HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-31-16 Public Comment - A. Kesselheim - Black OliveOctober 31, 2016
Dear Bozeman City Commission:
I am writing in response to the proposed Black/Olive building proposal. I live a few blocks away,
in the 400 block of E. Olive. While I would not be as immediately impacted as the adjacent
neighbors to the project, I would certainly be affected by increased traffic and parking
pressures, which are already concerns in this part of town. I am also alarmed by the precedent
this sort of building sets in the residential core surrounding Bozeman’s downtown district.
I understand that the project may meet current zoning requirements, at least technically, but I
am concerned that it does not conform with the intentions of downtown growth as residents
understand it, and may not conform to several stipulations in city plans and documents.
Specifically, I question the project’s appropriateness in terms of its lack of blending and
transition from a downtown business district to a residential neighborhood. A 5-7 story building
rising literally out of the backyard of residential neighbors is a shocking interface. Second, while
the project may meet the minimum requirements for parking, those requirements are clearly
inadequate by any reasonable assessment, and this neighborhood is already saddled with
enormous parking pressure and traffic congestion. Never mind the more subtle impacts of a
building of this scale – light pollution, school crowding, garbage collection, stress on utilities,
and so on.
I also see this project as a focus for a conflicted vision of what we mean by ‘infill’ in Bozeman.
Most of us are convinced that infill is a sensible strategy to address growth and sprawl.
However, my vision of infill, and that of my neighbors, differs dramatically from that of
developers.
My idea of infill embraces residents building apartments or separate dwellings on their
properties, as conditions allow. I see the development at the old florist/greenhouse location on
South Tracy as a good example of infill that blends with a neighborhood and accommodates
parking pressures. That vision does not include looming, multi-story buildings sprouting out of
the back yard, or across the street, buildings that block views, stress parking/traffic, and
introduce conflicting uses.
We pride ourselves in Bozeman on having a thriving downtown district. A major reason our
downtown thrives is because we have a dense ring of residential neighborhoods surrounding it.
Those thousands of residents, like me, walk and bike to coffee shops, to bookstore readings, to
the hardware store and post office, to art walks and library activities. In large measure, we are
the reason Main Street thrives.
Building abrupt, massive projects immediately adjacent to our homes and outdoor space,
crowding our streets with overflow parking, and increasing traffic pressure will not encourage
us to remain in the downtown district. Rather, it will, and already has, encourage downtown
residents to sell out and move somewhere that actually has the qualities Bozeman so proudly
boasts of, but which have been evaporating in the face of growth and development year after
year.
Let’s rethink the contours of infill, and reconsider our approach to the development
surrounding the downtown core.
Sincerely,
Alan S. Kesselheim
415 E. Olive
Bozeman, MT 59715