HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-23-19 Public Comment - R. Davison - AC Hotel by MarriottFrom:Rona Davison
To:Danielle Garber; Agenda
Subject:AC Hotel Notice of Site Plan & Commercial Certificate of Appropirateness with Demolition Application
Date:Monday, September 23, 2019 1:05:17 PM
Hello,
I am just a small business owner - Liv Lively Salon and Boutique, 16 N Tracy.
Two more of my contractors informed me over the weekend that they will not be renewingtheir contract with the salon and the number one reason they both stated was parking (or lack
thereof). They have a hard time parking. Many clients come in late because they can't find aparking spot. I often must go to the 3rd or 4th level to find a spot to park during the day.
While I am all for a new hotel downtown, I cannot fathom how a hotel with retail spaces on
the ground floor with 0 parking spaces could have any likelihood of being passed by the CityCommission. The Etha Hotel hasn't even opened yet and I can only imagine that that is also
going to put a strain on the parking garage. Not only will there be hotel guest parking there,but there will also be employees of the the hotel parking there. To my knowledge, there is not
another downtown location that allows over 2 hour parking - the parking garage is the onlyspace for greater than 2 hour parking. The AC hotel will also have guests of the hotel,
employees of the hotel and businesses and patrons of the retail spaces requiring parking.
If the City Commission approves the hotel with 0 parking, I'm sure I am not the only businessowner that will move out of downtown. What is so beautiful about downtown and why people
go there is because of the unique businesses that are there. The landscape of the downtownwill change and I don't think it will be an improvement if small businesses move.
When I tell people I own a store downtown, their response is that they never go downtown any
more because the parking is so bad, and this response is before the Etha is complete and theproposed new hotel is built.
At the Parking Commission meeting in May, many downtown business owners got up and
spoke about their concern of allowing the 75 parking permits being converted to 25 yearleases. The only people that got up and spoke in favor of this were employees of Home Base
(developer of this project) but they did not identify themselves as employees. The ParkingCommission thankfully listened and voted against the conversion. But really, this proposal to
the City is asking for the same thing - using the parking garage for the project withoutproviding it's own parking.
My understanding is that the parking garage was built that 2 more stories could be added on to
it. I think now might be the time to consider that.
Also, on a personal note. I was on the wait list for the basement parking garage for over a year(I was number one on the list and I have a screenshot of that from May of this year) and now
when I check my status, it doesn't even show me on any wait list. And prior to that I was onthe wait list (before you could do it online) and when I called to check where I was on the list,
the Parking Manager office had no record of my name or me ever being on the list. My co-worker also had this same experience. I only bring this up because it seems that there are many
aspects of parking in downtown Bozeman that are frustrating and not administered well.
I urge you not to approve this project with 0 parking spaces. It just doesn't make sense toallow a building to be built in downtown without the developer incurring the cost of it's own
parking. The cost of lost parking will be on enormous on small businesses.
Thank you for your consideration,Rona
--
Rona Davison | Ownerwww.shoplivlively.com
(P) (406) 223-7662rona@shoplivlively.com
16 N TracyBozeman, Montana 59715