Peak Oil Task Force Report - City of Bloomington - State of Indiana

To that end, we recommend that:
• The City, in cooperation with other local entities like Transition Bloomington, the
City of Bloomington Commission on Sustainability, the Center for Sustainable Living,
and others, encourage, promote, and support Transition training for all 55 Natural
Neighborhoods (Map D, p. 101) within the next five years. As discussed in the
Economic Context chapter of this Report, the Transition Movement, motivated by the
twin challenges of climate change and peak oil, aims to organize citizens at
neighborhood and community levels around sustainable living.
• The City staff stay in contact with neighborhoods as they engage in Transition
projects and assist them in formulating changes to land use regulations that help
them achieve their Transition goals.
• The City promptly implement changes as they are proposed by neighborhoods,
amending existing codes where needed.
• If neighborhoods differ greatly with respect to the changes they are willing to
undertake, the City Council should consider neighborhood‐specific codes (or
neighborhood‐specific waivers of current codes) so as to not impede progress in
neighborhoods that are willing to be more bold than others. Those neighborhoods
could become models for others, and pave the way for more widespread
acceptance of changes in local codes. (See also the Land Use chapter’s
recommendation for a pilot nodal overlay to the UDO).
5. Work toward a Unified Comprehensive Land Use and Transportation Plan
As we revise the use of the existing built environment, we must simultaneously plan for the
shape of the future built environment. In a post‐peak era, we should be aiming for
development patterns that lead to higher population density in areas designated as activity
nodes, and that foster mixed use, walking, biking and transit use. (See Land Use chapter).
Right now, transportation planning is largely separate from land use planning and IU,
Monroe County and the City of Bloomington all draft and implement their plans
independent of each other. Within the next five years, the City, County and IU should work
with each other and with neighborhood‐based Transition groups to establish a coordinated
planning process that will result in a county‐wide, unified and comprehensive Land Use and
Transportation Plan.
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