HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-23-21 Public Comment - K. Filipovich - Mountains Walking 21319From:Karen Filipovich
To:Agenda
Subject:Mountains Walking Zone Change Application 21319
Date:Tuesday, November 23, 2021 11:32:31 AM
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To: Cit of Bozeman, Department of Community Development
ATTN: Diane Tolhurst, PO Box 1230, Bozeman, MT 59771-1230, agenda@bozeman.net
Date: November 23, 2021
RE: Mountains Walking Zone Change Application 21319
As a resident of the Northeast neighborhood and active in NENA, I would like to submit comment on
this application.
Mountains Walking is a fine business, and we are generally welcoming to businesses in this
neighborhood. That said, this proposed spot zoning change is not appropriate for the location.
The Zoning Commission voted 5-1 to oppose the requested zone change. The Planning Commission
voted 3-3, so they did not give it their endorsement either. Changing a zone in an existing
neighborhood requires widespread support and approval from all corners of the neighborhood.
While many of us are sympathetic to the Mountains Walking hopes, one thing we know for sure is
that zoning is much more permanent than any business, so this proposal needs to be evaluated on
the basis of all possible future uses, not just the current proposed project.
I believe it is a terrible precedent to create an “island of spot zoning” on a parcel that is currently
zoned as R-2: “moderate-density residential.”
With that preface, I oppose the proposal to change the zoning from the current M-1 and R-2
designations to B-2M for several specific reasons.
The B-2M zone is not appropriate for this area. The streets around it are designated “collector”
streets, not “arterial corridors” and aren’t designed or appropriate to take on the traffic loading. The
area immediately around the site is also primarily residential and the proposed designation would
turn that on its head to primarily commercial.
The area is not “community commercial” as designated in the land use section of the city’s adopted
community growth policy. Either we take those physical locations and criteria listed in that
document seriously or we don’t. Adopting B-2M zoning on this spot would set a precedent that
would both detract from the goal of a “city of neighborhoods” by switching a small section arbitrarily
from residential to commercial and would suggest that there is something seriously incomplete
about the “community commercial” areas designated. While it is good that there is a process for
fixing mistakes and advocating for changes based on community shifts, the ink has been dry on the
plan for only about a year so it seems unlikely that Bozeman has shifted a lot from that vision.
The area is also not currently served by transit. The Streamline bus currently runs down Rouse and
Tamarack. The closest stop is at E. Peach and Rouse. While that is not an insurmountable distance—
weather permitting—for someone who likes to walk, public transit does not currently run down
Broadway or E. Peach and thus the area is not “served by transit.” By this measure the zone change
also is inappropriate.
A zone change to B-2M will exacerbate the current parking problems at the site. Without public
transit, more parking is almost guaranteed to be needed, but the plan does not offer clear and
specific parking, but rather states. “Additional parking is anticipated to be provided on the subject
property for overflow brewery parking.” The amount of ability to absorb new customers or tenants is
not spelled out and can’t be evaluated. As the MAP brewery parking problems demonstrated,
breweries can have significant overflow parking and the immediate neighborhood in NENA can’t add
other new parking in the surrounding, already built area.
Finally, the zone change to B-2M would provide no buffer between residential and dense
commercial development. It is the property/properties to the south that are of most concern to the
neighborhood. That is the residential neighborhood. There would be no separation between the new
B-2M designation and an entire neighborhood of R-2 to the south: not by street, not by alley This
type of transition, particularly in a zoning island such as the change proposed, would look and act
entirely out of place compared to the adjacent properties.
I respectfully ask that this zoning change request be denied.
Respectfully submitted,
Karen Filipovich
426 N Grand Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59715
Karen Filipovich 426 N Grand Ave. Bozeman, MT 59715