Opportunities Still Available for ImagineBloomington Input

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 27, 2012

For more information, please contact:

Scott Robinson, Transportation/Long Range Manager, 349.3423, robinsos@bloomington.in.gov

Nate Nickel, Senior Long Range Planner, 349.342, nickeln@bloomington.in.gov

Katie Bannon, Zoning & Long Range Planner, 349.3423, bannonk@bloomington.in.gov

Opportunities Still Available for ImagineBloomington Input

Bloomington, IN - Mayor Mark Kruzan announced that there are several opportunities still available for the public to participate in ImagineBloomington, the process that will update the City's Growth Policies Plan (GPP). ImagineBloomington will ask Bloomington residents and stakeholders to look toward the future and help develop a new vision addressing important planning issues for the City. The update of the GPP is a multi-year effort designed to reflect the community's goals, values and aspirations. Public involvement will be key to the ImagineBloomington visioning process. Once established, the new vision will be used as a foundation for future decisions concerning a wide range of land use, development and planning policy issues for the community. The Growth Policies Plan, which is the City's current comprehensive plan, was last updated 10 years ago, making this the perfect time to assess progress and seek input on the future direction of Bloomington.

"We've heard a lot of interesting things about Bloomington and received some great ideas on how to make the City an even better place in the future," said Tom Micuda, the City's Planning Director. "These workshops are a perfect opportunity for people to share their views and we hope people will take advantage of the remaining workshops."

ImagineBloomington has begun with a series of public workshops in locations throughout the community. The goal of these workshops is to gather feedback from the public in order to craft a future vision for Bloomington. There are five remaining workshops scheduled for this phase of the process, and members of the public are encouraged to attend the one that best fits their schedule. Since all of the workshops will have the same format and content, there is no need to attend more than one.

The remaining schedule includes the following workshops:

• Tuesday, March 27, Tri-North Middle School, Auditorium, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
• Thursday, March 29, Summit Elementary School, Cafeteria, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
• Monday, April 2, Childs Elementary School, Cafeteria, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, April 4, Templeton Elementary School, Cafeteria, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
• Saturday, April 21, Bell Trace, The Commons, 2 to 3:30 p.m.

In addition to the workshops, the City will use a number of innovative input gathering tools to enhance the ImagineBloomington process. There will be a project website, as well as Facebook and Twitter pages. UserVoice, an interactive web forum tool, will be available to foster additional opportunities for public involvement. UserVoice provides a way for people, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to actively participate in topic discussions, offer feedback, submit ideas and vote on preferred options. Because ImagineBloomington is a civic engagement project, UserVoice has agreed to waive the typical service fees that are associated with the product.

A Steering Committee has been formed to help guide and assist the development of the ImagineBloomington vision statement, which will be presented to both the Plan Commission and City Council for final adoption in late 2012. The vision statement will then be utilized as a framework for updating the Growth Policies Plan, a process that will include continued Steering Committee guidance and further public input opportunities. The updated Growth Policies Plan will be presented to the Plan Commission and City Council for final adoption in late 2014.

For additional information and details regarding ImagineBloomington, or to utilize the UserVoice interactive tool, please visit [bloomington.in.gov/imaginebloomington|/imaginebloomington], or contact the Planning Department at 349.3423.

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