HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-22-21 Public Comment - M. Koscinski - Buffalo Run App. 21076
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Mark and Martha Koscinski
3431 S. 29th Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59718
March 13, 2021
To: City of Bozeman Community Development
City of Bozeman Commissioners
RE: Buffalo Run Annexation and Zoning Application 20176
As residents of Bozeman and owners of property that will be directly affected by the
development of 20.79 acres of land located at 5400 Fowler Lane, we respectfully submit
the following in opposition to annexation of this property and the request for R-4
zoning.
With regard to annexation, according to the City of Bozeman Resolution 5076:
WHEREAS, the City of Bozeman wishes to establish updated comprehensive annexation goals and
policies for landowner-initiated annexations to provide for orderly well-planned growth of the City.
● The City of Bozeman encourages annexations of land contiguous to the City.
● The City encourages all areas that are totally surrounded by the City to Annex.
This parcel of land is attached to the City of Bozeman on one side only—a mere thread
of land that might measure 300 yards. It is surrounded by agricultural land on all other
sides—the owners to the north and south of this parcel protested this development
prior to the application being withdrawn last month and have indicated that they have
no intention of selling their property at this time. This is not orderly growth; the land
is not surrounded by the City property.
● The City encourages annexations which will enhance the existing traffic circulation systems or provide
for circulation systems that no not exist at the present time.
The annexation will not enhance existing traffic circulation. It is located on Fowler
Lane—a dirt road that feeds onto Stucky, another over trafficked and underbuilt county
road. The other proposed ingress/egress is onto a narrow City street (Kurk) with no
sidewalk on the north side, no bicycle lanes and through an established family-oriented
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neighborhood requiring vehicles to make several stops and several turns prior to
reaching a main arterial road.
● The City encourages annexations to make City boundaries more regular rather than creating
irregular extensions which leave unannexed gaps between annexed areas.
The annexation of this property, at this time, will create an irregular extension—a little
pinkie finger surrounded by agricultural land. It leaves large gaps on three sides.
According to the City of Bozeman Community Plan:
● The City has adopted land development regulations and policies to reasonably mitigate negative
impacts. These have been adopted to address the question of “If so, how.”
The negative impact of annexing this property, at this time, cannot be ignored. The
ingress and egress to this property either from Fowler or from Kurk (through the
Meadow Creek subdivision) are unfair and burdensome to the owners of property on
Fowler and the owners of homes in Meadow Creek. At some point, long after the
developer has left the area, the owners of property on Fowler, the County or the City
of Bozeman will need to complete the infrastructure on Fowler and Stucky.
In addition, the water pressure in Meadow Creek is the worst in Bozeman. Until such
time as the City of Bozeman can remedy the situation, annexation in this area should
be curtailed.
● It is the long-standing policy of the City to balance the interests of new and existing residents.
Therefore, the City has established standards and procedures to strive to ensure that new development
proportionately contributes to the services and facilities needed to support new development.
If annexed, at this time, the only entity benefiting is the developer. As stated above, it
will have an extreme negative impact on the safety, environment, peace and tranquility
of the neighbors on Fowler and in Meadow Creek.
● Land use designations must respond to a broad range of factors, including infrastructure, natural,
and economic constraints, other community priorities, and expectations of all affected
parties concerning private development.
● Transportation infrastructure is vital in supporting desired land use patterns. Therefore,
the two must be coordinated. Future infrastructure should favor interconnected multimodal
transportation networks (i.e. infrastructure for bicycle, pedestrian, and transit modes of transport in
addition to automobiles).
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● COMMUNITY DESIRES People who have participated in this Plan have consistently stated a
desire for safe and accessible streets that support and encourage a variety of transportation
preferences including walking, bicycling, transit, and driving. They want to live in walkable
neighborhoods where they have easy access to everyday services, employment opportunities,
healthy and affordable food, recreation, and social gathering places.
This property is not convenient to or near schools, churches, restaurants, shopping,
offices, MSU, doctors or the hospital. There is NO public transit. There are NO
contiguous sidewalks to S. 19th, MSU or downtown. There are NO bicycle lanes. There
are no sidewalks on Fowler or Stucky. Vehicle traffic (not to mention the construction
vehicles needed during construction) will negatively impact the environment and local
residents and the Gallatin Valley for years.
● The needs of new and existing development coexist, and they should remain in balance; neither should
overwhelm the other.
The developer is asking for an R-4 zoning designation. R-4 absolutely is not compatible
with this area and would very much overwhelm the agricultural land that surrounds it
and Meadow Creek.
● COMMUNITY DESIRES People who have participated in this Plan have consistently stated a
desire for safe and accessible streets that support and encourage a variety of transportation
preferences including walking, bicycling, transit, and driving. They want to live in walkable
neighborhoods where they have easy access to everyday services, employment opportunities, healthy and
affordable food, recreation, and social gathering places.
● High Risk and Vulnerability: Ensure that strategies directly address the reduction of risk to
human well-being, physical infrastructure, and natural systems.
Traveling to and from this subdivision is wrought with risk. Hundreds of vehicles
driving on narrow streets in an established subdivision and/or on an unpaved (Fowler)
road that leads to another narrow, dangerous (Stucky) road is asking for tragedy.
Meadow Creek is a family neighborhood where residents walk (with children) daily.
The water table in this area is extremely high. The storm water pond on the north end
of Meadow Creek (Ainsworth) Park is often filled to capacity with no overflow system.
Groundwater from the development property has funneled into this pond. Additional
water from Buffalo Run could potentially breach that pond, flooding Kurk Road—the
proposed secondary ingress/egress. Oh, and by the way, the Meadow Creek HOA is
responsible for maintaining this storm water pond.
● The best transportation plan is a good land use plan. Transportation systems impact the following:
1) livability (in terms of traffic congestion, but also noise, pollution, physical activity, accessibility, safety,
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and aesthetics); 2) affordability (after housing, transportation is the second largest expense for most
households); and 3) sustainability (transportation accounted for more than one third of Bozeman’s
2016 greenhouse gas emissions)
● Develop safe, connected, and complementary transportation networks for pedestrians, bicyclists, and
users of other personal mobility devices ( e-bikes, electric scooters, powered wheelchairs, etc.). 1 Prioritize
and construct key sidewalk connections and enhancements.
As stated above, this tract of land is not convenient to anything. Vehicular Ingress and
Egress is a major problem for Buffalo Run and will negatively impact the surrounding
properties, the families in Meadow Creek, the County and the City of Bozeman in terms
of travelability, noise, pollution, accessibility, safety and aesthetics.
At this point in time, there is not safe network for pedestrians, bicyclists, etc. There are
breaks in sidewalk connections or no sidewalks.
● Work with Gallatin County to keep rural areas rural and maintain a clear edge to urban
development that evolves as the City expands outwards. Encourage annexation of land adjacent to the
City prior to development and encourage annexation of wholly surrounded areas.
As mentioned above, this little peninsula of land is surrounded by rural properties on
three sides—it is not incremental. The 300 yards of connective land to Meadow Creek
is hardly a “clear edge” and Meadow Creek is zoned R-3 but built out as R-1. This
proposed development is not compatible at all with its neighbors.
We understand the need for additional housing. We are not saying that this property
should never be annexed. We respectfully request the City deny annexation until:
● proper infrastructure is installed (roads, sidewalks, bicycle lanes)—the cost of which
is paid for by developers, (not surrounding properties, the County or the City),
● convenient, public transportation is established,
● neighboring rural properties are transitioned to urban development—not just this
finger of land.
Very truly yours,
Mark Koscinski Martha Koscinski
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