HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-03-21 Public Comment - T. Murphy - Shady Glen at Bridger Creek (Bridger Meadows Subdivision) Shady Glen at Bridger Creek
(Neighborhood name needed to change due to an existing Bridger Meadows Subdivision)
Dear Bozeman City Commissioners,
Things to remember: Shady Glen will be a lovely infill neighborhood of 15 homes and an asset to the
community both in terms of tax revenues and for its preservation of wildlife habitat and critical lands.
The development of Shady Glen will create a 7+acre Wildlife Refuge, and at the same time help fulfill
Bozeman's growing needs for housing. The Bozeman Community Plan clearly calls for more infill
projects.
Infill is much, much, more complicated,time consuming and expensive than just heading out to the
next wheat field and stamping out another sprawling subdivision. Nature doesn't often conform to the
rectangular shapes that developments often require. In tight infill sites, it is often necessary to make
minor adjustments to make things fit.
After the development of Shady Glen, the site will have a larger and healthier wetland,than it has now,
enhancing the environment! After development of Shady Glen,the site will have more flood volume
capacity than it has now.The Bozeman community will therefore have more downstream flood plain
capacity than it has now, enhancing public health and safety!
The cul-de-sac will be safer than most existing cul-de-sacs in town because of the two entrances, fewer
homes than most cul-de-sacs (homes on only one side of the street),the close vicinity of the new fire
station (less than two minutes drivetime), and even the access to an additional fire hydrant on Boylan
(across from the GVLT trail)for greater fire-fighting capability to the backs of the homes. In the rare
instance of an extreme emergency with blocked access, residents or emergency vehicles will be able to
pass over the truck-ready utility easement near the ball of the cul-de-sac. Residents of the Village
Greens Townhouses adjacent backing up to Shady Glen Lane will be safer because they will have fire
hydrants and access on both the front and backside of their homes. Every one of the Bridger
Commercial Center properties will be safer than before the development because Shady Glen at Bridger
Creek will provide a second means of access to what is now an extremely long dead-end cul-de-sac to
commercial properties,and also will provide a second means of access to The Links Condominiums.
This will greatly enhance public health and safety to both of these existing developments!
Commercial areas typically use and store toxic and/or potentially explosive materials. A second access
to Bridger Center Commercial would be a tremendous safety improvement over existing conditions, and
would also provide much better protection of the nearby East Gallatin River from catastrophic
environmental damage.
Finally, this property has been a continual drain on community resources. It has historically been a no-
man's land of homeless camps and teenage beer bashes, and a constant fire hazard on this once county
island. This Commission has the chance to finally correct this unfortunate and dangerous situation while
creating a 7+acre Wildlife Refuge, at no cost to the city, to be well managed and maintained in
perpetuity by the Shady Glen HOA to produce an environment, landscape quality and character
superior to that produced by the existing standards of this chapter, and which will be consistent with
the intent and purpose of this division 38.430,with the adopted goals of the city growth policy and
with any relevant adopted design objectives plan."
Bozeman's new growth policy states:
"Remove regulatory barriers to infill"
"The City intends to look inward by prioritizing infill"
"Compact, contiguous development and infill to achieve an efficient use of land and
infrastructure, reducing sprawl and preserving open space, agricultural lands, wildlife
habitat, and water resources".
The revised Shady Glen infill neighborhood accomplishes all these growth policy objectives!
As we are all painfully aware, Inclusionary Zoning is no longer a legal part of the BMC.
However, as a demonstration of our good faith and commitment to making Bozeman a better
place for all. We will commit to making a generous contribution of$10,000 per homesite to an
organization of the City's choosing that is focused on helping to tackle the societal problems of
affordability and homelessness in our community.
Sincerely,
Tom Murphy
z .
Revisions to the Shady Glen PUD 8/30/21
1. A contribution of$10,000 per homesite to an organization of the City's choosing that is focused on
helping to tackle the societal problems of affordability and homelessness in our community.
2. Reduce one lot out of the ball of the cul-de -sac (7 to 6).
Benefits:
A. Allows all building envelopes in the cul-de-sac to be outside of a proposed 35 ft. wetland
buffer.
B. Decreases the amount of fill needed and reduces impact to existing vegetation and habitat.
C. Increases distance from the southern homes on cul-de-sac to wetlands and wildlife refuge.
D. Reduces the street parking demand by one family. (No parking is allowed on ball of cul-de-
sac).
3. Reduce the Shady Glen ROW right-of-way by 9 ft. to 41 ft, and the physical street width by 9 ft to 28
ft. Prohibit parking on east side of Shady Glen Lane.
Benefits:
A. Reduces impact to wetland next to pond by nine feet.
B. Reduces amount of fill needed next to the pond by nine feet.
C. Lessens impact on wetlands and the wildlife at the pond by moving traffic further away.
D. Provides reasonable building envelopes for homesites adjacent to pond.
E. Reduces impermeable surface area reducing unnecessary stormwater runoff.
F. Reduces amount of snow that will need to be placed in snow storage zones.
G. Restricting parking to the east side of the street will keep fumes from idling cars in winter
away from the nearby Village Greens homes, and will provide direct, unimpeded access to snow storage.
H. Provides equal International Fire Code required lane width, as in our previous submittal,
allowing clear access for fire and emergency equipment.
4. . Provide a gravel compacted base or pavers under the grass surface of utility easement to Boylan to
allow emergency vehicles or residents to pass in or out of the ball of the cul-de-sac in an extreme
emergency.
Benefits:
A. This will allow construction and maintenance equipment to pass easily to service utilities.
B. Increases the safety of the neighborhood.
5. Remove gate from the emergency access.
Benefits
A. Provides quicker emergency entry and exit to Shady Glen and to Bridger Commercial Center
(a long dead-end cul-de-sac).
B. Allows more connectivity for bikes and pedestrians.
6. Reduce the 50 ft wetland buffer to a reasonable minimum of 35 ft. The wetland buffer restricts this
area from any building.The wetland buffer is distinct from the watercourse setback; the watercourse
setback will be completely outside of the proposed residential lots.The neighborhood is already
designed to have all stormwater runoff from the homes to either flow to the street or be captured in
rain barrels further protecting the wetlands. Phosphorous fertilizer is prohibited in back yards.
Benefits:
A. Reduces impact to wetlands.
B. Allows workable building envelopes to help achieve the required R-1 density.
C. Much better to reduce the wetland buffer than to be forced to mitigate for additional
wetland impacts and move the replacement wetlands out of Bozeman.
D. Once our proposed infill development is completed,the site of the Shady Glen neighborhood
will have more wetlands that when we started, enhancing the environment and the wildlife habitat!
7. Require fencing on residential lot lines adjoining wildlife refuge.
Benefits:
A. Protects wildlife from pets.
B. Protects residents and pets from wildlife.
C. Helps keep wildlife out of garbage cans and yards
8. Privacy fence along border with Village Greens Townhomes.
Benefits:
A. Reduces impact of headlights on neighbors.
B. Prevents young neighboring children from wandering onto Shady Glen Lane.
Note:
The Cul-de-sac is not a deviation because it is written directly into the BMC as allowable if
certain criteria are met.
Culs-de-sac. Culs-de-sac are generally prohibited. The review authority may consider
and approve the installation of a cul-de-sac only when necessary due to topography, the
presence of critical lands, access control, adjacency to parks or open space, or similar site
constraints.
Shady Glen clearly meets all those criteria and the DRC agreed.
Benefits:
A. Allows infill development.
B. . Having a street with fire hydrants behind the houses in Village Greens allows fire
protection from both front and back of their homes increasing public health and safety.
Note: Block Length is not deviation because it is written directly into the BMC as allowable if
certain criteria are met.
Block lengths may be longer than 400 feet if necessary due to topography, the presence
of critical lands, access control, or adjacency to existing parks or open space.
Shady Glen clearly meets all those criteria.
Benefits:
A. We are purposefully limiting viewing points of the pond to two strategic points to best avoid
disturbing the abundant wildlife
B. The adjoining houses buffer and block the pond and its wildlife from traffic noise on the
street.
Note:
The secondary means of access is not a deviation because it is written directly into the code and
the DRC determined it was allowable.
5. 38.400.010.A.8 A deviation from the requirement for a second means of public access to the
site:
Second or emergency access. To facilitate traffic movement, the provision of emergency
services and the placement of utility easements, all developments must be provided with a
second means of access. If, in the judgment of the development review committee (DRC), a
second dedicated right-of-way cannot be provided for reasons of topography or other
physical conditions, the developer must provide an emergency access, built to the
standards detailed in these regulations.
a. This provision may be waived or conditionally waived by the DRC.
The DRC judged that a second dedicated right-of-way cannot be provided for reasons of
topography or other physical conditions, and the developer must provide an emergency access,
built to the standards detailed in these regulations. So this is not a deviation.
3,
Deviations for the proposed new PUD submittal:
8/30/21
"The review authority must make a determination that the deviation will produce an
environment, landscape quality and character superior to that produced by the existing
standards of this chapter, and which will be consistent with the intent and purpose of this
division 38.430, with the adopted goals of the city growth policy and with any relevant
adopted design objectives plan."
Strictly as stated, does each deviation accomplish this standard. Let us review each of them one
by one.
1,38.400.020.A.2 Right of Way-Width. -A relaxation from the 60 ft. width right of way
requirement to a ROW minimum of 41 ft. width.
Using existing code, the property could not be developed by existing standards at all without
the deviation to ROW. This ROW reduction allows less impact to critical lands and wetlands. The
deviation will produce an environment, landscape quality and character superior to that
produced by the existing standards of this chapter and with the adopted goals of the city
growth policy. Because of critical lands, topography, and parks this street will always be a cul-
de-sac and have limited traffic, so the excess ROW will not ever be needed to expand the
roadway.
38.430 code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
38.100.040 code A, B, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5,C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, C11, C12, C15, D
2. 38.400.80 Sidewalks
A deviation from the requirement to provide a sidewalk along both sides of the street. A
sidewalk will be provided to the one side of the street with homes. Shady Glen Lane has homes
on only one side of the street except on the cul-de-sac (where sidewalks are on both sides). A
sidewalk adjacent to the hike/bike trail would be redundant. It would increase impermeable
surface area, which would increase stormwater runoff, unnecessarily impacting the
environment and public health and safety. This deviation also lessens the impact of the
development on the adjacent critical lands by keeping street further away creating an
environment, landscape quality and character superior to that produced by existing standards.
38.430 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
38.100.040 A, B, C1, C2, C3, C4, C5,C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 C11, C12,
3. 38.410.100.A.2.c.4.d. Wetland Buffer The wetland buffer width must be extended by a
minimum of 50 ft. beyond the perimeter of the connected wetlands.
A reduction of the wetland buffer to a reasonable 35ft. from the 50 ft required allows an
efficient balance between much needed infill and the environment. Without this relaxation
building envelopes would be negatively impacted and the project would not achieve the density
required in R-1 zoning. Another case where the development could not be accomplished by
existing standards. *As the Commission is concerned with precident, we have included variance
given to Kagy Gardens. (A subdivision that had similar site constraints as Shady Glen) to reduce
wetland setbacks from 75 ft and 50 ft to 30 ft.
38.430 code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
38.100.040 A, B, C1, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 C11,
*The Applicant requested a variance from the 75-foot jurisdictional wetland setback and the 50-
foot non jurisdictional wetland setback required by Section 38.23.100.A.2.c.4.d, Bozeman
Municipal Code. The applicant proposed a 20-foot setback which corresponds roughly with the
top of the embankment separating the wetlands from the buildable area of the subdivision.
The Wetlands Review Board (WRB) held a meeting on July 24, 2013 and voted 3-0 to
recommend conditional approval with modification as noted in the attached Wetlands Review
Board meeting summary. The WRB suggested increasing the requested setback from 20-feet to
10-feet back from the top of the bank, equivalent to a 30-foot setback, to mitigate potential
impacts on the wetlands. The Applicant stated they agreed with the proposed WRB setback.
4. 38.410.100.A.2 Watercourse Setback. The watercourse setback in this instance is the 100-
year flood plain.
We requested to fill a very small portion of the 100-year flood plain to keep flood
plain out of several of our proposed lots. We received permission from the Bozeman
Flood Plain Administrator to apply for a FEMA permit in addition to an Army Corp
of Engineers 404 permit. We have received both of those Federal permits allowing
us to fill. With these permits and the acceptance of the Shady Glen preliminary plat
the City Floodplain Administrator will accept our city fill permit. The fill to move
the flood plain is actually very little (an average depth of about 1 foot). This minor
relocation of the 100-year floodplain/watercourse setback allows us to make our cul-
de-sac fit properly, to not allow flood plain in lots, and to achieve the R-1 density
required by existing standards.The small area of wetlands(.06 acres)we are affecting
is downslope of a malfunctioning storrnwater pond on the golf course. Groundwater
is high in this area because the pond is nearly 100 percent vegetated with shrubs and
emergent vegetation and the bottom appears silted. Lynn Bacon indicated this
wetland has doubled in size in the past five years largely due to the impact of the
stormwater pond. We have attached a copy of our attorney's notification letter to City
regarding this problem.
As a result of this proposed fill the floodplain will be channelized and more defined after our
development, creating better flow in times of flooding than a wide shallow flood plain would
produce. The results of this deviation speak for themselves. The Shady Glen neighborhood will
have considerably better flood volume capacity than the site had prior to development
creating an environment, landscape quality, and character superior to that produced by existing
standards.
38.430 code 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
38.100.040 A, B, C1, C2, C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10 C11,
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Alanah N.Griffith Esq.
GRIFFITH & CUMMINGS PI_LC Mindy T.
Cummings,Esq. ArTORwys Ar L..AVV
March 19,2019
Kyle Mehrens
City of Bozeman: Stormwater Division
20 E. Olive St.
Bozeman,MT 59715
Dear Mr. Mehrens:
My name is Alanah Griffith. I represent Bridger Center,LLC. Bridger Center, LLC is
currently going through the subdivision process to subdivide a parcel of land within Bozeman.
The property is legally described as Section 31,T2S,R6E, COS 885,NW 1/4, SE1/4,P.M.M.,
Gallatin County,MT.
It is my understanding that you have met with the sole member of Bridger Center(Tom
Murphy) and one of his hydrologists,Bart Manion,regarding a potential issue with the French
drain that runs from the Bridger Meadows Subdivision onto my client's property. Mr. Manion
has since studied the issue and has drafted a letter regarding the issue. (Exhibit 1) According to
Mr:Manion,he believes that the storm water retention pond located within the Bridger Creek
Subdivision(master association) and specifically within the Village Creek Townhouse area of
'Bridger Creek,has failed. Because of the failure, it is causing degradation to my client's
property as stated in Mr. Manion's letter.
It is my understanding that this type of matter falls within the scope of your work with
the City. I am writing to you to request that you review this matter and fix,or have the
appropriate parties fix the retention pond. Please feel free to reach out to my client or Mr.
Manion with any questions. I look forward to working with you on this matter.
Sincerely,
Alanah Griffith
cc: Greg Sullivan
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(406) 624-3585 9 wwzo.bigskymtlaw.com -- P. O. Box 160748 e Big Sky, Montana 59716
Bridger Center LLC March 12,
2019
f450 Cherry Drive
Bozeman,.MT 59715
Upon conclusion of our meeting with Kyle Mehrens, Stormwater Manager, City of
Bozeman, Bridger Center LLC requested our assistance in investigating and evaluating
hydrologic and environmental conditions at the Bridger lvieadows property. The purpose of our
investigation and evaluation was to enable Bridger Center LLC an opportunity to satisfy due
diligence requirements in accordance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation,and Liability Act, (CERCLA)and the Montana Environmental Policy Act,
(MEPA).
The property is legally described as Section 31,Township 2 South,Range 6 East,
Certificate of Survey 885 North West '!a,of the South East V4,Principal Meridian, Montana
Gallatin County. The subject site,referred to as the Bridger Meadows project is bounded by
commercial development off Commercial Drive to the south,bounded by residential
development(Village Creek Townhomes)off Birdie Drive and Boylan Road to the east,bounded
by Boylan Road and dedicated parkland to the northeast,bounded by Bridger Golf Course and
dedicated parkland to the north and bounded by City of Bozeman property to the west, (Montana
Cadastral, 2014).
The southern and eastern edges extending into the interior of the property consists of
Palustrine scrub/shrub broadleaf deciduous trees forested areas intermixed with wetland grasses,
(TarraQuatic, LLC, 2013). There is one ponded area of water on the property. The pond is a
mitigated meander scar wetland.(Urban and Associates Inc.1993) and is now considered a
(detention basin). The detention basin borders the southern edge of the property and extends in a
northwest direction to the interior of the property. Three meander scar wetland areas comprise
the remaining lower elevated areas of the subject site. An upland grassy area, (hay meadow)
makes up the remaining, (developable) acreage of the property.
A stormwater ditch traverses the Bridger Meadows property along its eastern and northern
property line. This conveyance ditch is located between the Story Mill Spur trail and the terrace
area of Boylan Drive. The conveyance ditch accommodates stonnwater flows and sump pump
water from the Village Creek Townhouses. A French Drain serving the Village Creek
Townhouse development east of the subject site collects and directs the sump pump water to a
detention basin located approximately 100 ft north of the Bridger Meadows northern property
boundary.
Overflow from the detention basin travels under the Story Mill Spur Trail and enters the Bridger
Meadow property at the northwest corner. Water flows across the northwest corner of the
Bridger Meadows property in a west/southwest direction.
Numerous mature aspen trees on the Bridger Meadows property within the pathway of this
outflow water source have died due to saturated subsurface soil conditions. Mature vegetation
within and surrounding the detention basin of the neighboring Village Creek Townhouse
development have died off as well due to subsurface saturated soil conditions. Historic stands of
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aspen trees on both properties are slowly succeeding to willow thickets. A variety of willow
species are becoming the dominant tree species within these locations.
Excess water stored in the Village Creek Townhouse detention basin may also influence
groundwater seepage and flow conditions to an isolated borrow source remnant, located in the
(same) northwest corner of the Bridger Meadows property. The borrowed soil was used as bed
material for the Story Mill Spur Trail north of the subject site.
In our opinion overflow water from the Village Creek Townhouse, detention basin has caused
indirect environmental degradation to the northwest corner of the Bridger Meadows property.
Degradation is in the form of lost mature aspen trees, upland grasses and indigenous vegetation
found in Palustrine scrub/shrub broadleaf deciduous trees forested areas. Loss of these vegetative
species has caused loss habitat for a number of wildlife species as well as a critical winter food
source for large ungulates. It is also our opinion groundwater seepage from the detention pond
north of the Bridger Meadows property has caused perched (high groundwater) conditions within
the isolated borrow source remnant, evidenced by the presence of hydrophytic vegetation.
Bart Man"on
Hydrologist(REPA)
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