HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-24-2020 Public Comment - B. Buffington - Bridger View Redevelopment ProjectFrom:Betsy Buffington
To:Agenda
Cc:trodgers@bozeman.net
Subject:[SENDER UNVERIFIED]Bridger View Redevelopment Project
Date:Friday, April 24, 2020 10:26:38 AM
RE: Support of the proposed Bridger View Redevelopment Project
Attn. City of Bozeman:
First, thank you for your service during this crisis. It is hard enough managing the emotional and
logistical needs of ourselves and our families in these circumstances and I’m especially appreciative
that you are keeping Bozeman both functional and safe in addition to the demands on your personal
lives.
I moved to Bozeman in 1996 and have watched our community grow at an increasingly concerning
rate. Some changes I welcome, others, not so much. Change is inevitable but the decisions we make
in the management and planning for that change defines who we are as a community and as a
country.
I am lucky enough to have bought a modest house downtown in 2008, back in the days when I
thought a house costing a quarter of a million dollars was crazy expensive but viable on my nonprofit
income, provided I cobbled together a few loans and budgeted wisely. There is no way I could afford
to buy my house now.
Last fall, in the 12 blocks I walk to work, I passed four active construction cranes and six construction
sites. All of them for luxury condos with little parking. Slowly, the Midtown area is changing from a
vibrant, middle class neighborhood, filled with long-term residents, children and older people, into a
gentrified assortment of rentals and second or third homes for occasional residents. Almost no one I
know could afford to buy a home here anymore.
The people who are the back bone of this community – the nurses, police officers, firemen, small
business owners – the essential workers who we now call heroes and howl for each night, are being
priced out of the city that depends on them for our physical and social well-being.
The Bridger View project can restore and secure the diversity of our community through a mix of
market-rate and non-market-rate homes to provide our essential workers and other middle income
families permanent affordable housing.
The location of the neighborhood and design aspects such as narrower streets, clustered parking,
and sustainable materials are all aspects that the City of Bozeman should embrace in this
development and promote in within new developments.
Your decision on this project will be one of those decisions that will reflect and define who we are as
community.
Please support and pass the Bridger View Redevelopment’s site application – and please consider
more developments of this type!
Kindest regards,
Betsy Buffington
414 N 4th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59715
Betsy Buffington
Northern Rockies Regional Director | Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, North Dakatoa
National Parks Conservation Association
406-579-2196 cell | bbuffington@npca.org | npca.org | Twitter: @NPCA
Preserving Our Past. Protecting Our Future.