HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-13-16 Public Comment - J. Wilkinson et al - Black OliveFrom:Jeanne Wilkinson
To:Agenda
Cc:alandmp@aol.com; Richard Brown; Linda Babcock; Jane Klockman; Elizabeth Darrow; "Stewart Mitchell"; Karen
Mitchell; Dean Littlepage; Dick Canfield; Michele West; Charlie West; carolynbailey60@yahoo.com; Randy Peters;
Kate Bryan; lorettafineart@me.com; jackmranieri@gmail.com; osmanmarylou@gmail.com;
mimiwelsh@msn.com; mbrauer723@gmail.com; duncanbullock.artdesign@gmail.com; Christine Joy;
dunayer.allan@gmail.com
Subject:Letter
Date:Tuesday, December 13, 2016 5:46:11 PM
Dear Mayor Taylor and City Commissioners,
We wanted to pass this along. Twenty-eight people signed off on the below letter. Please see
the end for the list of names.
We are at a critical moment in the evolution of our community but do our electedofficials and city planning staff really know where their interpretation of the policies istaking us?
Recent turmoil in Bozeman over downtown growth, infill and ambitious developmentshas come to a rolling boil over the Black/Olive building proposed by developer AndyHolloran. Mr. Holloran recently said that he was “listening” and yet his response tocriticism about the inappropriate scale of his project was to increase the number ofapartments and decrease the number of required on-site parking.
The large, sustained and negative public response to his monolithic project, which standsin direct conflict with single-family neighborhoods and, arguably, the essence of ourdowntown, makes it clear that the vision for how growth proceeds in the historic core ofBozeman is in dire need of reconsideration. For months, public meetings, Design ReviewBoard sessions, and City Commission meetings have been packed with citizens whobelieve Holloran’s characterless, oversized project sets a terrible precedent.
A few multi-story projects have already been built, several more are proposed, and thereis rumor of many more to come. Residents from Olive Street to Lamme, from Wallace to11th, and the adjoining neighborhoods are reasonably alarmed as the Bozeman they loveis being transformed. Imagine hundreds of high-priced apartment units and a wall ofhigh-rise apartments like Holloran’s crammed into downtown’s small linear corridor.
We worry about the impacts of parking and traffic—which are already issues—aboutlong shadows cast by multi-story buildings, about the loss of views, looming blocks ofapartments hovering over back yards, and about the strain on infrastructure and cost tooverhaul it.
It’s easy, and cliché, to cast this as a no-growth/pro-growth dichotomy, as if there is onlya polarized vision of the future, and unreasonable people on both sides, but we expect
more nuance from all parties.
What has become clear at public meetings is that while there are highly-chargedemotions in the room, it’s because we care and have invested decades in our homes andthis community. What has Mr. Holloran done? The Bozeman Chronicle in one of itsstories asked whether he was Bozeman’s new hero. No, we think not.
We know Bozeman is confronting unprecedented growth and every one of us adores ourdowntown, but saving it does not mean sacrificing what makes it special—the intimateconnection and sense of transition between it and the surrounding neighborhoods.
And that’s the rub.
It isn’t that people don’t accept the inevitability of change, it’s how that takes place.Holloran’s refusal to consider a smaller-scale or different design hardens the line ofconflict. It’s hard not to conclude that the motivation ruling his design is maximum profitat the expense of residents.
What’s reasonable? How about a three-story building, which would still be imposing, butmost neighbors would accept. What about a different sort of design that serves as atasteful transition between historic downtown and the historic neighborhoods. Howabout Mr. Holloran covering most of the parking on site instead of putting it upon theneighborhood?
It is not the city’s responsibility or the neighborhood’s to ensure Mr. Holloran’s planpencils out. It is the city’s duty to listen to its constituents and to pay attention to thegoals of their own official planning documents.
Hundreds of neighborhood residents have for decades served on civic boards, beenactive in schools, taken part in community decisions, and created a repository ofcommunity memory. If you lose the place, you lose the people and, one by one, they willmove away in search of another.
If city decision-making drives long-term residents out in order to accommodate anewcomer like Mr. Holloran, what a lesser place Bozeman will be. Let's take a break toconsider, truly, how projects like Black/Olive conform to our vision of the future.
Al KesselheimMarypat ZitzerJeanne WilkinsonRichard Brown
Linda BabcockClark BabcockJane KlockmanElizabeth DarrowStewart MitchellKaren MitchellDean LittlepageDick CanfieldCharlie WestMichele WestCarolyn ParkerRandy PetersKate BryanLoretta DomaszewskiJack RanieriMaryLou OsmanSteve OsmanMimi WelshMary BrauerBob BullockDuncan BullockChristine JoyAl DunayerNancy Hildner