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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-16-22 Public Comment - E. Mason - Legal Number of Tenants in a HouseFrom:Emily Mason To:Cyndy Andrus; Terry Cunningham; I-Ho Pomeroy; Jennifer Madgic; Christopher Coburn; Jeff Mihelich Cc:Agenda Subject:Legal Number of Tenants in a House Date:Tuesday, August 16, 2022 9:12:13 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. Dear City Commissioners, While I'm sympathetic to the housing crisis, I am also concerned about the livability of my neighborhood. And your job, as far as I know, is to serve your constituents/tax payers and ensure our city remains livable. Allowing landlords and property managers to pack houses full of college students and recent college grads very much works against working families. A landlord can charge over $600 per person (and this amount is often a lot more) living in a 4 bedroom home yielding over $4800/month. Why then would a landlord rent to a working family who can't even afford half that amount? In my neighborhood, Figgins Addition, there are four houses on the same street that are packed with 19-22 year olds - three of which have been purchased by out of state parents of MSU students (all from Colorado who paid cash for houses that sold between $850K and $970K - so these are rich kids living with all their buddies in a house purchased by a parent!). Street parking has become a real problem. There are anywhere from 8-10 cars in front of each house on a given day. This street leads to an elementary school which makes it very dangerous for kids to safely get to and from school with so many young adults speeding through our neighborhood and the sheer number of cars make visibility a real problem. I've tried contacting various offices and individuals in city government about putting in a 4-way stop at Arnold and Westridge and a defined crosswalk at 3rd and Westridge but I've been told that either the city streets department doesn't have enough paint (?!) to make any more crosswalks or that the city has too many of requests to help existing neighborhoods make their streets safer from increased traffic due to the explosive growth so, sorry, we can't help you. Seriously? These are totally absurd answers and all of you should feel somewhat ashamed (especially the city manager) that there isn't enough paint for a crosswalk?! Why the City continues to approve developments when it can't maintain existing neighborhoods is beyond me (yes, it's time to pump the breaks). Beyond parking, trash cans in these packed homes are overflowing creating not just an eyesore but a risk to bears and other wildlife. Parties occur at all times of day and night. We've called the police countless times, emailed the landlord and property management company multiple times. With all this said, there should absolutely be a legal number of tenants in a neighborhood that is primarily intended for single family homes. The houses in my neighborhood typically have no more than 4 bedrooms. All the homes were built in the late 70s-early 80s for modest income folks (we are surrounded by more upscale neighborhoods). Our neighborhood is home to an elementary school, a small park with a playground, and a middle school a half mile away. This is not a great neighborhood to pack houses full of college students as there are a lot of young children living here. I’m fine with college renters - in fact I love having responsible and respectful young adults around - it’s the houses that have too many young adults living in them that are the problem. Please do your job and keep Bozeman livable. Limit the number of people that can live in a home so we can keep our neighborhoods livable and family-friendly. This is clearly an issue that MSU leadership is trying to shirk responsibility from (and place onto you) - they want high enrollment numbers but don't want to pay for more student housing so they make neighborhoods and property-tax payers deal with the consequences of their inaction. This is clearly not a viable or sustainable solution. Please keep family neighborhoods family-friendly and limit the number of people who can legally live in a house. Thank you for your time, Emily K. Mason2703 Westridge Dr.