HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-30-21 Public Comment - T. Minge - The IvesFrom:Tammy Minge
To:Agenda
Subject:Ives-Application #21165
Date:Thursday, September 30, 2021 12:18:24 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
I have reviewed the Application for the Ives due to its direct proximity to a project/property
we recently worked on that will be built this year. Having just completed an applicationmyself, I am familiar with the neighborhood and have done a streetscape looking at massing
and material usage on the entire S. Grand Block that is on the opposite side of the alley to theproposed Ives building. I would like to make the following points that I believe would make
this a better fit for the neighborhood.
The alley between Willson and Grand is the line of the transition from Traditional Core
to Urban Neighborhood on the Community Plan Future Land Use Map. Though the Ivesblock is located in a B-3 zoning district and is classified as Traditional Core on this
map, the alley behind it is the line where it goes back to residential-UrbanNeighborhood. Special consideration should be taken at these transition lines. Though
taller buildings and more density is the intended future use of this location and thereforelarger buildings may be appropriate, a 38' tall brick wall of 2-3 stories of parking with
no articulation is not a friendly transition to the neighbors. Other than insets for garbagecollection and other services there appear to be no windows or material changes. No
ground level experience for the pedestrians walking the alley or for the surroundingneighbors. My point would be higher density in this location fine, but not to
inappropriate scale to the current and future context. This is not the "missing middle" housing. Missing middle housing are more affordable
apartment buildings, single-family homes on smaller lots, duplexes/triplexes,townhomes, ADU's and group housing. Putting in more high end units which require the
three stories of parking which in turn makes the alley side of the project unfriendly tothe neighborhood is not making this project "more affordable". These units do not
typically rent to locals and are out of reach to most local people with average incomes.A project like this would make more sense if it was in some way addressing affordable
housing. Also, fine to do high end housing, but not to the detriment of the neighborhoodby creating giant walls to accommodate the parking. Less units equals less parking and
more opportunity to create a pedestrian scale on the alley and house side of this project.If they are more expensive, well they were expensive anyway and at least it fits in better
with the context. The Block M project is a good example. Same developer, muchdifferent pedestrian experience.
There is no streetscape drawing provided in the drawings available to the public. Only3-d aerials that distort and don't even show the houses on the block next to it or the
transition from the Ives across the alley to the houses behind it. Single family residentialNCOA applications require a streetscape. We had some push back about adding a 2-
story addition to the back of the existing house with the massing of the neighbors on thesame block as this proposed project. We also had to do an extensive study of other
projects in the neighborhood that used vertical wood siding since there were none on theblock we were on. It seems that single family residential within the NCOD are held to a
different standard than these larger mid-rise projects. A project of this scale using anentire block should require a streetscape that crosses the street on each end showing the
larger context. It should have a streetscape drawing not just on the primary facade, buton the other two sides as well.
There is no showing of a map within 200' or 500' showing the zoning and CommunityPlan Future Land Use Map. Again, this distorts the context of this project compared to
the neighborhood for both current time and the future.The NCOD and Bozeman Community Plan Goal N-4: “Continue to encourage
Bozeman’s sense of place" both talk about this. Our alleys are one of Bozeman's bestexamples of a sense of place. Pedestrians often walk through the alleys in our
community because they are rich and interesting places. Our downtown alleys arevibrant and interesting. They are not giant walls with no articulation. That is how we get
to "anywhere USA". Let's keep this in mind with our larger infill buildings.
In summary, this applicant could and should do a much better job of creating architectural
elements with human scale and relatability on the alley & house sides of this project as anexample of how transition edges between community usage types could contribute to
Bozeman's sense of place.
Thank you for your time and consideration
Regards, Tammy Minge
-- Tammy Minge
Licensed Architect/Master Certified Green ProfessionalFrog Rock Design, LLP
P.O. Box 6216Bozeman, MT 59771
406.581.0527