HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-20-20 Public Comment - L. Jent - Opposition to Delta Gamma parking lot planFrom:Larry Jent
To:Tom Rogers; Agenda
Subject:Opposition to Delta Gamma parking lot plan
Date:Monday, July 20, 2020 12:24:08 PM
Dear Director of Community Development
My address is 1201 S. 3rd Ave, but our house faces on Garfield Street immediately next doorto our new neighbors, the Delta Gamma Sorority House. I have owned and lived in this house
for 35 years and have seen various neighbors come and go. The character of the neighborhoodhas not fundamentally changed…yet.
This stability owes much to the Bozeman Guidelines on Historic Preservation of theneighborhood Conservation Overlay District Section L #1. Sadly, the actions of the city lately
have tended to render this prescient and wise document a nullity. The proposal, of if approvedproclaims the irrelevance of planning in our district.
For example, the guideline exists, in pertinent part, to “stimulate the restoration and rehabilitation
of structures and all other elements contributing to the character and fabric of established residential
neighborhoods and commercial or industrial areas.” This parking lot does not contribute to the character and
fabric of the neighborhood.
The guideline specifically addresses parking in Section J:
Parking should be at the rear of the building and minimize the visual impact of surface parking in
residential areas. This parking lot is not at the rear of the building and is quite visual from the street
especially when the lights are on all night long and in the winter when there are no leaves on the
landscaping.
The guideline counsels "ribbon paving” with the goal of reducing hard surface paving, yet the plan before
you has, as a minimum, 4000 square feet of hard surface paving.
The guidelines at Section L #1 address lighting. The plan calls for four lighting fixtures, when four street
lights already illuminate the same area. If additional lighting is necessary to provide security for Delta
Gamma sorority members, at most two lights are sufficient.
Finally, the plan seeks something labelled a “single family infill project” on the meager remaining open
space, an area of 1620 square feet. The required lot minimum size is 4000 square feet. This is a clear
violation.
The plan, if approved, questions the heart of the historic overlay district if any and all projects are approved
in contravention of regulations to preserve neighborhood character; why have such a district in the first
place? Approval of such a plan necessitating such exceptions/nullification of existing standards, just to give
an approval to a snappy design, is exactly the definition of “arbitrary and capricious” decision making.
If the plan is approved a number of mitigation strategies should be implemented. First, there should be no
additional dwelling allowed. Second, the additional lighting should be minimized or eliminated. We
understand the residents have to park somewhere, and a parking lot is better than more on-street parking.
The on-street parking is already chaotic and NO additional spaces should be granted.
Larry Jent, Esq. and Julie Jent
1201 S. 3rd Ave
406-580-0502