HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-08-22 Public Comment - M. Egge - New Downtown Parking GarageFrom:Mark Egge
To:Agenda
Subject:New Downtown Parking Garage
Date:Saturday, October 8, 2022 1:45:50 PM
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Commissioners,
I've read recently that the Bozeman City Commission and Gallatin CountyCommission have reached an agreement to build a new parking garage at
the County Courthouse site. While I'm heartened to see any sort of
collaboration between the City and the County, this strikes me as an odd
place for a new parking garage—located two blocks from the currentparking garage that, most of the time, has an abundance of available
parking spaces. (My understanding is that, in its ten years of operation,
the Bridger Garage has only ever been full during a few big downtown
events like the Christmas Stroll).
Moreover, I understand that the new Homebase project just to the north
of the existing garage and County Courthouse will also include a parking
garage with some amount of public (paid) parking. It would be an oddoutcome to me if we had three parking garages all within three blocks of
each other on the northwest side of downtown and nothing on the east
end or south side of Main Street.
I know that there's no perfect location for a new parking structure
downtown, but if we only had the resources to build one, I'm not sure that
right next to the existing garage that usually has hundreds of available
spaces is the most logical location.
The library suggests itself as a good site. True, it's a bit removed from the
busiest areas of downtown—but a new parking garage might be the
catalyst to balance some of downtown's development to the east andsouth (in the same way that the Bridger garage catalyzed development in
its vicinity).
Thank you for your consideration,
Mark Egge
219 E Story St
Bozeman, MT 59715