not front a public street and 0-foot setbacks on many interior lots — that together enable a denser, lower-average-cost product. The petitioner said its modeling reduces an average unit cost from about $425,000 (by-right scenario) to about $270,000 (PUD scenario).

Why it mattered: commissioners, staff and dozens of public commenters focused on how the project balances affordability, design innovation and accessibility. City staff recommended forwarding the PUD with conditions; residents and disability advocates urged stronger, binding protections for visitability and wheelchair accessibility in the preapproved housing catalog. The commission added conditions requiring documentation of how accessibility and engagement with people with disabilities will be evaluated, and directed the petitioner to work with staff to correct citation and clarity errors in the PUD text before it goes…