HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-17-22 Public Comment - M & J Jacobson - Action Item F.4 7-18-2022 Community Development Board MeetingFrom:jakefour@comcast.net
To:Agenda
Cc:"Julie Home"
Subject:Action Item F.4 - 7/18/2022 Community Development Board Meeting
Date:Sunday, July 17, 2022 2:57:12 PM
Attachments:CT owner Public Comments on Six Range parking lot screening.docx
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 find attached for your consideration at the 7/18/2022 Community Development Board
Meeting our written comments regarding Action Item F.4, The Six Range Project.
Thank you for your consideration.
Best Regards
Mark and Julie Jacobson
4259 Palisade Drive
Bozeman, MT 59718
Cottonwood Condominiums
To the Bozeman Community Development Board
We respectfully submit these comments regarding agenda item F. 4 for your July 18, 2022 meeting. It is
a proposed multi-household condominium, commercial and mixed-use development off Ferguson and
Babcock. (Six Range)
We own a Cottonwood condominium on Palisade Drive which is adjacent to the development proposed.
Our comments are related to the screen proposed between the development and Cottonwood condos.
City Code Sec. 38.550.050.2a. (subsections 1, 3 and 4) require that parking lots must be screened from
adjacent residences, and that this screening must be continuous. “Continuous” is defined by
dictionaries as “marked by uninterrupted extension in space, time, or sequence” or “characterized by
continuity; extending in space without interruption of substance; having no interstices or breaks;
connected, unbroken.” Under either of these definitions, the proposed trees and shrubs on the Six
Range landscape plans (dwg 053), do not provide “continuous” screening.
City Planner Lynn Hyde stated in her comments on the parking lot landscaping (entry #74 of the Project
Flow Sheet) that the parking lot must be “be adequately screened, year round,” and “robust screening
is imperative” along the property line between the Cottonwood condos units and the Six Range parking
lot. The plants & trees selected by the developer do not retain foliage continuously and therefore do
not meet the criteria. With Bozeman’s short growing season, these plants and trees would also take
years to provide a screen during the months they have foliage.
The southern boundary of the Six Range parking lot has 81 canopied parking spots directly facing the
Cottonwood condo units which are approximately 50 feet away. Without an appropriate screen,
headlights from cars, SUVs and trucks parking and moving around the Six Range development would
likely come into our condo and others in the Cottonwood development.
We respectfully suggest two options for your consideration which would meet the elements of “parking
lot screening” that would meet code:
1. Solid wall or fence: Either of these provide continuous screening, can be built with materials
complimentary to the overall Six Range West Condo Scandinavian design, provide a low-
maintenance non-transparent screen between properties, and assist in preventing light and
noise pollution and trespass into the adjacent homes in the Cottonwood condo community.
2. Earthen berm: Such a berm (between Cottonwood condos and over 150 parking spaces), if
rigorously designed to create a continuous screening using soil, evergreen plantings and rock
accents, will not only provide screening from vehicle lights, but will also provide an aesthetically
pleasing landscape for new Six Range condo owners and Cottonwood condos pathway users.
Regardless of which screening solution is selected, it should be no less than 60” high to provide
complete screening from headlights of an average pickup, or an average SUV, which is 45” to its
headlights. These heights fall within allowed heights for fences (maximum 6’).
In advance, thank you for considering our comments.
Mark and Julie Jacobson
4259 Palisade Drive
Bozeman MT 59718
&
3843 West 98th Avenue
Westminster CO 80031