HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-17-23 Public Comment - C. Roberts - Shady Glen Major Development Project Application 22294 Comment LetterFrom:christine roberts
To:Agenda
Subject:Shady Glen Major Development Project Application 22294 Comment Letter
Date:Friday, March 17, 2023 7:00:39 PM
Attachments:Shady Glen Comment Letter 3_17_2023.pdf
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.
Please accept the following attached comment letter on the Shady Glen Major SubdivisionApplication,
Thank you,
Christine Roberts
March 17, 2023
Subject: Comment Letter on Proposed Shady Glen Major Subdivision, Application 22294
Dear Commissioners:
I am writing to request the Bozeman City Commissioners to vote against the Shady Glen Major
Subdivision. As noted in the Bozeman Chronicle, this is the same flawed project submitted to the
Bozeman City Commission in 2021. No substantive modifications have been made to address the
commissioner’s concerns—the only changes are requests by the applicant to be excused from meeting
municipal code requirements.
Although several issues, such as the isolation of the area relative to access, are major points of
opposition to the proposal, this letter focuses on the “relaxation” request for siting residences within
the established watercourse boundaries. The Bozeman municipal code addresses watercourses in
Section Sec. 38.410.100. - Watercourse setback, and provides for two separate zones, (Zone 1 and 2),
with differing and limited activities allowable in each.
It is important to note that the municipal code for watercourses is outdated and has not kept pace with
relevant wetlands and waters of the state/U.S regulations.
The city code provisions were last updates for activities after 2002—more than 20 years ago and before
greater urban pressures occurred near sensitive watercourses and long before development was
envisioned and planned in this area of Bozeman. The code currently addresses areas only 50 feet from
the ordinary high water mark—a buffer distance inadequate for protecting resources at risk, including
wetlands, bank stability, and avoiding floodwater flows.
These code provisions will likely be updated as part of the City’s UDC revisions to reflect more accurately
the areas needing protection in wetland and waterways where development is proposed. Water courses
in this area, including Bridger Creek, have experienced significant erosion and bank destabilization as a
result of construction near sensitive waterways and increased human use in the area.
As a nearby resident of Legends II, we have some lessons learned to share about development adjacent
to watercourses. Unpaved pedestrian and bike trails were constructed within the watercourse
boundaries, and these seemingly innocuous trails turn into major flood flow drainages in the spring,
further eroding the creek bank and compacting soils resulting in loss of riparian vegetation and bank
destabilization. Even when construction occurs just outside watercourse boundaries, these same high
flow periods result in waters extending well into the watercourse and flood plains where homes have
been constructed resulting in the destruction of trees by beavers for dam building and resultant costs to
HOAs for managing beaver removal.
Residents who purchase Shady Glen homes will likely believe their investments in homes met a
threshold of adequate review for resource constraints, but that will not be the case. In addition to
saddling potential homeowners with possible flooding and flood damage liabilities, building in these
sensitive areas is inadvisable because the regulations themselves do not establish watercourse
boundaries that are realistic to protect both the watercourse and local residents’ properties.
As mentioned above, the current watercourse setback distances are outdated and should be reviewed
at some future time as part of the UDC update. Approving a project based on relaxing these out-of-date
code measures is unwise for both potential liabilities to future homeowners and to the protection of
our sensitive watercourse resources.
Thank you for considering my comment.
Christine Roberts
1470 Boylan Road
Bozeman MT 59715