The Bloomington City Council used a study session to work through its annual miscellaneous zoning ordinance — the yearly package of smaller code fixes and updates — and signed off on direction to staff for six proposed changes.
In a study session on the annual miscellaneous issues ordinance, council supported requiring odor-mitigation standards for cannabis cultivation/manufacturing businesses within 150 feet of residential property (excluding standard retail), allowing car detailing as a permitted use in B2, I1, I2, and I3 zoning districts, and codifying rezoning application requirements.
The most notable item targets the city's cannabis cultivation and manufacturing businesses. Council members supported requiring odor-mitigation standards for those operations when they sit within 150 feet of residential property. Standard cannabis retail stores would be excluded from the new requirement, meaning the rule is aimed specifically at grow and production facilities rather than dispensaries.
Council also backed opening up more of the city to car detailing businesses. Under the direction given to staff, car detailing would become a permitted use in the city's B2 commercial district as well as its I1 and I2 industrial districts, giving detailers more zones where they could operate without a special approval process.
Those two items were part of a broader six-update package staff will now draft into ordinance language for the council to formally consider. The miscellaneous zoning ordinance is Bloomington's routine annual vehicle for smaller code cleanups, rather than a single high-profile rezoning.