HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-27-22 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Fowler Ave Connection Project for Transportation Advisory Board and City CommissionersFrom:Zehra Osman
To:Agenda
Subject:Public Comment for Fowler Ave Connection Project for Transportation Advisory Board and City Commissioners
Date:Wednesday, July 27, 2022 11:41:42 AM
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Honorable Transportation Advisory Board members and Bozeman City Commissioners,
I bring to your attention a flawed, confusing, and truncated public engagement process utilized in the Fowler Avenue Connection project.
At the very end of this document, I offer a promising and exciting result of this public participation process.
1. Insufficient Review Period of Fowler Staff Report Recommendations: The Fowler Staff Report was released only 2 days
before the 07/27/22 Transportation Advisory Board meeting. Prior to this release, Bozeman citizens had no access to (a) the
environmental review findings, (b) community engagement findings, and (c) recommendations. This was the first time citizens
had the opportunity to review the findings. Two days before the TAB meeting is not sufficient time to review and comment on
these recommendations.
2. Flaws in Community Engagement, Page 3 of Fowler Staff Report:
a. Meeting Notifications: The new “Engage Bozeman” framework assures the public that if they register, they will be
notified of upcoming meetings, however important stakeholders were not made aware of or invited to eight focus group
meetings. There was no notification made through the Engage Bozeman. What process did the city utilize in
determining who was invited to these focus group meetings? Why was this not made more transparent?
b. Recording of Public Comments during Field Trips: I attended Field Trip #3. The summary notes in Engage Bozeman
that documented the discussion that took place during this field trip are not correct/accurate — it’s as if the summary
was from another meeting. In fact, I asked during this meeting if someone was going to record the public comments
since I didn’t see anyone writing down our comments. No one did. There were more city employees and consultants at
this meeting than members of the public. Although it started out as a facilitated group discussion, city staff and
consultants walked and talked amongst themselves during the second half and it was as if we, the public, were crashing
one of their staff meetings. At one point we had to wait for them to finish talking amongst themselves about a certain
design issue at the Oak/Davis roundabout and then plead that they allow us to provide public comment. Either way, no
one appeared to be writing down comments. The comments reflected in the field trip summary does not reflect what
was said.
c. No Notification of Public Comment Time Frame: There was never any deadline noted anywhere on Engage Bozeman
or the survey.
d. Recording of Public Comments During The Open Houses: No Fowler staff members wrote down any public comments
made during the open houses, Instead, citizens were asked to use the Survey to provide public comments. Sanderson
Stewart expressed that the only way to submit comments outside of the “Survey” was to put them in a box at the end of
the survey form.
e. Truncated Public Comment period: Since we were told to use the Survey as the means to provide public comment, we
asked Sanderson Stewart when the deadline would be to submit our Survey comments. They (names provided upon
request) told us that we had until July 21 to complete the survey and to add comments to the survey on the Engage
Bozeman site. However, the survey and Engage Bozeman page was abruptly and unexpectedly closed on July 15.
When I notified city staff that we were all surprised that the comment period closed, they indicated that this decision
was made in order to allow Sanderson Stewart enough time to summarize the “data” before the Transportation
Advisory Board (TAB) meeting. When I expressed that we hadn’t yet had a chance to submit comments, this city staff
member (name provided upon request) asked how many citizens were affected by this truncated comment period. It so
happens that many people had not yet finished and submitted their surveys, however, the indiscriminate truncation of
the public comment period is what is in question here, not how many people were left out. Please note that it is very
important that the public has a clear understanding of the dates for public comment periods.
f. The “Survey:” The survey forced people to rank options in order of preference (see photo). From this survey, the
Fowler Staff extracted “data” that is discussed on page 3 of the Fowler Staff Report. Please look into this dubious
“data.” Even if one did not like any of the choices, one was forced to rank these limited choices against each other.
This creates a distorted result that does not reflect public preference. It’s like asking people to rank eating worms,
beetles, flies, or centipedes in order of preference and then reporting back that 80% of the public prefer to eat beetles.
Consider this when you read this “data.” It is a misrepresentation that a “majority of people support boulevard and
medians for planting, snow storage, and traffic calming” when the only choice given on the survey was to rank options
that all contained medians. When I read all the public comments on the city’s website and all the Stories on Engage
Bozeman, it is evident that the majority of citizens prefer limiting the proposed facility width in order to save existing
trees.
g. Also, City of Bozeman, please stop using these surveys as a means of public input.
3. Environmental Review: Page 4 of the recent “Fowler Staff Report” states that the environmental process followed the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). Actually, NEPA requires a formal public review process, even if Categorical Exclusion
processes are utilized. Which Categorical Exclusion was selected? Where on Engage Bozeman were the findings of the
environmental review posted?
4. Insufficient Details in Fowler Staff Report Recommendations: Not only were these recommendations released at the last
minute before the TAB meeting, they do not provide enough details and description for the public citizens to understand the
proposal. For example, on page 2 there are 6 conditions listed. Condition #2 says, “turn lanes as needed.” What does that mean?
We’ve never seen this before. Does that mean the road pavement would be wide enough to accommodate turn lanes in the
future? Does it mean the pavement would be wide, but striped to not have turn lanes except in certain situations?
5. Inadequate Analysis in Fowler Staff Report Recommendations: It does not make sense that the city would choose to build
out Fowler Avenue Connection to mitigate overburdening adjacent collectors (Ferguson) and arterials (19th Ave). Why would
the city want to bleed off traffic from 19th Ave onto and through existing public trails, open space, and neighborhoods. Is this
purpose and need important enough to send semi trucks rumbling only a few feet from bedroom windows and alongside
pathways used by children going to school? We keep hearing that this will take traffic off of neighborhood streets like New
Holland, Yellowstone, and Meagher. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to install speed bumps and stop signs on those streets to discourage
short cuts and encourage drivers to use Ferguson, which is only 0.5 miles away from Fowler?
An Exciting Outcome of this Fowler Ave Connection (FAC) Project Public Process
Many citizens from all over Bozeman have written comments on agenda@bozeman.net. So this is no longer a “NIMBY” issue.
Overwhelmingly, citizens from all over Bozeman are advocating for a transportation facility on Fowler that carries bikes and pedestrians
only. What an exciting turn of events! A linear trail or greenway that connects west side neighborhoods to destinations such as the post
office, schools, grocery stores, the regional park, the Bozeman ponds, the mall, etc. would be a very positive and historical outcome of
this FAC project process! The Transportation Advisory Board would be heroes in the eyes of the all of Bozeman if they take this
opportunity to turn this transportation project into a greenway that all of Bozeman can be proud of. A greenway allows people who can’t
afford cars to travel safely. It also brings us closer to to our goals of reducing fossil fuel emissions. Greenways like this exist all over the
world, in Missoula. This could eventually connect to the trail system on the east of 19th avenue. Here is information about a greenway in
Minnesota, which has a cool video to feed your imaginations https://midtowngreenway.org/about-the-greenway/overview/ . A car-free
transportation facility on Fowler could be a game changer for Bozeman. Please allow the west side of Bozeman be more than a sea of
houses bisected by roads and traffic.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Zehra Osman
Sanders Ave, Bozeman 59718