Mayor’s memo: Next steps for Bloomington Forward

By Mayor Tim Busse

You could say voters were forward thinking as they cast their votes on the future of City facilities outlined in the Bloomington Forward investment plan. During the 2023 election, Bloomington voters approved a new half-percent sales tax to provide $155 million for renovations to Bloomington Ice Garden, a new community health and wellness center, and enhancing and protecting the Nine Mile Creek corridor, and Moir and Central Parks.

There is some administrative work to do, but the half-percent sales tax increase could take effect on April 1, 2024. Here’s an overview of the next steps for each of the three projects.

Bloomington Ice Garden

The first project slated for improvements is likely to be the Bloomington Ice Garden renovation. The City had been looking at that as a potential phased project, but ultimately it was decided the best way to handle this project is all at once to minimize lost revenue. Construction could begin as soon as spring 2025. The facility will close mid-March of that year with the goal of reopening at the end of 2025, in time for the next hockey season.

This image shows a vision of what a new facility could look like.

Community health and wellness center

Now that we know there is funding, the City can start detailed planning and development for a new community health and wellness center. A lot of community engagement and design work needs to happen to determine what elements the new center will include. This will also include planning for what to do with Creekside services
during construction.

We want to be sure the community has an active voice in this project. The City will start community engagement in 2024. We hope to conclude much of that engagement and start the design planning process in 2025. The end goal is for the new center to open by 2027.

Nine Mile Creek corridor

The next step for the Nine Mile Creek corridor will be community engagement. Parks and Recreation leadership will begin this process early next year. The biggest issue we heard related to this project was the presence of bikes and whether there would be bike paths added in the Nine Mile Creek corridor. The concerns are maintaining the serenity of the corridor and protecting the natural areas.

Once we have the timelines for community engagement opportunities for Nine Mile Creek and the community health and wellness center projects, we’ll be sure to share that information on the City’s website, social media channels and cable television, and in the Briefing.