By Carie Kuehn
BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington’s City Council on Monday approved an ordinance that would allow the production and retail of craft products in Bloomington.
“What we found is that if you’re somebody who wants to move your hobby into a business,” said Community Development Director Tom Dabareiner. “You really don’t have the option of doing your production on site and selling it on site. We don’t have that allowance.”
The artisanal/craft production and retail would change the city code so that residents can produce and sell their product on site without having to be in a manufacturing district. It would include products such as soaps, wine, beer and oils.
“This kind of in between use, where the intent is retail but the production is right there,” said Dabareiner. “You know the oil or the soap or the candles, they aren’t individually made things necessarily, but they’re made by hand and it’s a small production.”
The council also approved the five-year agreement with VenuWorks for management of U.S. Cellular Coliseum in downtown Bloomington.
Carie Kuehn can be reached at carie.kuehn@cumulus.com.
