HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-20-21 Public Comment - S. Walgren - Buffalo Run App. 21076From:Scott Walgren
To:Agenda
Subject:LTR to Bozeman City Commission_Buffalo Run Development_April_20_2021
Date:Tuesday, April 20, 2021 7:52:10 AM
Attachments:LTR to Bozeman City Commission_Buffalo Run Development_April_20_2021.pdf
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Please find public comment attached in regards to the Buffalo Run Development to theBozeman City Commission for April 20, 2021.
With gratitude,
Scott and Catherine Walgren
April 20, 2021
Dear Bozeman City Commissioners and Staff;
Re: Public Comment on R-4 Zoning Permit and Annexation Application for
(proposed) Buffalo Run development and Negative Impacts on adjacent Meadow
Creek Subdivision
I am a resident of the Meadow Creek Subdivision writing in opposition to the Annexation and R-4 Zoning
request for the proposed Buffalo Run development adjacent to my neighborhood. Through two Zoning
Commission meetings, opposition voices offered constructive,mostly unemotional feedback on this
proposal. While I was optimistic that the Zoning Commission intended to objectively measure the request
against the city’s quest for responsible growth, the commission comments from the 2nd meeting appeared
driven by the stress under which the city finds itself instead of the vision developed by the Bozeman
Community Plan.
I often tell my teenage boys that someone’s character isn’t measured when things are going well.
Character is measured when bad things happen. It’s at that point that integrity, honor, trustworthiness,and
hard decision making are tested. The city’s character is similarly being tested under very trying
circumstances. The crafting of the Bozeman Community Plan was needed for this very situation.
Bozeman is under considerable stress to grow, and having an objective framework to guide the decisions
is needed to analyze the pitch from developers and the perspective of established residents. The long
awaited Bozeman Community Plan should be the metric by which Buffalo Run is measured.
The Buffalo Run Development meets neither the letter nor intent of the Bozeman Community Plan. It is
spot zoned, contains layers of safety concerns, funnels a tremendous volume of traffic through an
established neighborhood, situates high density and low density neighborhoods adjacent to one another,
and fundamentally compromises the character of an existing community. It’s an opportunistic effort which
requires significant compromise on the Bozeman Community Plan to the benefit of one landowner /
developer. Consultative efforts on behalf of the development group to the existing community were not
genuine, and served their purpose to disingenuously paint the existing neighbors as stubborn and
inflexible. In reality, decision timelines were prohibitively short to gain community consensus, and the
burden of any agreement depended upon legal enforcement which would be paid for by the Meadow
Creek Homeowners Association. The engagement simply wasn’t genuine; it was a speaking point.
I humbly request that the city deny the annexation of this land and the R-4 zoning request. The
thoughtfulness of the Bozeman Community Plan and the spirit of city leadership have all acknowledged
the challenges of rapid growth and advocated for healthy,considered development opportunities to
support it. The Buffalo Run development runs counter to city priorities, at the expense of the community
currently in place.
/s/
Scott Walgren
Catherine Walgren
3090 Meah Lane
Bozeman, MT 59718