HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-07-22 Public Comment - M. Herring - Lamme zoning change, Project 21356From:herrboz@aol.com
To:Agenda
Subject:Lamme zoning change, Project 21356
Date:Monday, February 7, 2022 7:45:10 PM
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Mike Herring
313 N Grand
I am writing to oppose the changing of this parcel from R4 to B3 zoning.
When those of us who live in the neighborhood purchased our homes, we assumed that zoning was set,
and that it would not be changed without some compelling reason. We need that stability.
This zoning change is being requested to suit the developer. We have seen this before, when the city
commission voted to change a nearby parking lot to B3, so that a different developer could advance a
different megaproject.
I assume that this will be passed, the oft-stated goal being the prevention of sprawl. I am as opposed to
sprawl as anyone. But this idea that building up in the downtown core will somehow prevent sprawl is at
best an experiment. People who have always lived in a home with a yard (which I suspect includes most
transplants to Bozeman) will want to buy a house with a yard, even if expensive downtown condos
(nearby condos start at $900k!) are available. Many of the people that do buy these downtown condos
will, I suspect, be investors (who will use them for VRBOs) or people who will live here part-time. People
who do not want to live in a high-rise will continue to drive the demand for new home construction
elsewhere in the valley. (I have been informed, and I note in passing, that 80% of the city commission live
in single-family homes.)
So: I am confident that sprawl will continue to happen, and that time will prove this.
Meanwhile, more high-rises downtown mean more noise, more cars/less parking, more foot traffic in our
once-quiet neighborhood.
The only things that will come from this zoning change will be that the developer will be a little richer, that
our quiet neighborhood will be changed forever, and that those of us who live here will lose even more
faith that our voices are heard by decision-makers.
I feel that downtown neighbors, particularly those on the north side, are having their neighborhoods
sacrificed for a big social experiment that is destined to fail. Sprawl will continue to happen AND our
neighborhoods will be irreparably harmed.