HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-24-22 Public Comment - L. Barnard - Planning consequencesFrom:Larry Barnard
To:Agenda; agenda@city.net
Subject:Planning consequences
Date:Thursday, March 24, 2022 7:51:12 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.
Members of the commission, first, thank you for your civic service.
My topic here is regarding what the unintended consequences are of some of the planningdecisions made in Bozeman which are effectively enacted as law by the city commission. Case
in point, North Willson Avenue. When the mobile home court was bought out and ourplanning people endorsed squeezing 16 townhomes onto the same space there was some
discussion about a potential traffic challenge on North Willson once that development came tofruition, which now has. One consideration was to eliminate the "boulevard" along the west
side of the street to provide a more practical street dimension for the sake of addressing trafficon North Willson. That design did not happen.
Planning allows those homes to count street parking as part of their obligation to provideparking. With the growth in Bozeman, particularly nearby, traffic and parking are a
major concern. As a consequence of the decisions made about North Willson, that avenue hasbecome, effectively, a one-way street. Particularly in the snow months, which are many in
Bozeman. And, as a consequence of that short sightedness, people avoid North Willson andchoose the next street over. Even the big construction vehicles use North Grand to get north or
south. More noise and more congestion and more danger on an even narrower route. At thesame time, the uncontrolled intersection of Grand and Short lacks any stop or yield signage
and has insufficient parking setbacks. And, of course, there is no stepped up trafficenforcement.
The next 5 year of development on the north side of Bozeman are going to be brutal for ourneighborhoods. What is the plan? Just south of us a large percentage of the streets and
sidewalks are already closed and we can only look forward to years more of this. I ask you,why is the discussion about planning and development always about the developers and their
needs? I can safely say that the commission never hears what the neighbors have to say. Atleast, they never consider what we have to say. Maybe we can't legally stop the development
but the consequences of those developments impact people for many blocks around and needto be considered and acknowledged and addressed.
I don't really expect to hear back from anyone. I never have. You may pass this letter around ifyou think it has any worth. And maybe we will see the impacts that I have brought up will be
addressed in the future. That is my hope.Larry Barnard
439 North Grand