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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-16-19 Public Comment - S. Riggs - Bozeman UDC Text AmendmentsFrom:Susan Riggs To:Tom Rogers; Agenda Cc:Downtown Business Association Subject:zoning commission public comment for tonight Date:Tuesday, April 16, 2019 4:19:02 PM Attachments:UDC Edits Downtown letter 2019-04-16 ZC.pdf Sorry for the late notice, but attached please find public comment for the Zoning Commission hearing this evening related to the UDC edits. Please forward to the Zoning Commission. Thank you. Susan Riggs, AICP www.groundprint.com406.579.5844 April 16, 2019 Bozeman Zoning Commission c/o Tom Rogers, Senior Planner, AICP Department of Community Development City of Bozeman 20 East Olive Street Bozeman, Montana 59715 RE: Bozeman UDC Text Amendments – Application 18-559 Members of the Zoning Commission: Groundprint, LLC has been retained to review the proposed zone text amendments on behalf of the Downtown Bozeman Partnership. Please accept this letter of public comment in reference to Application 18-559. 1. Overall, the proposed edits should go further to simplify and make the code more accessible to everyday people. A recent article included the following relevant quote: “If a local resident or business owner with a high school diploma can’t sit down and figure out what she can and cannot do with her property in less than an hour, the zoning regime is inherently exclusionary. After all, one of the key selling points of zoning is that it supposedly provides certainty about what a property owner can and can’t do as of right. The rules shaping things like use and bulk are meant to be clear and predictable. But if zoning rules are hard to access or difficult to read and interpret, this benefit is lost, as locals will be forced to hire a land-use attorney to guide them through the process.”1 2. We would like to support the proposed changes related to Accessory Dwelling Units in Table 38.320.030.A & B. As stated in the recently approved 2019 Downtown Bozeman Improvement Plan: “North and south of Downtown, additional scale appropriate infill housing can support the affordability and compatibility goals of both Downtown and nearby neighborhoods. This might include strategic density by enabling more accessory dwelling units, housing along alleys, small rowhouses or stacked townhouses. Recent zoning modifications have already moved in this direction and should be reinforced and adjusted as needed in the future” (Page 117). 3. The proposed section related to Multiple Block Frontages (Section 38.510.020.F, 1-7) is extremely difficult to understand; so much so that we are unable to provide constructive public comment. 4. We would like to support the idea behind the proposed clarification in Table 38.510.030.B that the required 20’ minimum space depth allows for any commercial uses (including offices) and is not limited only to retail. This could be further clarified to say “Commercial or non-residential space depth” to include other active ground floor uses like lobbies and maker-spaces. Appendix A in the Draft 2019 Downtown Bozeman Improvement Plan suggests going further: “Block frontage standards are intended to result in a certain form rather than dictate specific uses therefore, references to uses (20 feet of retail space depth) should be removed so that Article 3 should be the only section of the UDC that dictates uses Downtown.” 1 Gray, Nolan “Your Zoning Code Is Inherently Exclusionary (But It Doesn’t Have To Be)” 3 April 2019, www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/4/2/your-zoning-code-is-inherently-exclusionary-but-it-doesnt-have-to- be?rq=accessible 5. Section 38.520.060.C describes usable commercial and mixed-use open space requirements. This section is very long. We would like to suggest replacing this entire section with a diagram such as: 6. Section 38.540.030 is related to structured parking facilities. Subsection B.10 states: “If alley is adjacent to site, access must be taken from that alley, no access to street is permitted.” This requirement could be extremely problematic for future parking garages as well as for alleys in general Downtown. For example, if the existing Bridger Park garage only had access from the adjacent alley, vehicular circulation would be a major issue for the whole block including the businesses that use the alley for deliveries and trash pick-up. That alley, and many similar alleys Downtown, are not intended for the continuous volume of two-way traffic associated with any medium or large-scale parking structure. While an alley certainly could work as one of several accesses for structured parking, this proposed code amendment could result in major safety and functionality issues for Downtown. This line should be struck from the proposed amendments. Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Sincerely, Susan Riggs, AICP GroundPrint, LLC Acting as a Consultant for the Downtown Bozeman Partnership CC: Chris Naumann, Executive Director, Downtown Bozeman Partnership (via email)