Bloomington OKs plan to develop Carle Health medical campus on east side

A three-party, public-private partnership to develop a large mixed-use medical campus on Bloomington’s east side will allow Carle Health to expand services in the Twin Cities.

The Bloomington City Council on Monday approved the agreement with Carle and Deneen Brothers Farms that paves the way for the regional medical campus on 35 acres within the Empire Business Park, behind Carle’s current facility on the southeast corner of Trinity Lane and Cornelius Drive.

“This is really a wonderful, strong bookend for the Empire Street commercial corridor, to really be able to finish out what was envisioned even 20 years ago,” said Kelly Pfeifer, the city’s director of development services.

Under the agreement, Carle and Deneen will privately fund about $6 million in infrastructure improvements, including new roads, sidewalks, trails and other utilities to support development.

In return, the city will waive up to $600,000 in development fees and reimburse some costs associated with extending Constitution Trail.

The council voted 7-0 to approve the agreement, with Mollie Ward recusing herself and Jenna Kearns absent from the 85-minute meeting.

“This agreement is the next step in Carle choosing to grow its footprint in Central Illinois, right here in Bloomington, and we’re happy to have them,” said senior deputy city manager Billy Tyus. “We also think it’s the next step in Bloomington continuing to become a health care destination. I mean, we’re growing in that area considerably, and there’s more to come.”

The agreement will allow for completion of a long-planned connection of the eastern and western segments of Cornelius Drive within three years. The total expense to the city is projected at $165,000, primarily to pay for a small portion of the Cornelius Drive extension.

Bloomington will be responsible for maintaining a basin on the property, but Pfeifer said Carle agreed to pay $100,000 annually over nine years toward future maintenance.

Options for the health care campus include wellness services, professional offices and possible commercial development along Empire Street [Illinois 9]. Future phases of the project may add residential development.

The concept for the campus allows for flexibility while holding consistent with the preliminary plan the council approved in January.

Downtown parking project

In another matter, the council voted 8-0 in favor of a public improvement partnership between the city and Lifelong Access that aims to boost downtown parking with the acquisition of lots near the former Pantagraph building at 301 W. Washington St.

Lifelong Access is in the process of converting the former newspaper building into a center where the nonprofit will provide services for youth, adults and people with disabilities. It’s part of a services partnership with Chestnut Health Services and the regional alternative school.

“As we started to talk about this, we started to think about how do we find parking in the area that could both accomplish our overall parking needs, that could help Lifelong Access with their project,” said Tyus.

“We knew that they would have to redevelop a parking lot to the north of the former Pantagraph building. We also knew that we needed parking. We also knew that, when the Market Street garage closed, that people had started to park in that lot anyway.”

Development of the lot will cost about $1.1 million, and contribute to other downtown parking additions that are expected to add more than 200 public spaces. It’s a shift from an initial concept that would have seen a parking structure built to go along with a Connect Transit transfer station.

“Ultimately, it got to the point where the design was too costly, frankly, with … the estimates of cost,” said Tyus. “The estimates came back to build the transfer station and to get 205 parking spaces at roughly $36 million. Of that, $12.6 million was going to be the cost to the city. Honestly, it wasn’t something that we could afford.”

In the agreement with Lifelong Access, Bloomington will purchase a lot immediately north of the building and build a new 77-space public lot. In turn, the city will lease a 43-space lot at the former Elks Lodge along Madison to Lifelong Access on a 99-year term.

Additionally, Bloomington will construct a new 40-space lot on two parcels across Monroe Street, and reconfigure Roosevelt Avenue to one-way traffic while adding 20 angled spaces for Lifelong Access.

Budget formally presented

City staff formally presented Bloomington’s annual budget proposal of $370.5 million, with a general fund balance of $148.3 million.

“The proposal has not changed from the preview,” said City Manager Jeff Jurgens.

Planned capital improvements total $111.7 million, highlighted by $81.9 million dedicated to upgrading the city’s water system. Those improvements include lead service line replacements and other critical system-wide repairs.

“That’s an increase in our water capital investment by 281%, and again, I just would remind the council and the community we knew that we needed to do this work. That’s why we did put in place the new rate structure,” said Jurgens.

During her opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting, Ward urged the staff to allocate $120,000 in funding for violent crime prevention, pointing to a recent shooting incident in her neighborhood.

“A few weeks ago, we decided that we were going to spend $120,000 out of current funds to buy new guns [for the police department]. One of the arguments made for that purchase was that those guns were getting pretty close to needing to be replaced,” said Ward.

“Which means, we’re not going to have to spend that $120,000 this year or the following year. Is it going toward prevention, or is it simply going to react? Let’s at least come up with that little bit.”

The council will hold a special meeting next Monday in place of a committee of the whole, when department heads are expected to detail all of the capital projects included in the budget proposal. A public hearing on the spending plan is set for March 23, with a vote expected at the April 13 meeting.

Other business

Items approved unanimously as part of the consent agenda include:

• Spending $135,000 on four new snowplows and another $60,000 on three wheel loader buckets for the public works department;
• Waiving bidding requirements and authorizing staff to negotiate terms of the 2027 street resurfacing program with Rowe Construction;
• Extending the Mutual Aggregation Program energy supply brokerage services agreement with the Stone River Group by three years;
• Granting a special use permit for a wireless communications tower in the 1100 block of Interstate Drive; and
• Approving three liquor license applications.

A mayoral proclamation in recognition of Eid al-Fitr marking the end of Ramadan on March 20 was postponed, with no explanation provided.

The council recognized the appointments of Brian Kelly to the Building Board of Appeals and Bruce Tompkins to the McLean County Regional Planning Commission.