HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-27-20 Public Comment - A. Hoitsma - Recommendation to provisionally adopt Ordinance No. 2055From:Amy Kelley Hoitsma
To:Agenda
Cc:reno walsh; Jeremy Mistretta; Jeanne & Paul Wesley-Wiese; Vickie Backus; Chandler Dayton; Suzanne Held; Amy
Mountain Ference; Chris Nixon
Subject:Recommendation to provisionally adopt Ordinance No. 2055
Date:Tuesday, October 27, 2020 9:18:10 AM
Attachments:AMY HOITSMA TO COMMISSION RE IDAHO POLE URD 27OCT2020.docx
Honorable Mayor Andrus and Bozeman City Commissioners:
I have great concerns for the NE neighborhood about the rapid pace at which the Commissionhas been moving to create a URD for the Pole Yard area in NE Bozeman. I feel the decisions
that have been made thus far by various entities have been framed so narrowly that theaffirmative votes were unavoidable.
And yet major questions have been left unanswered about the potential impacts ofdevelopment in this area.
You are working to create a financial incentive for private entities to purchase and developthis area. You are making a decision to divert future tax revenues away from the general needs
of the City and dedicate them strictly to infrastructure in this specific part of the city. I believeyou have a responsibility to Bozeman residents to answer the questions we have posed
throughout this process before voting to create this URD.
Before you make this decision, I have four requests:
Consult the Gallatin City-County Board of Health and the Gallatin Local WaterQuality District before making any final decisions about creating the Pole YardUrban Renewal District. They know a great deal about the Idaho Pole site, and raisedsignificant concerns when the site was partially delisted from the National Superfund
Priorities List. The fact is, they were never consulted about this delisting: Matt Kelleytold me the BOH found out about it in a press release announcing the delisting. If
nothing else, read their questions/concerns to the EPA in this document (beginning page99): https://semspub.epa.gov/work/08/100008843.pdf
Make some attempt to quantify the costs of the needed infrastructure in order forthis area to be developed in any significant way. How would these projectedinfrastructure costs measure against the projected tax revenue to be generated bypotential new development? Your City Engineer started that list (starting on page 215of the staff memo to the Commission), although the list includes developing Front
Street, which is NOT in the 2017 Transportation Plan. Front Street, which I applaud youfor recently approving as an important connector trail, is shown in the Transportation
Plan as a pedestrian-only trail. The engineer’s list does not include creation of secondaryemergency access to the area that is trapped by I-90 and the railroad. Would on/off
ramps to I-90 be required? There are identified wetlands in that area that would bedestroyed by such a project, making it a complicated and perhaps ill-advised solution.
Consider the NE neighborhood. There are two new relatively large-scale developmentproposals slated for the NE neighborhood that are currently in the City planning
process: the Cottonwood+Ida PUD and the Brewery Project (parking structure neededfor the Cottonwood+Ida PUD as well as additional apartments, town houses, and
commercial structures). These will have as yet unknown—but certainly significant—impacts on the traffic and neighborhood character. Without major new transportation
infrastructure, any development in the Idaho Pole area will undoubtedly direct moretraffic into the neighborhood as people seek to go downtown. To do so they would have
to cross the railroad at grade-level on L Street. The potential back-up of traffic for theoften mile-long trains—and the blocking of access for emergency vehicles—is a
significant safety concern.
Consider the area businesses. They have spoken for themselves, and I have found itenlightening. They note that virtually all of the construction materials coming into
Bozeman arrive by rail, and the NE corner of town is where that material is unloaded.Disruption of those businesses will no doubt increase costs even more for the ever-
growing building boom in Bozeman.
I do not believe that, with this vote, you are limited to consideration of a narrow set of issues. I
believe you owe it to the residents and businesses of Bozeman to consider the issues I raisebefore creating a financial incentive for private developers that will have a fiscal impact on
other future City projects. Certainly if I were a Commissioner I would want to have moreanswers before I cast my vote.
With my very best,
Amy Kelley Hoitsma
706 E. Peach Street, Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 581-1513