About the Strategy

What it is?/Purpose

The goal of the Downtown Strategy is to create a comprehensive “action” guide for the development and redevelopment of Downtown Bloomington. This guide will address parking, transportation, market assessment, form-based zoning, and an implementation strategy. The City of Bloomington and the Downtown Bloomington Association have worked together to bring Farr Associates to Downtown to complete the strategy

Timeline

Fall – Winter 2008

• Collection and Analysis of Existing Conditions
• Market survey conducted
• First Public Meeting: November 6; 7-9pm; State Farm Downtown Building
• Two Day Redevelopment Charrette: Early January

Winter 2008 – Summer 2009

• Development of Master Plan and Code Standards Overlay
• Includes: Transportation, Roads
• Parking Plan
• Retail Plan
• SoDo Study (South of Downtown)
• Implementation Strategy, including funding strategies
• Planning Code Standards

September – December 2009

• Final Document Presentations
• Public Open House (for final considerations and revisions)
• Adoption Meetings (for city and will be open to public)

Committees

Steering Committee (SC)

About the SC

The SC is developed to provide guidance, strategic review and comment throughout the process, assessing the plan’s vision and reach as well as providing guidance and evaluation to Farr Associates in the areas of priority, controversy, and land use conflicts.

Includes:

Josh Mast, State Farm Insurance (Chair)
Ben Hart, Heritage Enterprises
Carl Teichman, Illinois Wesleyan University
Cheryl Gaines, Collaborative Solutions, City Council Member – Town of Normal
Fred Wollrab, Property Owner
John Dirks, District 87 Board
John Hanson, City Council Member – City of Bloomington
Russel Francois, Francois Associates Architects, Downtown Bloomington Association
Stephen Snyder, Developer
Vicki Tilton, Downtown Business Owner

Technical Adv. Committee (TAC)

About the TAC

The TAC is assigned the responsibility of assessing the capacity of infrastructure to support design concepts, as well as to provide Farr Associates with access to their areas of expertise and the information resources available to them.

Includes:

Greg Koos, McLean Co Museum of History
Chuck Stuckey, Bloomington Planning Commission
Doug Grovesteen, City of Bloomington
Mark Huber, City of Bloomington
Tom Hamilton, City of Bloomington
Bill Wasson, McLean County Parks and Recreation