HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-16 Public Comment - B. Cruz - Black OliveTo the City Commission:
I live at 210 S. Black, right next to the site of the new building, the Black Olive.
I am asking you to reconsider the current design of the proposed building for the following reasons:
Traffic - The building's garage will open out onto Olive Street. Given the number of cars belonging to the
building's residents that will all be exiting and entering during morning and evening rush hours, there's a
strong possibility that congestion will occur during these times (from my own personal, daily observations
of traffic, Olive averages about 40-50 cars per minute between 7:30 am - 8:am). The consequences of of
this would not only be the obvious slowing of traffic at the intersection of Olive and Black, but also the
likelihood that approaching drivers would circumvent the congestion by driving through nearby residential
side streets, thereby increasing traffic and noise in those neighborhoods. While the problem of the
congestion would be probably last no more than an hour at any one time, I nevertheless hope the City
Commission would at least evaluate the potential for such congestion by performing a traffic study to
approving any proposed building.
Population density - The building is slated to have 55 residential units. The consequent total number of
people residing within the confines of the associated plot of land would seem to yield a density of residents
per square foot that is greater than any other residential building in the Bozeman area (with the possible
exception of some of the dormitories on the Montana State University campus); such a density would
definitely be far greater than any of the surrounding residential structures, including the Blackmore
apartments directly across the street. Consequently, the current design of the proposed building would yield
a structure whose purpose is extremely out of character with the surrounding neighborhood. Furthermore,
given the real estate potential of the surrounding neighborhood, it seems highly unlikely that any buildings
similar to the Black Olive would ever be built, even in the long-term, thus assuring that the Black Olive
would stand out unfavorably among its surroundings for a long time.
Parking - While the issue of the parking spillover from the residential units has been addressed numerous
times by other concerned residents, it seems that there's been very little discussion regarding parking needs
for the commercial/retail tenants in the proposed building. In this regard, with all parking in the proposed
building's garage dedicated to Black Olive residents, all staff, customers and clientele for any businesses in
the Black Olive will, by necessity, have to park on the surrounding streets, thereby adding to the residential
parking spillover. Given that there is an ongoing independent parking study being conducted in the Black
Olive to assess the parking needs of local residents, I hope the Commission will consider the results of this
parking study before approving the final design of the Black Olive.
Architectural discord - Finally, while I've previously stated that the size of the Black Olive is not in keeping
with the character of the surrounding neighborhood, I would like to also point out how the architectural
elements of the proposed building are vastly at odds with the ambience of the surrounding neighborhood. In
addition to its harsh modern and technically-sleek exteriors, with so many windows as part of the building's
design, the overall impression of the Black Olive is that of a college dormitory - and not just a college
dormitory but a grossly oversized one compared to other buildings in the neighborhood. This negative
impression is further exacerbated by the height of the building: it will simply loom over its neighbors, its
off-putting design visible from a notable distance in every direction. I hope the City Commission will take
this severe architectural discord into account and work with the developer to ultimately produce a building
that is innovative and distinctive while nevertheless in keeping with the character of the local
neighborhood.
Bob Cruz
210 S. Black
#1
Bozeman, MT 59715
406-600-0368