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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-16 Public Comment - L. Fedro - Black OliveNovember 14, 2016 To: City Commissioners and Design Review Board Members RE: Comments from the Black Olive DRB meeting, Wednesday, November 19, 2016 It was a surprise to learn from last week’s paper that the Design Review Board has recommended to the City Commissioners that the Black Olive development project by Home Base be denied approval. I have been actively involved with the Bogert Park Neighborhood in understanding more about the project since we first heard of its impending city submittal for review on the 4th of July this year. The neighborhood and developer meetings we’ve held since that time have been informative and educational for all parties, and I have been thankful for them. As was stated several times during the public comment period on Wednesday night, I don’t know of anyone in our BPN that wishes to outright deny the developer his rights to develop the property. On the other hand, I don’t know of anyone in our BPN that wishes to see the project move forward as it’s now been repeatedly presented by Mr. Holloran. Last week’s project review and commentary by Mr. Holloran jelled for me what I’ve been having an internal struggle with the last four months. The following are my main concerns: There are very few words, and certainly no amount of money, that communicates the inherent and intangible value of living in one of our downtown neighborhoods. Our Bogert Park Neighborhood, in particular, is very close, and that closeness is directly derived from our proximity to one another; from our shared neighborhood experiences; from our varying ages, incomes, interests, and our communal desire to live where we do. We all joke that we’re like the North side with a lower East/South side address. Perhaps with time we would slowly begin to recognize faces from the “sudden” injection of 100+ people living in a five story high rise, but it seems a distant goal that they would integrate into our very established and tight neighborhood in any way but very peripherally. The project’s interface with the surrounding neighborhoods, both aesthetically and stylistically, are very objectionable, and I found it fascinating the Mr. Holloran simply could not address how it takes into consideration the historic style and scale of the surrounding neighborhoods. I have laughed at the current lingo calling the newer buildings in town as “upscale miner shacks” and now that a five story conglomerate will be looming within my neighborhood I am no longer laughing; Because of its sheer scale, it will adversely affect the streetscape of Olive, but also it will affect the view scape from the surrounding homes, not only during the daylight hours, but I think, most importantly, during the night time hours. One of the things I love most of all about living in Bozeman is still being able to sit after dark on my back deck and see a wide, dark sky sparkling with stars. I have long been a proponent of Dark Skies, and as high rise buildings potentially begin to infiltrate our city core, those stars will vanish from our inner city views. Mr. Holloran’s comment that our current neighborhood was “dark” should not be taken as a derogatory comment, because it is absolutely a positive that it’s dark enough to enjoy the natural beauty within our nighttime sky while still downtown. I also believe it is significant that we live without fear while our streets continue to be minimally lit. I am sure those days are numbered as our inner city population rises, but I would like to continue enjoying our “dark” neighborhoods for as long as possible. Letter to the City Commissioners and Design Review Board Members Page Two Along that same line, Mr. Holloran commented with enthusiasm that Bozeman could become a “24 hour city” if the Black Olive were built, along with many of the other downtown core projects current and projected. I find this interesting because that implies all sorts of things, none of which I would imagine a majority of our downtown population would find attractive. I consciously moved to Bozeman twenty five years ago to remove myself from a “24 hour city”: 24 hour cities require more policing, more public services, more “controls” on everything. With our current and immediate city infrastructure, there is no way we could become a “24 hour city” without an enormous amount of financial influx. Our city’s population just rejected spending the money it would take to build a larger and more functional law and justice center---and we are nowhere near a “24 hour city” at the moment. Finally, and most importantly, I think we all know and understand what we are really facing here is a lack of foresight for the kind of planning that was fundamentally obvious but couldn’t EVER have been predicted: we live in a beautiful place that had remained rather isolated because of its relative inaccessibility. By creating the historic neighborhood districts, the historic overlay neighborhoods, the NCOD, the UBC, the current zoning codes, the City growth policies, the Downtown Business Plan, etc., etc. they have all done a great job of trying to define, encourage and contain the growth that has sprung up into every area of our valley, but we are all playing a big game of Catch Up. As city planner Brian Krueger pointed out last week, if we could go back in time and redraft the current B-3 zoning to align with city streets, instead of zigging and zagging through neighborhoods (because back in the ‘70’s someone wanted to carve out a space for a little two story concrete block building for his business), then we wouldn’t be having such a battle over how a five story, 60’ tall building, holding hundreds of people with their hundreds of cars, could ever possibly interface with a 14’ tall, 900 square foot, single story cottage just next door. Never the ‘twain shall meet. I strongly believe this project should not be approved as proposed. It was all fun and games last week when Mr. Holloran was asked several times how high he would ideally like to see the building---“taller” and “keep going”---and I don’t doubt for a minute he’s speaking truthfully about that. When asked what was driving the project, he danced around the economics question by saying he was excited about bringing this project into the downtown core and he believes he’s advancing the City’s endeavors of growth, density and infill. From my perspective, there are many other ways of advancing the City’s endeavors: creating legally defined and zoned building buffers for the City’s historic neighborhoods; by quickly updating and instigating the new ADU codes so smaller and more manageable infill could be created within our inner city neighborhoods; by reviewing and rezoning, and perhaps even redefining, what requirements suit a B-3 zone. All of those seem much more manageable and more attainable than continuing to allow developers to dictate what our fine, old, charming city of Bozeman will be---rather than what it could be. Sincerely, Laura A. Fedro 219 South Bozeman Ave.