By Mike Joe
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. The Bloomington parking minimums zoning vote came Wednesday night, Sept. 16, 2026, voted 5-3 to approve Ordinance 2026-20, a package of Unified Development Ordinance changes aimed at making small-scale housing easier to build. The plan shrinks some residential lot minimums and eliminates citywide minimum off-street parking requirements for motor vehicles.
Voting yes were Isak Asare, Matt Flaherty, Isabel Piedmont-Smith, Kate Rosenbarger, and Hopi Stosberg. Voting no were Courtney Daily, Dave Rollo, and Andy Ruff. Councilmember Sydney Zulich was absent, so the tally did not reach nine. The final vote came about 10:30 p.m. after more than two and a half hours of debate and amendments.
Flaherty sponsored the ordinance and was its main advocate. Rollo was a leading voice against it.
What the Bloomington parking minimums zoning vote changed
The Plan Commission had already recommended cutting minimum lot sizes and widths in several districts and eliminating minimum lot sizes in RM and RH multifamily zones. On Wednesday, a Flaherty amendment went further on R3 and R4 lots, dropping the proposed minimum lot area from 2,500 square feet to 2,000 square feet and the minimum width from 30 feet to 25 feet.
The Bloomington parking minimums zoning debate also covers the ordinance, which eliminates motor-vehicle parking minimums citywide. It does not ban parking or lower parking maximums. Flaherty argued builders should provide the parking a project actually needs instead of building spaces the code forces into the cost of housing.
Piedmont-Smith offered an amendment to keep most existing parking minimums and waive them only for a short list of uses such as live-work, cottage courts, mobile-home parks, noncommercial urban agriculture, and student housing. That amendment failed 4-4. Supporters of keeping minimums pointed to older neighborhoods with narrow streets and rising curb pressure from duplexes and student cars near Indiana University.
Council moved the other way on bikes. A Stosberg amendment restored bicycle-parking minimums the Plan Commission had wanted to drop. That restoration passed among the eight members present. Council also restored tree-preservation rules on small existing R3 and R4 lots and approved an exemption from some sustainability-incentive requirements for planned unit developments that are 100% affordable housing. Habitat for Humanity of Monroe County backed both smaller lots and that affordable-housing exemption.
Housing supply versus curb space
Public comment split along the same lines as the dais. Supporters said Bloomington’s zoning has blocked smaller homes on smaller lots and that the ordinance is an incremental fix, not a full housing solution. Opponents asked the council to slow down, watch the effects of earlier 2021-era UDO changes, and avoid making modest houses more valuable as teardown sites.
Rollo warned that easier subdivision could push investors to replace relatively inexpensive houses with higher-rent units. Flaherty said parking shortages should be handled with permits, pricing, and enforcement on narrow streets rather than by forcing every housing project to subsidize car storage. Former councilmember Steve Volan, speaking for himself, urged “parking benefit districts” that reinvest curb revenue in the neighborhood where it is collected.
Why this matters
The Bloomington parking minimums zoning decision matters. Parking minimums and lot size rules decide whether a duplex, cottage court, or small apartment pencil out. Bloomington’s 5-3 vote matters because it removes a citywide car-parking floor while shrinking R3 and R4 lots to 2,000 square feet and 25-foot widths, a concrete shift for neighbors who already fight for curb space near campus. It also keeps bike parking and tree rules in place, showing the council was willing to split those issues from the car mandate. For readers tracking local housing tools, compare this with Seattle’s Mandatory Housing Affordability fee holiday debate, Costa Mesa’s Fairview housing framework, Jacksonville’s affordable housing trust fund budget fight, and Lake City’s mobility fees ordinance.
How Never Late News reported this
This article is based on B Square Bulletin’s Sept. 17, 2026 report of the Sept. 16 council meeting, including the 5-3 vote, lot-size amendments, parking-minimum elimination, failed 4-4 attempt to keep most car minimums, restored bike and tree rules, and comments from Flaherty, Rollo, Piedmont-Smith, and Habitat representatives. Primary source: B Square Bulletin, Bloomington zoning and parking minimums. We did not attend the meeting.
Corrections and reader feedback
If an amendment tally, lot dimension, or councilmember vote is wrong, please send details through the Never Late News contact page. Factual corrections will be made quickly and noted when the change is substantive.