HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-18-21 Public Comment - N. & P. Yorwerth - Bozeman CoHousingFrom:Patricia
To:Susana Montana; Agenda
Subject:Comments on Bozeman Cohousing residential development site plan, application 21096
Date:Monday, October 18, 2021 10:51:14 PM
Attachments:Letter of comment on cohousing development site plan__Oct. 2021.pdf
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.
(Please confirm receipt)
Dear Susana,
We are attaching to this email our comments regarding the Bozeman CoHousing residentialdevelopment site plan, application #21096. Could you please add this letter to the other
comments you have received?
And could you please let us know that you received this letter so we can make surethat it did not go into a spam folder?
We are thanking you in advance for your time and consideration in these timely
matters! We appreciate it.
Kind regards,
Nigel and Patricia Yorwerth
1
City of Bozeman Department of Community Development
ATTN: Susana Montana
121 N Rouse Ave | PO Box 1230
Bozeman, MT 59715
smontana@bozeman.net; agenda@bozeman.net
RE: Comments on Bozeman Cohousing residential development site plan
Dear Director Matsen and Planner Montana,
The comprehensive letter from the Westfield Park Homeowners Association that was
sent to you does a very good job of outlining the concerns that still exist in our
community about aspects of the site plan for the cohousing residential development
along Wagon Wheel Road. We urge you to give serious attention to the comments and
suggestions in that letter, as they come from those who will be most impacted by the
design of the new development.
These concerns are well founded and make sense for any new project that impacts an
existing, long-established neighborhood in the way this new development will.
A great deal of time was spent by our neighborhood in carefully considering these
issues and offering possible solutions in the spirit of welcoming new neighbors as well
as ensuring the safety, character, and value of existing homes in the area.
We know that you have in mind and in heart the best interests of all residents of
Bozeman (not just those who are presenting new plans to the City), and so we are
writing this letter to emphasize the issues that need to be addressed right now, at the
start, and ask you to please take them seriously.
Many residents in this area of Bozeman have lived here for a long time, have worked
hard to maintain their homes and their neighborhoods, and have invested their life
savings to be in family homes in a quiet, residential area. It is only fair that in serving all
residents, city planners understand the impact that their decisions will have on existing
neighborhoods and take action to alleviate those concerns.
As you know, many factors go into maintaining the character and value of a residential
neighborhood, including but not limited to safety, traffic, busyness, noise, and lighting.
We are in concurrence with the letter from the Westfield Park HOA pointing out the
need to deal with issues that involve all the above factors:
Lighting and view from the road and our neighborhood: Please consider requiring
non-mesh carport backing for carports and require that the Concord/Wagon Wheel
streetlight included in the cohousing plan to be dark sky compliant.
Sidewalks and bike lanes: The new cohousing development needs to be properly
connected with the broader public transportation, bike lane, and sidewalk network in the
area—which is not the case in the current plan—instead of relying on the sidewalks
maintained by the Westfield Park subdivision. Since residents of the cohousing
development will be contributing to more foot traffic, they should be required to support
that additional traffic. Likewise, if the City wants to approve a new project, it needs to
2
make sure beforehand that the corresponding infrastructure will be in place to support it
and ensure safety to residents, many of whom are children.
Traffic and parking: This is of special concern to us and to the members of our
community, as the cohousing plan calls for much fewer parking spaces than will
logically be needed—now and into the future—for those who live in the cohousing
development and their guests. Although the proposal for less parking spaces and
alternate forms of transportation may be well-intentioned, please be realistic about this.
Not requiring enough parking spaces at the new development puts an undue and
unnecessary burden on our neighborhood.
The new development should be required to provide their fair share of parking spaces to
prevent parking spillage into the streets of the Westfield Park subdivision. We would like
to see some kind of restriction posted on the streets of our neighborhood so that people
do not park along our streets because the cohousing development does not have
enough parking spaces for their residents and their visitors.
Fieldstone Dr. is of special safety concern because it is so narrow. We have personally
witnessed near accidents when cars have been parked along Fieldstone Dr. and other
cars have been traveling on that street in both directions. There is simply not enough
room along Fieldstone Dr. to safely support more cars parking there. In addition, when
cars are parked along this narrow street, emergency vehicles do not have sufficient
access. Restrictions are needed to limit parking by nonresidents along Fieldstone Dr.
and the other streets in the Westfield Park subdivision.
Wagon Wheel also does not have enough room for parking, and parking on that street
should be prohibited as well. Traffic is steadily growing along Wagon Wheel and will
only continue to do so with the upcoming Blackwood Groves subdivision next to
Sacajawea Middle School and other increased development in South Bozeman. Parking
along Wagon Wheel would create a dangerous situation for vehicles, pedestrians, and
bikers.
Director Matsen and Planner Montana, we want to emphasize again that we are happy
to welcome new neighbors into our area. We only want to be sure that you listen to our
legitimate concerns about the site plan and work with the Westfield Park HOA to resolve
them now—before they become cascading issues of safety, traffic, and lighting that
irreversibly impact surrounding neighborhoods and bring undue burdens upon existing
residents.
We are thanking you in advance and greatly appreciate your time and your
consideration of our neighborhood’s well-founded concerns. We look forward to working
with you to solve these issues.
Nigel and Patricia Yorwerth
410 Fieldstone Dr.
Bozeman, MT 59715