HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-18-16 Public Comment - M. Pentecost - Black OliveFrom: Michael Pentecost [dzyn2architects@gmail.com]
Sent: Friday, November 18, 2016 3:23 PM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: Black and Olive project
11-18-2016
Dear Commissioner Mehl,
I’m writing this letter to present a point for consideration, relative to the new proposed residential
office building at Black and Olive.The issue that I present for your consideration is the parking.
When I designed the development at 3rd and Kagy, I followed all of the rules and guidelines of the BMC
at the time, taking all of the parking exemptions that were allowed for zoning, landscaping, distance to
public transportation and any other relaxations that were allowed, and the development was approved
by the Commission with the parking that the BMC allowed and required.
When Sola Café moved in along with Food for Thought and Acorn Pediatrics, we realized that we had a
parking problem. As additional businesses came on board and parking became a bigger issue, Mike
McKenna leased 40 additional spaces from the church to the south and built a sidewalk from there to his
development. As the parking problem continued to plague the development, plans for a 5th building
that had also been approved were discarded and it was decided that only 4 buildings would be
appropriate on the site. Parking continued to be a problem as more businesses signed leases for the
space in the 3 buildings that were finished. Finally a renovation was undertaken to remove the small
green space park in the middle of the development and the parking lot was completely re-designed to
accommodate the needs of the development. Now, Building 4 is finished, but the decision was made to
change it from a 2 story building to a 1 story building so the parking problem wouldn’t be exacerbated.
At the end of the day, a development that was approved with 4 building at 2 stories each and one single
story building now has 2 buildings at 2 stories each and 2 building at one story each, and even today,
parking was a bit scarce when I arrived there for lunch.
The take away for me is that indeed, the BMC does a great job of outlining the requirements for the
developments in Bozeman and is an excellent guideline for our City. But sometimes the rules may not fit
the situation, and clearer minds must prevail. For example, the BMC requires that if I design a 3
bedroom 4 plex, I must provide 3 on-site parking spaces for each unit, 12 parking spaces. This is a
general rule that works pretty well, so the guideline has been tested and shown to work in most
situations. In the case of the Black and Olive project, with 55 apartments, if they each are only 1
bedroom, without considering any relaxations, the BMC would require 1.5 spaces per unit before any
reductions. That, in and of itself is 82 spaces. The reality of the situation is that many of the owners of
those spaces will probably have 2 cars, so 82 may be a good number, but it more than likely is not.
Without going through all of the parking calculations, which I’m sure Brian has, I can’t say that there is
an error in the calculations, but I am thinking there might be an error in the judgment. I’m sure that the
design meets the Code requirements but the reality of the situation is that the design might not meet
the “needs” requirement.
I would encourage some additional dialogue interjected with a greater degree of reality, understanding
that in Bozeman, people will always have cars and will always be parking as close as possible to their
destination in whatever manner possible. One cannot engineer human behavior and if it is only after
the fact that one comes to realize the errors of their logic, and then, it is really too late to come up with
an effective solution. Everything in the path of this problem will self settle over time and in the years
to come, history will discern exactly how this will all flesh out, but I think with some deviation away
from the requirements of the Code for practical reasons, a better solution can be brought forward
before the problem is in everyone’s front yard.
I also want to say I truly appreciate what you do as a commissioner for Bozeman and thank you for your
service and your commitment to our City.
Sincerely,
Michael Pentecost
--
Michael Pentecost - AIA
Dzyn2 Architects, PLLC
Box 10866
3805 Valley Commons Dr. #11
Bozeman MT.
406-539-5067