Bloomington residents air concerns on lighting, park plans, transit project
The Bloomington City Council held a listening session on September 9 where residents raised concerns about street lighting compliance, the future of the Creekside Boutique, and the abrupt suspension of a regional transit project. The session highlighted tensions between city planning initiatives and community priorities.
A resident opened the session by questioning why city staff failed to include specific language from City Code 2013-017 regarding exterior lighting plans. The resident cited the code's requirement for accurate site plans showing property lines and existing improvements, including lighting for walkways and parking lots. They pointed to dark areas at the south entrance of Park Avenue and along a Chicago Avenue parking lot sidewalk as examples of non-compliance. A council member countered that police reports bearing the resident's name likely resulted from their own frequent complaints about parking, noise, and lighting violations—suggesting the city was responding to their requests rather than ignoring code requirements.
Mary Arjan, representing the Creekside Boutique, expressed alarm that the boutique was excluded from preliminary plans for a new Health and Wellness Center. She emphasized the boutique's social value, noting it may be the only human contact some customers have all day. Arjan cited financial contributions: 25% of sales revenue goes to the city, 15% supports volunteers, and hundreds of dollars are donated annually to local charities. She also presented a 2022 city survey showing 61% of residents felt the city had the right number of aquatic facilities—challenging the apparent emphasis on aquatic amenities in the new center. Arjan requested dedicated space for the boutique equal to its current footprint.
A representative from an organization called "resort" presented a position paper on Central Park development, advocating for ecological restoration and equitable access to nature. They noted community feedback showed residents least preferred shared trails for bicycles and pedestrians.
Resident Robert Coleman asked about the Riverview Corridor project, a proposed transit connection between downtown St. Paul and the Mall of America. Mayor explained that Ramsey County Commissioner Artego suspended the project after more than a decade of planning, citing insufficient support from the Met Council and Metropolitan Airports Commission. The Mayor, who has worked on the project for over a decade, expressed disappointment. He noted current bus service takes roughly two and a half weeks for the route and experiences significant delays, illustrating the need for improved transit.
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Notable Quotes (17)
Why did staff not include the language from city code 2013 oh one seven? Exterior lighting lighting plan where. Number four states and accurate site plan indicating location of property lines and all existing and proposed land improvements including button limited to buildings, parking lots, piles, and driveways, streets, walkways, and accessory buildings.
So you're just missing the fact that they may have actually been responding to things that you were calling the city about at the time because. You call every week about parking violations, noise violations, light violations, not having enough light, right? So they could actually have been responding because you were submitting complaints to the city.
Police inaccurately informed me that I would be subject to harassed under the harassment statute regardless of my intentions.
the NAS versus city of Bloomington decision that stated NAS decision to chill her speech was not objectively reasonable for two principal reasons. 1st, her intended conduct is not prescribed by the statute. Additionally, the definition of harass in the word another suggests that harassments must target an individual victim, as such does not extend to the monitoring of a physical space and issue or a random crowd of people.
I would like to know why my name is on these reports. It is not on the reports for the reasons the council members suggested, so why is my name on the reports? This is an ask.
Our vision for enhancing the corridor for education.
One of the themes that we're hearing from the community at large is that a shared trail for bikes and pedestrians is least preferred.
It provides socialization, connecting with others. For the artisants? For the customers, for the volunteers, we might be the only people, some of these, customers talk to, for the whole day.
Did you know that 25 % of the sales revenue goes to the city of Bloomington? 15 % for the volunteers. Also, did you know, hundreds of dollars are given every year to local charities, such as VIP, Cornerstone and Bridging.
The results of the 10 min telephone survey of 400 Bloomington residents showed that 76 % supported building a new community center. ... The survey also showed that 61 % said that the number of aquatic facilities in the city was about right.
We need at least as much space as we have now, if not more. And it would be a dedicated space, just like the aquatic center and the health thing. That's all dedicated, right?
That's where we've been. Why shouldn't we be there? That's where we've been. Why should we be kicked out? We're very insulted to tell you the truth.
They don't want transit at all, and then it really seemed like, you know, a couple hours later, mayor Carter and. The, I don't remember her name, the ward five council member on st. Paul city council was like, oh, we're gonna work for BRT now, but from the statement that Ramsey County put out didn't really sound like they wanted BRT.
Commissioner Artego, who is the chair of the quarter policy advisory committee, he's been driving the notion of Riverbury Quarter for. More than a decade, I think a couple of decades now, made the decision that he didn't want, he didn't want Ransey County to commit any more resources forward the review corridor, toward the toward the project.
He didn't feel there was the support necessary to move forward and when pushed on that, specifically from the. Met council or the Metropoland airports commission... he he without that support. He thought it was not responsible to continue to commit Ramsey County resources and time and energy and so on towards something that he didn't think he had the support for.
It takes roughly two and a half weeks to get from downtown st. Paul to mall of Americas. Roughly. I've NO for sure. I've been in, I've been on route 54. For where there was a big protest near the XL and every bus was delayed like 30 min. So it's not it's not ideal right now, but it it continues.
I, I I've literally been working on it for more than a decade, and I've been on that committee for more than a decade and to see it just stopped abruptly like this was was disappointing.
Ordinances & Resolutions (4)
Exterior lighting lighting plan code mentioned by a resident
Document created by 'resort' detailing concerns about Central Park development
2022 city of Bloomington survey on resident support for a new community center and aquatic facilities
Legal decision referenced regarding harassment statute and free speech
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Other Topics from This Document
Central Park Recreational Development
Future of Creekside Boutique and Health & Wellness Center
Riverview Corridor Project Suspension
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