HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-10-17 Public Comment - C. Alegria - Black Olive II1
Robin Crough
From:Crystal Alegria <crystal.alegria@gmail.com>
Sent:Tuesday, October 10, 2017 9:19 AM
To:Agenda
Subject:Public Comment Black and Olive
Categories:Public Comment
Dear Mayor Taylor and City Commissioners,
My name is Crystal Alegria, I live at 191 Arcadia Lane here in Bozeman. I serve on the Bozeman Historic
Preservation Advisory Board. Thank you all for designating October 9 as Indigenous Peoples Day here in
Bozeman.The remainder of my comment addresses Black Olive.When making your decision on the proposed
Black Olive development, I ask you to vote no. Please take into consideration the historic character of this
neighborhood. The proposed structure is surrounded by historic districts. The South Tracy/South Black historic
district is directly to the south, right next to the Black Olive property line, the Lindley Place Historic District is
directly to the east, and the Main Street District directly to the North. These three districts were designated
historic because they represent neighborhoods that hold special meaning for the community. Historic
preservation programs focus not on single properties but on areas that help form the community’s identity, and
these three districts represent places our community has deemed important and reflects our community values.
The values represented by the South Black and South Tracy district is that of a working class neighborhood
with single-family bungalow style houses. Due to the scale and rythmn, this district is visually distinct from all
other residential areas in Bozeman, with most of the houses in this neighborhood contributing to the district.
This is one of the most contiguous residential areas in Bozeman and contains the oldest remaining historic
houses in the city.
By building a five story building right next to this neighborhood, it will destroy the cohesiveness of this area
and the historic feel of the neighborhood will be lost. I’m not saying this because I think growth is bad and no
one else should be allowed to live in Bozeman, on the contrary, I love the way this town is growing and
expanding, our main street is thriving, which you can’t say for many other Montana towns. But we don’t want
to destroy the reason for our growth and prosperity, we don’t want to make it look like every other town in
America. We have something special in our historic districts and in our neighborhoods and to economically
survive, we need to maintain that feel, that character.
An aesthetically cohesive historic district or historic area can be a community’s most important attraction.
According to a 2009 report, 78% of all U.S. leisure travelers are cultural and/or heritage travelers who spend on
average, $994 per trip. We want to encourage people to come to our town, to vacation here. We want to
maintain the historicity of place so it continues to be inviting to visitors.
Now that we have a Historic Preservation Office, I encourage you to move ahead with updating our historic
inventory so we as a community have a better sense of what we have that is historically significant. Without this
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information, I don’t know how it is possible to move forward with any development that would impact or
destroy historic structures, historic districts, or areas of historic importance to our community.
I urge you to deny the Black Olive proposal at its current five-story height. Thank you.
Best regards,
Crystal Alegria