HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-04-17 Public Comment - C. Naumann- Design Guidelines 4B PanelFrom: Chris Naumann [chris@downtownbozeman.org]
Sent: Tuesday, April 04, 2017 10:03 AM
To: Martin Matsen
Cc: Carson Taylor; Chris Mehl
Subject: Design Guidelines 4B Panel Discussion
Marty,
I just wanted to reach out and offer to meet/talk about Chapter 4B panel discussion on Friday
(see screenshot below my signature).
There is currently a great deal of misinformation about how and why that chapter was
developed and added in 2015.
As an example here is an excerpt from one Black Olive submitted public comment:
Under pressure by the Downtown Business Partnership in 2015, the City rushed a “temporary”
amendment to the NCOD code (Subchapter 4B) which loosened B-3 zone restrictions to
promote infill. This was done without sufficient community input, until the BO 2016 proposal
spurred citizens to organize and resist. Meanwhile, final updates to the UDC (including NCOD
and temporary Subchapter 4B) remain unfinished.
The truth is the 2009 Downtown Improvement Plan called for code and design guideline
revisions to better align the two with this neighborhood plan. Here a couple passages that
essentially instigated the development and adoption of Chapter 4B. If you read 4B and the
Downtown Plan together, you will notice that much of the 4B language is verbatim or
paraphrase of the Downtown Plan. The Downtown Plan was developed and adopted (by 4
public entities) over the course of a very long and public process.
BUILDING HEIGHTS
This plan does not recommend any changes to allowable height for downtown districts.
However, a new code should consider reducing heights for some small distance where a
downtown district abuts a single family district. This is a common technique used in many cities
to ensure a comfortable transition from greater intensity to lower intensity. The horizontal
dimension for this transition might be in the range of 50 to 100 feet and the height might be
equivalent to what is allowed in the residential district or perhaps slightly higher.
DESIGN STANDARDS AND GUIDELINES
It is vitally important that downtown development be guided by a sound set of design
standards and guidelines. Downtown is currently governed by a set of guidelines, but these are
principally applicable to the core and not other areas.
A set of standards and guidelines should be created to help inform new development outside of
historic Main Street. Some should be numerical and fixed (such as set-to lines, heights, upper
level step-backs, and requirements for storefront windows.). But most can be descriptive and
inspirational and use graphics to explain (such as encouraging overhead canopies, artful signs,
rich details, etc.) These need not be onerous or lengthy but should be displayed in a concise,
highly-illustrated, user-friendly document.
Finally, by their very nature, design guidelines (in contrast to
standards) are intended to allow flexibility and choices, producing many different solutions, so
long as their intent is fulfilled.
Let me know your thoughts and/or if you would like to discuss further.
Thanks, Marty.
Chris Naumann
Executive Director
Downtown Bozeman Partnership
222 East Main Street #302
Bozeman MT 59715
406-586-4008
www.downtownbozeman.org<http://www.downtownbozeman.org/>
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