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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-28-22 Public Comment - L. Barnard - ParkingFrom:Larry Barnard To:Agenda Subject:Parking Date:Tuesday, September 27, 2022 8:04:13 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. Regarding the parking issues to soon be discussed by our Bozeman City Commission. I view the metered parking tactic as a somewhat desperate idea of a solution. The solution isfound in recognizing the problem. Which is the planning history of the downtown area. Any proper analysis, of what was and what is, would reveal that you can't add hotels and midrises abutting the "downtown area" without having consequences. Especially when thoselarge buildings have different and, I would say, unrealistic parking requirements. Do the math! More people means more cars that are looking for a place to park whether day or night. Part of the planning, cookie cutter in nature, assumes people will be walking and bikingdowntown or from the additional housing crammed into that limited space. This is Bozeman and people will not and can not walk and bike for much of the year. Bozeman people, whethernew or long time residents, drive cars. They live here to recreate and that requires cars. An additional parking garage, or two, makes sense. However, the cost of a parking garage must be paid for by the people who have exasperated the situation. NOT THE RESIDENTIALTAX BASE!! The COB will have to get creative and require the developers to pay for their impacts instead of hoping the surrounding property owners will be happy to share that burden.The last parking garage was paid for, largely, by a grant. This might or might not be an option now. Find a way to do this. I, for one, will not vote for additional taxes to pay for those pastmistakes and privileges granted outside developers. You could say NO once in a while. If they can't afford to build and cover the impacts then that will have to be the reality. Whose town isthis, anyway? Good luck, Larry Barnard Bozeman, Mt.