WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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A proposed housing complex on an environmentally sensitive site cleared the Bloomington Plan Commission last night, despite a recommendation by the city’s Environmental Commission not to approve it. Mecca Companies is proposing to build a multi-family apartment complex on eight acres on North Crescent Drive. At least 70 percent of the units will be dedicated to workforce housing. Commission member Nicholas Kappas called the location ‘tricky.’
“This is part of a habitat network that is drastically going away in this town, we have to be a little more sensitive about our built environment” says Kappas.
Kappas acknowledged the need for affordable housing in the city, but he says other locations are more suitable and wouldn’t have the long term environmental impact of Mecca’s project. The wooded site contains a sinkhole, a creek, and changes in grade — all of which have to be accommodated in the site plan. Commission member Isabel Piedmont-Smith said she supported the findings of the Environmental Commission, and said the development is not appropriate for an environmentally sensitive area, even as affordable housing.
“I do support affordable housing but I don’t support it at the expense of the environment. I think there are longer term issues to consider here” Piedmont-Smith says.
Retired landscape architect and area resident, Michael Katzevelski, also spoke against the plan. Though Katzevelski expressed environmental concerns, it was his comment about the sociological impact of high density housing that got the most attention.
“Sociologists have made very clear that there is drug dealing in these kind of environments as well. So essentially, if you approve this you’re casting a blind eye to whats professional sociologists have studied: they have been able to do the research, printed and peer reviewed, journals and books. This is simply not the place for 149 people crammed into what is sometimes referred to as creating a ghetto culture” Katzevelski states.
Citing the Environmental Commission’s recommendation, both Kappas and Piedmont-Smith voted against the plan. Commission members Heather Maritano, Jillian Kinzie, Carol Stewart Gulyas, Andrew Cibor and Brad Wisler supported the project moving forward. The project still requires a vote by the City Council. Wisler said it was a difficult decision.
The approval of the preliminary site plan comes with 12 conditions. Among them are requirements to preserve many existing trees, and to make 20 percent of the apartments available as market rate housing.
