HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-05-16 Public Comment - D. Raffensperger - Black OliveFrom:Dennis Raffensperger
To:Agenda
Subject:Zoning regulations update meeting
Date:Monday, December 05, 2016 8:38:55 AM
Commissioners,
I would like to attend this evening’s meeting to hear the presentation by the planning department
but cannot. I have two suggestions that I would like the commissioners to hear:
1. The provision allowing unlimited exchange of “car share” parking spaces for standard parking
spaces at a 1:5 ratio, as at the Black-Olive project must be addressed. It is patently ridiculous
that there is no cap on the percentage of standard parking spaces that can be offset by “car
share” parking spaces. For the developers of Black-Olive to simply overlook the community’s
concern about number of parking spaces by both increasing the number of apartments and at
the same time decreasing the number of physical parking spaces demonstrates a level of hubris
that seems to me to be an affront to the community at best.
2. As reported in the Chronicle, the Design Intent Statement submitted by the architects for the
Black-Olive project is the worst form of “archi-speak”, and as a graduate of an ivy league
graduate school in architecture believe me, I’ve heard a lot of it. The statement about the use of
solids and voids on the building evoking the geology of natural forms is meaningless toward any
attempt to allow the community to have any real understanding of the decision making process
behind the formal development of the building and its attempt, or lack thereof, to relate to its
surroundings. The Commission should require that this statement be resubmitted in a manner
that can be understood by a lay person and that bears some relationship to a real world
explanation of the design of the building. If the City is going to require a statement of design
intent then architects must be required to formulate these statements in a way that clearly
addresses the design as it relates to the way the building responds to City code requirements
and interacts with its context.
Thank you very much,
Dennis Raffensperger
Dennis Raffensperger, AIA, GGPdRA Architects
720 S. Tracy Ave., Bozeman, MT
www.dRA-Architect.com
(o) 406.624.6782
(c) 406.581.8759