HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-24-17 Public Comment - S. Stanton- BznWestApplication17108 April 2, 2017
City of Bozeman
Department of Community Development
P.O. Box 1230
Bozeman,MT 59711
ATTN: City of Bozeman Department of Community Development
Reference: Bozeman West Apartment, SP Application 17108
Invited written Comments
Please include the following comments in the public record.
On March 30, 2017, comments were invited in regards to the above referenced 216-
unit Apartment complex. Below please find my comments.
I am an owner of Unit#S, Baxter Springs Condominiums, directly adjacent and
North of the proposed development.
I am retired. However;my credentials'are these: Hive asa part-year resident at
Baxter Springs Condominiums. In addition,I am an,Engineer with an advanced
degree,and by professional expertise, am a long-term system planner. I have 31
years as a property manager with concurrently managed property experience in
Bozeman (27 years), Laramie (12 years),Fort Collins (4 years), Kansas (12 years)
and California (21 years). Being retired and no longer practicing,the following are
opinions expressed at the request of the City. Although I've given up my
professional role, I have expertise that is rooted solidly in the trenches as an owner,
a manager,a consumer,an investor, and an analyst.
My comments below are based on the accumulation of my experience.
1. I do not oppose the development of North Bozeman.
2. Good Heaven's,however, don't do to someone else what happened to us. i
Figure out the flawed planning that is literally inches away from this new
development.BEFORE considering approval of this new development.
Our apartments have assigner parking;"deeded to'the various apartments.
Generally there'are'2 spaces per apartrrierit.'Yet that is inadequate;based on the
overflow parking spilling onto the public street.
Parking on the public street in front of our Baxter Springs complex is inadequate
and is flooded by a glut of parked cars every evening, day in and day out. We face
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dangerous driving conditions for ingress and egress every day. Pedestrian access is
dangerous for foot traffic walking to and from 19th Street. Counting cars,there are
no additional parking spaces available anywhere locally, and no plans for more. We
are boxed in. This problem swelled with construction of the final three building of
16, finished within the last 2 years,when adequate additional parking was not built.
Baxter Springs overflow parking and access are totally,Totally,TOTALLY
inadequate for our needs,and it appears to me to be entirely the City of Bozeman's
fault for not REQUIRING and ENFORCING requirements for sufficient parking on one
hand,and requirements for adequate ingress and egress on the other.
It appears to me that you don't know what you're getting into with this new
construction, but you can find out, by looking at the parking problems and access
problems at Daxttr Springs:
There are exactly 40 cars parked on the Baxter lane as public parking,every night,
stretching from 19th St to 27th street,resulting from 150 apartments with 210
(check this) assigned parking spaces. What is that ratio? 210 plus 40 divided by
210 bedrooms is..., well, ...1.2 spaces per bedroom, circa 2017, for 2 bedroom units.
It appears that the truth is that high-density housing needs lots and lots of parking.
You can confirm this by looking. We are here. Envisioned bicycles and public
transportation,as much as I like them, do not eliminate the car parked back at the
apartment. When the last parking space is"used up"by current residents,the
tipping point is breached and the problem jumps into visibility and slams the
community. That's what appeared when the last three buildings were completed
here. City planners need to know what sufficient parking ratios are. And they have
to know before insufficiency is cast as stone into the construction of the larger
community of North Bozeman.
How difficult is it to see today, that each 21st century adult resident with an active
life owns 1.2 automobiles? Or 1.3. Just go look. I think you can count them at
'Eaxter Springs. We're an isolated, visible example of 1.0.5 apartments.
Let's remember what we are trying to do. We are trying to see the future. Let's look
30 years into the future. Or 40 years.
It does not take an advanced degree to see the future of high-density housing. High
density is where tomorrow's slums will come from,often even with very careful
planning. Only the most optimistic planner thinks that the community problems of
the future won't be dealing with exactly this problem:junk housing in inaccurately
planned high-density housing. Junk housing won't be crumbling high-rises in rural
communities. Rural communities don't have high-rises. Instead,where 21st
century slums will likely come from will be,exactly,high-density housing zones with
inadequate parking, inadequate transportation corridors and accesses,inadequate
public services,and/or concentrations of every foul manifestation a community
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must endure as a consequence of overly optimistic planning, poor execution, and
high density.
Good planning does not"box in" future planners by leaving them without options.
But at Baxter Springs,don't we have exactly that. Street parking is exhausted.
Step-one is to see what has happened as a consequence of recent planning. And that
is sitting right here at Baxter Springs Condominiums.
Every one-bedroom apartment built anticipates an adult couple setting up
housekeeping needing two assigned parking spaces. Period. Every two bedrooms
and above needs at least one assigned space per bedroom, maybe more. This isn't
conjecture.. Count the cars most any evening.
Unfortunately,a 5% shortage of parking effects 100% of the people, not just the 5%.
This is serious planning for high-density living. If planning is inadequate for
parking,access and space needs, for these 216 apartments of the Applicant and
other nearby developments, could this part of town be a slum in 25 years? Long
Term Planning is not inconsequential to the long-term wellbeing of the community,
especially in the delicate aspects of planning high-density housing. Please count.x
2. 1 notice that the drainage on the West boundary of the applicant's Parcel has been
partly obliterated; I notice further that this drainage services a great deal of non-
applicant property to the South,beyond the applicant's parcel,where the drain
ditches have likewise been partially obliterated. The drain to the East does not
service the applicant's property. The Baxter Springs Condo and the applicant's
parcel occupy the lowlands between two drainages. The Eastern drain includes a
slough and a wetland pond. The applicant parcel and surrounding areas are often
marsh like in character and poorly drained.
Ic is important Chat plahhIng recognize that.there is a drainage problem..The
planning for this application must include an adequate regional drainage plan,
including protections against warm rain falling on peak snow pack both upstream
and on the applicant's parcel. ,I
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Stewart E.Stanton
2220 Baxter Ln,Apt#5
Bozeman,MT
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1809 Leavenworth St
Manhattan, KS 66502
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