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From YouTube: Council Minute March 24
Description
Mayor Tim Busse provides an overview of this week’s Council meeting, including updates on the Park System Master Plan, future improvements at BIG and Creative Placemaking.
A
Hello
bloomington,
I'm
mayor
tim
bussey,
and
this
is
the
council
minute
for
the
week
of
march
22nd.
For
the
past
several
months,
I've
provided
regular
updates
on
the
progress
of
an
important
planning
process
for
the
future
of
our
community.
The
park
system
master
plan.
This
week
we
discussed
a
framework
for
that
plan
and
looked
at
a
benchmarking
study
of
park
systems
in
comparable
communities,
but
before
we
get
going
deeper
into
what
we
discussed
this
week,
I
think
it's
always
good
to
start
at
the
beginning.
Why
are
we
doing
this
in
the
first
place?
A
Long
before
starting
this
planning
process?
We
consistently
heard
through
resident
surveys
that
parks,
open
spaces
and
trails
are
among
the
most
valued
reasons
for
living
in
bloomington,
and
that
residents
would
support
investments
that
improve
these
really
important
amenities.
The
park
system
master
plan
is
a
road
map,
a
road
map
for
planning
and
completing
park,
improvements
for
helping
the
city
plan
capital
improvements
and
to
ensure
changes
and
investments
to
the
park
system
that
fit
into
the
bigger
picture
of
serving
the
needs
of
the
community.
Today
and
for
future
generations.
A
Our
staff
and
consulting
team
have
been
working
with
the
city
council
and
the
parks,
arts
and
recreation
commission
to
study
a
whole
host
of
factors
in
planning
what
the
future
of
bloomington's
parks,
natural
resources,
amenities
and
programs
will
look
like.
We've
studied
local
and
national
park
and
rec
trends.
Community
demographics
facility
needs
current
and
future
programming
needs
and
parks.
Maintenance.
A
We've
looked
into
these
factors
through
two
really
important:
strategic
lenses,
equity
and
sustainability
and,
most
importantly,
despite
the
pandemic,
staff
has
worked
very
hard
and
very
creatively
to
gather
input
and
ideas
and
feedback
from
the
entire
bloomington
community
and,
frankly,
we've
learned
quite
a
bit.
Things
like
our
parks
are
homogeneous.
In
other
words,
they
were
designed
and
built
with
a
kind
of
cookie
cutter
approach
and
not
surprisingly,
our
recreation
facilities
are
now
outdated.
A
We
learned
that
our
parks
and
recreation
amenities,
designed
and
built
many
decades
ago,
don't
match
current
resident
demographics
and
recreation
needs,
and
finally,
new
facilities
are
needed
for
current
residents
and
for
attracting
new
residents
to
the
city.
This
week
the
team
working
on
the
plan
laid
out
a
beginning
framework
for
making
new
investments
in
our
parks.
Using
service
areas
defined
largely
by
council
districts,
there
are
four
districts
that
thoughtfully
create
geographic
balance
of
park,
amenities
and
an
equitable
park
system
across
bloomington.
That
notion
of
equity
is
really
important.
A
The
other
important
piece
of
our
discussion
this
week
was
around
the
results
of
a
benchmarking
survey.
The
survey
identified
metrics
that
we
can
use
to
compare
bloomington's
parks
against
park
and
rec
agencies
in
other
cities
that
are
similar
in
population
physical
park
size
and
our
national
recreation
and
park
association,
gold,
medal
award
recipients,
so
basically
we're
benchmarking
against
some
very
good
park
systems.
We
want
to
evaluate
how
bloomington
parks
and
recreation
is
positioned
compared
to
similar
park
and
rec
programs
across
the
country
in
terms
of
both
efficiency
in
facilities,
operations,
budget
and
capital
investments.
A
The
benchmark
assessment
describes
each
community's
approach,
both
the
philosophy
and
the
operations
of
their
park
and
rec
system,
but
the
survey
doesn't
say
that
bloomington's
park
and
recreations
should
move
in
a
certain
direction,
but
it
lets
us
look
at
the
best
practices
from
award-winning
agencies
and
to
compare
those
practices
to
how
bloomington
operates
our
parks
and
recreation
system.
The
report
will
be
included
in
the
final
plan,
and
data
from
the
report
will
be
used
as
a
reference
to
guide
final
recommendations
when
the
council
adopts
and
begins
implementing
the
park
system.
A
A
We
started
an
overall
building
assessment
to
study
options
for
modernizing
that
facility,
the
assessment
included,
architectural
mechanical
and
electrical
systems,
ice
systems
and
equipment
and,
of
course,
cost
estimates.
The
results
of
the
study
will
be
incorporated
into
a
project
to
update
and
improve
one
of
the
most
historic
ice
arenas
in
the
state.
There
are
two
urgent
issues
that
have
to
be
addressed
in
the
next
couple
of
years.
First,
the
roof
at
big
is
scheduled
for
replacement
in
2022
in
our
capital
improvement
plan.
A
A
As
of
last
year,
the
production
and
importing
of
r22
has
been
banned,
so
refrigerant
that
has
been
recovered,
recycled
or
reclaimed
is
being
allowed
to
service.
Existing
systems
like
we
have
at
big,
but
what
that
means
is
that,
in
a
very
short
time
frame,
supply
will
become
so
scarce
that
the
cost
will
increase
exponentially.
A
The
modernization
of
big
would
also
update
many
major
mechanical
systems
and
address
ada
accessibility
challenges
with
the
facility,
including
elevators,
to
get
guests
to
viewing
areas
for
all
three
sheets
of
ice
and
accessibility
to
older
locker
rooms
and
to
restrooms
between
ranks
two
and
three
beyond
those
base
project
needs
the
assessment,
looked
at
several
options
based
on
input
from
user
groups
and
consideration
of
current
and
future
trends
in
hockey,
skating
and
other
ice
activities,
as
well
as
improvements
to
the
visitor
experience,
security
and
concessions.
Four
options
were
presented
to
the
council.
A
A
A
Of
course,
I'll
provide
updates
back
to
you,
as
we
have
those
conversations
about
one
of
bloomington's,
most
beloved
centers
of
community.
Over
the
past
couple
of
months,
I've
provided
updates
to
you
on
the
work
that
our
advisory
boards
and
commissions
are
doing.
This
is
the
time
of
year
when
those
groups
come
before
the
city
council
to
highlight
the
work
they
did
in
2020
and
to
lay
out
their
work
plan
for
the
coming
year.
This
week
we
heard
from
our
creative
placemaking
commission.
A
This
commission
is
relatively
unique
to
bloomington.
In
fact,
when
it
was
created
about
seven
years
ago,
it
was
believed
to
be
the
first
of
its
kind
in
the
country
putting
arts
and
artists
at
the
center
of
community
and
development.
The
creative
place
making
commission
is
a
collaborative
effort
with
artistry
bloomington's
largest
arts
organization.
The
commission
members
are
appointed
by
the
city
council
and
the
artistry
board,
and
they
provide
advice
to
the
council
on
how
to
incorporate
arts
design
culture
and
creativity
throughout
our
community.
A
One
of
the
unique
things
about
the
work
of
this
commission
is
that
it's
mostly
focused
on
the
south
loop
area.
That's
an
area
that
includes
all
of
bloomington
east
of
cedar
avenue
to
where
the
minnesota
river
valley,
wildlife,
refuge
is
located,
and
it
includes
the
area
around
the
mall
of
america.
The
reason
for
that
is
that
the
funding
for
their
projects
doesn't
come
from
property
taxes.
It
comes
from
a
dedicated
revenue
stream
of
liquor
and
hotel
taxes
that
can
only
be
spent
in
that
area.
A
The
creative
place
making
commission
regularly
references
our
self
loop,
creative
place,
making
plan,
which
was
approved
by
the
city
council
in
two
thousand
fifteen,
with
a
plan
as
a
guide.
Commissioners
and
staff
from
the
city
of
bloomington
and
artistry
worked
together
on
a
visioning
workshop
in
2020
to
determine
what
they
wanted
to
accomplish
in
the
next
three
years.
A
A
For
its
part,
the
city
council
has
expressed
a
desire
for
the
past
couple
of
years
to
find
a
way
to
expand
the
reach
of
the
creative
place
making
commission
across
the
city.
The
council
will
be
discussing
ways
to
fund
that
work,
as
demonstrated
by
a
recent
economic
impact
study.
The
arts
and
creative
workers
are
an
economic
engine
in
the
city
of
bloomington,
stimulating
more
than
12
million
dollars
a
year
to
the
local
economy.