HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-25-16 Public Comment - J. Pepper - Black Olive
I write to provide comments and suggestions regarding the pressing need for an Urban Design Plan for
the Central Core of Bozeman. First, however, a brief comment on the current controversy over the mid-
rise apartment building proposed for the South Black/East Olive Street site (see link to Bozeman
Chronicle article below).
http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/news/city/site-plan-filed-for-black-olive-project-as-neighbors-
worry/article_f7b0d65b-e904-5c86-8031-47b5ea43d3d2.html
You will recall that during our meeting earlier this year I spoke about a Community Charrette document
prepared in support of the 2020 Bozeman Plan. This document (copy attached) set forth (among other
things) a section on Urban Form & Structure: The Historic City Core (pages 28-32). This section
recognized the importance of focussing on the central core of the city, and designing policies specific to
the types of buildings warranted, indeed necessary to maintain the vitality of the city core. Bozeman
has recently experienced an unforeseen major growth spurt that now challenges not only the downtown
area, but the whole of the urbanizing pattern. This current growth rate is unfathomable, and exceeds a
healthy and manageable rate of growth for any city the size of Bozeman. As such, I offer a few
suggestions for your consideration.
Regarding the current proposed mid-rise apartment building.
(1) Since the building is situated in such a manner that it will shade city streets and not neighboring
private residences, the architects should consider stepping the building back on the eastern and
southern sides, essentially providing a 2- or 3- story edge with the adjoining residential properties. This
will provide some relief in building scale, as well as reducing shading on adjoining properties.
(2) This problem will persist along the entire interface between mid-block B-3 and adjoining residential
zoning. As such, you will be well advised to undertake an overall study of this and other issues resulting
from an expanding downtown core (see “Prepare an Urban Design Plan” below).
Prepare an Urban Design Plan for the Central Core
Given the rapid growth of the City, and the pressing need to maintain growth in the center city and not
just the periphery, I urge you to lay the groundwork for undertaking the preparation of an Urban Design
Plan for the central core. Since “Urban Design” is not a common term of art in this part of the world,
pasted below is the Wikipedia definition of Urban Design for your review:
Urban design is the process of designing and shaping cities, towns and villages. In contrast to
architecture, which focuses on the design of individual buildings, urban design deals with the larger scale
of groups of buildings, streets and public spaces, whole neighborhoods and districts, and entire cities,
with the goal of making urban areas functional, attractive, and sustainable.
Urban design is an inter-disciplinary subject that utilizes elements of many built environment
professions, including landscape architecture, urban planning, architecture, civil and municipal
engineering. It is common for professionals in all these disciplines to practice in urban design. In more
recent times different sub-strands of urban design have emerged such as strategic urban design,
landscape urbanism, water-sensitive urban design, and sustainable urbanism.
Urban design demands an understanding of a wide range of subjects from physical geography, through
to social science, and an appreciation for disciplines, such as real estate development, urban economics,
political economy and social theory.
Urban design is about making connections between people and places, movement and urban form,
nature and the built fabric. Urban design draws together the many strands of place-making,
environmental stewardship, social equity and economic viability into the creation of places with distinct
beauty and identity. Urban design draws these and other strands together creating a vision for an area
and then deploying the resources and skills needed to bring the vision to life.
Urban design theory deals primarily with the design and management of public space (i.e. the 'public
environment', 'public realm' or 'public domain'), and the way public places are experienced and used.
Public space includes the totality of spaces used freely on a day-to-day basis by the general public, such
as streets, plazas, parks and public infrastructure. Some aspects of privately owned spaces, such as
building facades or domestic gardens, also contribute to public space and are therefore also considered
by urban design theory. Important writers on urban design theory include Christopher Alexander, Peter
Calthorpe, Gordon Cullen, Andres Duany, Jane Jacobs, Mitchell Joachim, Jan Gehl, Allan B. Jacobs, Kevin
Lynch, Aldo Rossi, Colin Rowe, Robert Venturi, William H. Whyte, Camillo Sitte, Bill Hillier, Elizabeth
Plater-Zyberk and Kelvin Campbell.
I worked directly with four of the important writers/practitioners listed above (underlined) during the
preparation of an Urban Design Plan for Downtown Santa Cruz, California following the widespread
destruction of the downtown resulting from the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989. In addition, I have
participated in the formulation of Urban Design Plans for a number of California towns and cities, and
would be glad to discuss with you how the City might proceed with the preparation of an Urban Design
Plan for the central core of Bozeman.
Please feel free to share these thoughts as may be useful. Also, do not hesitate to contact me if you
have any questions or wish to discuss this matter further.
Best regards always,
Jimmy Pepper