HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-14-22 Public Comment - S. Eagle - Six Range Condominiums^..GEORGE3301 Fairfax DriveUNIVERSITYANTONIN SCALIALAW SCHOOLEJUL 14 2022^J>Arlington, Va. 222J01J (76£^T& BT OF"I COMMUNiTY DEVELOPMENTSteven J. Eagle, Professor Emeritus of Law205 Stillwater Creek Drive | Bozeman, MT 59718M(703) 328-7976 | Ph (406) 219-2564 | seagle@gmu.eduJuly 11, 2022Via email: Ms. Lynn Hyde, Development Review Planner, lhyde@bozeman.netVia U.S. Mail: City ofBozeman Department of Community Development, ATTN: Diane TolhurstPost Office Box 1230, Bozeman, MT 59771-1230Re: Public comment regarding site plan application 21235, "Six Range Condominiums"Dear Ms. Hyde:I hereby submit this public comment with respect to Project Application 21235, "Six Range Con-dominiums," which would encompass "7 buildings, including 183 residential units and one 7,000square-foot commercial building" to be located on 8.6 acres at the southwest comer ofBabcockStreet and Ferguson Avenue.For many years I was a law professor and part-year resident ofBozeman, during which time Ilectured in programs for federal judges. My wife and I developed a deep affinity for the area andmoved here full-time after my retirement. My area of specialization was Property and Land UsePlanning Law. I have written extensively in the areas of property rights and planning. Some ofmy scholarly articles were reprinted in editions of the Zoning and Planning Law Handbook,Planning & Environmental Law, and similar publications. I also have spoken at meetings of theAmerican Planning Association.I am conversant with, and support, the City's goals of providing housing for members of all so-cio-economic groups in our city and restraining gentrification that would force many long-termresidents to move away. Likewise, I understand the ecological and fiscal importance ofprevent-ing sprawl, and that all of this requires the creation of additional housing within the city.In this comment I do not discuss the applicant's assertion that his development group owns orhas legal access to areas necessary for the project that are in fact owned and controlled by CTCondominiums. I understand that CT's attorney, Alanah Griffith, is strongly pressing this point.Nor do I discuss whether the project meets other, objective and technical requirements for ap-proval. Again, I understand that CT Condominiums and others are raising these issues.Allow me to begin with a question: Why do planners in the Department of Community Develop-ment pass upon this application, instead of its being entmsted to the City's engineering staff.They certainly can determine whether the application meets technical stmctural requirements,
such as building heights and structural integrity? For some, it would suffice that approval re-quires only conformance with individual technical design standards.The answer, it seems to me, is that Bozeman is a collection of neighborhood communities, andnot an aggregation of physical measurements. Indeed, this is the premise behind the designationof your agency as "Community Development." The review of technical standards only does notcomport with the City's overall objectives. Bozeman's growth policy is instantiated in the projectdesign standards of the "Unified Development Code" [Bozeman Code of Ordinances, Chap. 38][subsequent statutory references are to Code sections only]. These objectives include "con-sider[ing] the character of the district and its particular suitability for particular uses"[§38.100.040 (B)].In particular, the "Project Design" provision [§38.500.010 et sea.] implements Bozeman'sgrowth policy through "[e]nsur[ing] that new commercial and multi-household development is ofhigh quality and beneficially contributes to Bozeman's character" [§38.500.010 (C)]. Most im-portant for review of the present application, the Code "Ensures that new developments withinexisting neighborhoods are compatible with, and enhance the character ofBozeman 's neighbor-hoods. " [§38.500.010 (D) (emphasis added)].Further supporting the primacy of these fundamental requirements, the Code also provides:"Intheir interpretation and application, the provisions of this chapter are minimum requirementsadopted for the promotion of the health, safety and general welfare of the community. In someinstances the public interest will be best served when such minimums are exceeded."[§38.100.050 (A) (emphasis added)].The existing neighborhood in which the proposed project is to be inserted consists primarily ofsingle-family homes constructed during the past twenty years that are almost exclusively of one-or two-stories of harmonious design, and ofnorth-south or east-west orientation along streetsgenerally forming rectangular grids. To the north of the proposed project is the harmonious Val-ley View West Subdivision, which includes over four miles of walking and hiking trails, severalplaygrounds and sport fields, and the beautiful five-acre Meyers Lake. To the south and west isCT Condominiums, with its private park and trails. The proposed project would consist offour-story apartment buildings that would tower over the existing one- and two-stoty single-familyresidences directly across the narrow Palisade Drive. There are no other four-story residentialbuildings within miles of the neighborhood. Permanent rooftop amenities for residents' recrea-tion would effectively make the structures on Palisade Drive five stories tall. Some of the build-ings would have a diagonal orientation, which is at variance with the need to "orient buildingswith an emphasis on compatible development" and to "recognize the need for a system of streetsand block frontages" [§35.510.010 (A) (2) (3)].While Bozeman does not have a form-based code typical of New Urbanism, such codes resembleBozeman's compatibility requirement for development within existing neighborhoods in thatboth augur for gradual changes in the height and bulk of permissible new buildings. The loomingwall of structures that are proposed simply fails this test.
The goal of increased urban density in West Bozeman is appropriate. However, while it's beensaid that "too much of a good thing is wonderful," in real life, and in Bozeman, it is not. It mightbe that the applicants could refashion their project to achieve most of its goals without loomingover the established residential neighborhood in which it would be located and thus changing itscharacter. They should be encouraged to try to do so.Yours truly,Steven J. EagleProfessor Emeritus of Law