HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-17-22 Public Comment - S. Kleingartner - Public Comment on Paine Project and Palisade Drive UnitsFrom:Sharon Kleingartner
To:Agenda
Subject:Public comment on Paine project and Palisade Drive units
Date:Sunday, July 17, 2022 6:36:36 PM
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These comments are directed toward Item F4 on the agenda for the Community Development
Board meeting on July 18, 2022.
1. City Code Sec. 38.550.050.2a. (subsections 1, 3 and 4) require that parking lots must bescreened from adjacent residences, and that this screening must be continuous.
2. “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.”3. Under either of these definitions, the proposed trees and shrubs on the Six Range landscape
plans (dwg 053), do NOT provide “continuous” screening.4. Additionally, the plants & trees selected will lose their foliage each fall and leave the area
they are to screen completely void for 7-8 months (as Bozeman has a very short summerseason of leaves and flowers). Daylight hours become much shorter beginning in early fall
into latespring when the plants and trees have lost their leaves which will increase the hours of
headlightpollution for CT residences.
5. City Planner Lynn Hyde stated in her comments on the parking lot landscaping (entry #74ofthe Project Flow Sheet) that the parking lot MUST be “be adequately screened, yearround,” and “robust screening is imperative” along the property line between the CT
Condos units and the Six Range parking lot.6. Use of primarily deciduous plants and trees in no way meets this criteria.
7. Consider the purpose of the screening in this development. The rear (southern boundary)of the Six Range parking lot has 81 canopied parking spots directly facing the CT units
approx. 50 feet away. While it is possible that some Six Range residents may choose to backinto their parking spaces, it is far more likely that tired drivers, in winter conditions, willhead into their parking spaces with their headlights facing the CT residences.Some residents currently deal with vehicle lights shining in their windows from traffic turning
onto Babcock from North Ferguson, North Hanley and Kimball Avenue and these streets are farther than 50
feetfrom Palisade residences.
8. Protecting the adjoining CT residences from these harsh intrusions into the tranquility oftheir residences, at all hours of the night, is the primary purpose of the parking lotscreening requirements of the codes.9. Lastly, all of the listed plants produce flowers, blooms or fruit of some kind, in addition to
losing leaves annually. Such growth creates excess maintenance for surrounding areas, including CT Condos, as well as creates opportunities for pests such as nuisance birds, bees,
wasps, ants into an area adjacent to the CT paved pathway. This is a risk to any and all users on the path.
I respectfully suggest TWO other options which would clearly meet all of the elements of“parking lot
screening” that are NOT met by the current Six Range landscaping plan:
1.Solid wall or fence: Either of these provide continuous screening, can be built withmaterials
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 CT Condo community.
2. Earthen berm: Such a berm (between CT Condos and over 150 parking spaces), ifrigorously
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 pleasinglandscape for new Six Range condo owners and CT pathway users.
3. 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').
Concerns in addition to the parking lot screening:
Building C has a rooftop balcony and doesn't appear to have noise abatement on the southern side. How many group events (parties) will there be and how much noise pollution will
CT Palisade residences have to endure? We would respectfully request Paine development include noise abatement on the sides facing CT residences.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sharon and Ed Kleingartner
4247 Palisade DriveBozeman, MT 59718