HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-18-17 Public Comment - S. Wood - Black Olive IIFrom:Shana Wood
To:Agenda
Subject:Black Olive redux
Date:Wednesday, October 18, 2017 5:44:41 PM
Dear Bozeman City Commissioners and Planning Department,
I wrote you a rather short, lame letter last week up against the deadline and now I get another
chance to address Black Olive, still up against the deadline. What it boils down to for me is that all
the long-term neighbors and many in the wider community are against Black Olive. And I want you
to know a few more things about what I believe.
My sister came to visit last February when the Black Olive controversy was heating up. She is from
San Francisco and Mill Valley, CA. We were driving in personal car down Mendenhall and I pointed
out both the Element Hotel and the construction of Five West. She was aghast. Couldn’t you have
built something more in keeping with the rest of downtown, not so large and blocky and ugly, she
asked? They do things differently in Marin County, CA. I was not opposed to the Element Hotel
where it sits on Mendenhall. It’s an ugly stucco box, but maybe it makes sense to have a hotel that
size close to downtown and really, we won’t always agree on the aesthetics of commercial
architecture. The point is it’s on Mendenhall in the heart of the business district and separated from
the 3-story Block M townhouses by a half-block space.
What about Five West? Ugly and massive too, but with lots of commercial space with lots of living
space above. Space to accommodate more people who want to live and work downtown. Space for
millennials who don’t have or want cars. Infill space to prevent sprawl. Except that on Craigslist-
Bozeman last week a studio apartment in Five West is renting for $1600, a furnished one-bedroom
apartment is renting for $2450, and an unfurnished 2-bedroom is renting for $2600. Most recent
graduates from MSU are not going to be able to afford a studio in Five West unless they are wealthy
or they get a great software engineering job (which points to the fact that in many cases wages are
the crux of affordable housing). So wealthy people will live in Black Olive. And middle-class folks will
live in subdivisions in the valley to the west. Creating affordable housing is a difficult and complex
issue and Black Olive does not address the issue. Nor does it address sprawl. Which is what many of
the proponents address. Those arguments are specious.
Another problem with Black Olive is that most of the surrounding neighborhood is against the
structure. Yet it’s entirely within the zoning guidelines. But the guidelines were passed with little to
no public comment or really, public awareness. It seems unfair that the zoning was changed, with
developers and architects taking an active lead in loosening the height, size and planned unit
requirements. Again, you will be setting a precedent. What neighbors and residents are telling you is
that they do not want a structure of that size and scale in that place. There are better places for
Black Olive (e.g. 7th Avenue redevelopment will support downtown businesses; too bad for the
developers that they did not buy a lot there, or maybe they did, I don’t know…). Residents should
not have to bear the cost of developers’ projects. Longtime residents will move, but you will get your
precious downtown expansion.
With Respect But Frustration,
Shana Wood, 506 E. Cottonwood Street