HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-28-21 Public Comment - L. Semones - Parking MinimumsFrom:Linda Semones
To:Agenda; Linda Semones
Subject:Parking Commission Public Comment
Date:Tuesday, September 28, 2021 2:00:43 PM
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Please deliver the following public comment to the Parking Commission for their October 13th
meeting. I have been listening to the discussion of form based planning in the Planning Board
,and in the joint Planning/Zoning commission meeting. I am aware that Kathy Costakis and
Jennifer Madgic have both recommended that a consultant be brought to Bozeman to discuss
the implementation of form based planning. I am also aware that the Clarion report has made
recommendations on parking in Bozeman. I support the request for more information and
research on form based zoning before zoning changes are made, and before parking
minimums are eliminated.
Dear Members of the Parking Commission,
I would like to thank you all for the very difficult work you have done during these years of
burgeoning city growth and the problems that such rapid growth causes for the community.
Last week, I sent you a letter of public comment in which I proposed that now is not the time
to eliminate parking minimums, and that developers be held to their responsibility to help
solve the parking problem in Bozeman. I now would like to make further public comment on
the recommendation to eliminate parking minimums in the city. I make these comments as a
private citizen, and not as a member of the Historic Preservation Board.
It is obvious that parking requirements for the city need to be reviewed and revised. Just
trying to access a business on Main Street from 11 AM to 2PM will convince you that the city
needs to try something different. Whether this should be paid parking, more required parking
for developers, less required parking for developers, parking lots, parking garages, connection
to a public transit system, bike paths and parking, pedestrian protection, or parking benefit
districts has all been on your agenda for several years. At this point, a hard working
subcommittee has recommended that the city go directly to no parking minimums required
for developments in the B3 zones.
Thanks to Mr. Egge, who provided his sources for this concept, I was able to read about
various cities where this has been done. The article with the most data analyzed what has
been done in the City of Buffalo, New York. The source is: Minus Minimums Development
Response to the Removal of Minimum Parking Requirements in Buffalo (NY) Daniel Baldwin
Hess & Jeffrey Rehler Pages 396-408 | Published online: 12 Mar 2021.
In Buffalo, and it is to be assumed in other cities that have followed their process, the city did
not go directly to no minimum parking requirements. In Buffalo, it was a step-by-step process
that developed within their form-based Green Code. Buffalo eliminated off-street parking
minimums on April 3, 2017, by enacting a form-based zoning code known as the Unified
Development Ordinance or Green Code.
Under this Green Code, small site plans are excluded from complying with a Transportation
Demand Analysis. Each large site plan over requires developers to complete a Transportation
Demand Analysis with a checklist of parking possibilities, including shared parking programs,
bicycle storage, employee incentives, off street parking, roadway improvements, public transit
pass subsidies,and carpooling plans. The developer is required to commit to this plan. The plan
eliminates off street parking only if the developer and city can agree that with the other
transportation modes on the checklist, parking needs for the development are adequately
met. It is to be noted that Buffalo already had a public transit system with buses going by
individual stops every 15 minutes.
Each development site was analyzed individually for parking needs, rather than using a city-
wide minimum that might actually create excess parking due to a one-size-fits-all regulation.
I suggest that before eliminating the parking minimums in Bozeman, this form-based code be
studied. It requires developers to look at their local and specific parking needs and how their
development will affect the surrounding community. It holds them responsible to the
community by requiring the Transportation Demand Analysis, and holds them responsible to
the city transportation plan by providing the checklist of parking solutions. It would be
interesting to see if the City of Bozeman could add Cash in lieu of Parking to such a list.
It is not a stop gap parking plan, such as a Parking Benefit Zone, which simply stretches the
problem out into areas far outside the development site and which makes the public
responsible for parking the excess cars brought to the area by development. It is a design that
considers the developers and the outlying neighborhoods partners with equal responsibility to
work together to create livable city spaces.
I respectfully request that the Parking Commission study the uses of such a Green Code based
on form-based planning. It could help resolve some of the differences between the
community, the developers and the City of Bozeman.
Sincerely,
Linda Semones 404 S Church Ave Bozeman MT 59715 lindasemones@hotmail.com