HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-07-17 Public Comment - M. Egge - Black Olive IIFirst Name Mark
Last Name Egge
Email Address mark@eateggs.cOM
Phone Number 406-548-4488
Comments
Bozeman is growing. And small wonder: Bozeman offers better quality of life than any other place I know. You
can’t turn back the tide on the fact that Bozeman is growing. And growth means increased demand on Bozeman’s
housing stock.
What we’re talking about here is adding 46 units of housing. As I see it, we as a community have three options: 1)
we can gentrify instead of grow; 2) we can sprawl and condemn ourselves to spend ever more of our lives stuck in
traffic; or 3) we can infill.
Let’s talk about gentrification. We could say “no, no new units,” and restrict the growth of our housing stock, and
watch as multi-generational Bozeman families are gradually priced out of their homes and the community. Those
who own may be able to afford to stay in our homes, but will our kids be able to afford to stay here?
Alternatively, we can grow out. We can sprawl. We can take another six acres of farm land adjoining West
Bozeman and turn it into houses. When we do, nearly all of the 700 some projected trips per day are going to be
car-based, and probably traveling 15 minutes or more along Huffine or Babcock or college. We’ll spend more time
time in our cars, less time outside. Is that quality of life? And I wonder, when are we going to have to make make
Main St or Babcock bigger, to accommodate all those cars? And how will that impact *those* neighborhoods.
The only other option is to infill. We can build up, not out. We can build these 46 units on a half-acre of land
adjoining downtown, and where half of the weekday trips will be biking or walking trips. And, it’s true, tall
buildings are going to look different than single-family homes. That means we’ll all have to squeeze in, just a bit—
and there may not be room for everyone to have a car, and a truck, and a drift boat. But density, in most cities, is
synonymous with vibrancy. Think about the pleasantness of Bozeman’s walkable downtown and older
neighborhoods, and then contrast that to the quality and character of the high-speed multilane thoroughfare of
North 19th.
As a community, we’re all going to share in the challenges and benefits of growth. This conversation tonight is part
of how we, as a community, decide not if we grow—that’s out of our hands—but how we grow. Which of these
three alternative visions is most compatible with Bozeman’s values and quality of life? Gentrification, sprawl, or in-
fill? We entrust it to you, commissioners, to decide.