HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-20-23 Public Comment - T. Murphy - Shady Glen 22293From:thomas murphy
To:Agenda
Subject:Shady Glen 22293
Date:Monday, March 20, 2023 6:32:51 PM
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March 20, 2023 Re: Shady Glen PUD/Prelim Plat 22293
Dear Bozeman City Commissioners,
Why should the Shady Glen Neighborhood be approved? Shady Glen will provide infill housing.
Benefits of infill:
1. Community leaders love urban infill because it means less strain on the community’sfinances. More people living in the heart of the community means that less money
needs to be spent on everything from creating roads, providing police protection, andutility services. Having people living in the city also means that the city will bring in
more annual tax income.2. Urban infill provides housing in areas that are close to local amenities. Being located
close to things like grocery stores, schools, doctors, and work reduces the cost of livingfor people who move into these newly filled lots. A bonus is that urban infill means a
higher population and encourages cities to create more city resources, such as publictransportation.
3. Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve regional air quality by reducing thedistance people need to travel.
4. Decreases sprawl.5. Facilitate healthy and environmentally friendly active transportation.
6. Increases connectivity.7. Less impact on traffic.
8. Bring vibrancy, community, and social connection to neighborhoods.9. Strengthens existing neighborhoods.
10. Help neighborhood property values appreciate, to the benefit of all residents in thearea.
Shady Glen provides affordable homes. *
Shady Glen will be one of the first neighborhoods in Bozeman to voluntarily provide
affordable homes, with 12.5% of the homes in the neighborhood being affordable.
Benefits of affordable homes:
1. Studies have shown affordable housing uplifts residents, encourages social connection,
reduces overcrowding, increases adjacent property values, attracts businesses, and jobs,
and lowers crime rates.
2. Heightens well-being of children.
3. Better school performance in children.
4. Children participate more in activities.
5. Improved mental health.
6. Better health overall.
7. Financial stability.
8. Neighborhood diversity
*ADU’s are allowed in R-1 and can provide additional affordable options in Shady
Glen.Shady Glen Increases Public Safety.
1. By providing emergency access to Commercial Drive, Shady Glen provides a much-
needed secondary access to Bridger Center Commercial Park, as well as a secondary
and emergency access to Shady Glen, the Links, and Bridger Creek. The emergency
access can also be used, if needed, for rerouting traffic from Bridger Drive/Rouse.
2. The emergency access provides a construction entrance to Shady Glen.
3. Will provide fire hydrants behind adjacent homes in Village Greens and adjacent to the
wildlife preserve, increasing safety in both areas.
4. Shady Glen Lane meets and exceeds the International Fire Code regulations in
terms of length and the size of the ball of the cul-de-sac.*
5. Shady Glen increases the flood plain capacity of the site and removes the old railroad
bed that obstructs the free flow of water in the flood plain.
6. All Shady Glen homesites sit well above the required 100-year floodplain level.
7. The development of Shady Glen is downstream of the water table from Village Greens
and will not affect their existing water problems. (An existing French drain lies between
Village Greens and Shady Glen as well)
8. Shady Glen homes are prohibited from having basements, so the high-water table is not
an issue within the neighborhood.
9. One last note, many city planners no longer look at cul-de-sacs as desirable. The main
reason for this is economic. Increasing right of way after the fact is extremely
expensive. Grid patterns diffuse the traffic from the main thoroughfares, which can
lessen the need for increased ROW. However, cul-de-sacs remain the preferred design
element for restricted access parcels such as ours.
10. Buyers still prefer to live on cul-de-sacs because they feel they are quieter and safer for
kids.
* Shady Glen cul-de-sac could be determined to be a “half cul-de-sac” as it contains only homes on one side of the street after the emergency access. Shady Glen protects the existing natural environment by creating a 7.13-acre WildlifePreserve.
Benefits of the wildlife preserve:
1. Permanently provides a secure habitat for the abundant wildlife of the area.
2. Gives the animals and birds a refuge from dogs and humans that frequent the adjacent
Glen Lakes Rotary Club Park
3. Protects the wetlands and canopy forest from human intrusion.
4. Provides an area for approved educational activities, photography, and environmental
studies.
5. Lessens possibility of unauthorized camping and fires.
Shady Glen protects and enhances wetlands. In designing this neighborhood, we had two choices pertaining to wetlands:
1. Purchase mitigation credits from the Upper Missouri Mitigation Bank and bulldoze theexisting wetlands, moving them to Ruby Valley or somewhere else in the state, or try todesign the project to keep these important wetlands in Bozeman and enhance them.Our wetland expert Lynn Bacon and I chose the latter route, with the knowledge that itwould be necessary to ask for and receive, what we felt was relative to moving wetlandselsewhere, a very minor relaxation, a reduction of the 50 ft. wetland buffer.
2. We still feel strongly that a 15 ft. reduction of the wetland buffer to 35 ft. is a smallcompromise for keeping wetlands in Bozeman.
3. Because of the removal of the existing railroad bed and the seeding of the lowered bedwith biodiverse, regenerative planting that provides more and healthier wetlands thanexist currently-even with the set-back relaxations.
4. We will grade lots to the street to avoid runoff into the wetland.
5. Fencing and the reduced runoff to the wetlands balances the reduced wetland buffer.
6. Several of the adjacent wetlands affected are nothing more than an artificial pond builtby the previous owner and likely borrow pits in the previous hay field to make the trails.
Shady Glen internal open spaces provide new and unique amenities.
1. Shady Glen will protect the existing Aspen Grove as open space.
2. Shady Glen will provide a bird blind for observing the abundant waterfowl.
3. Shady Glen will provide a playground and picnic area.
Shady Glen Increases Connectivity
1. Makes the final pedestrian connection between Glen Lakes Rotary Club Park, Shady
Glen, Links, Village Greens, and Bridger Creek with Bridger Commercial Center
(Coffee shop, bike shop, grocery, and rehab facility) and Story Mill Park increasing
walkability.
2. Shady Glen integrates the hike/bike trail with the bird blind, playground and picnic
areas and open space within Shady Glen itself.
Shady Glen has achieved 108 PUD Performance Points.
The highest total ever reached by far, for a PUD in the history of Bozeman! PUD PerformancePoints exist to incentivize developers to include design features that the city of Bozeman has
indicated, it wants to promote. Thus, this extremely high total clearly indicates that the overallShady Glen Development’s innovative design is superior to that offered by the basicexisting zoning standards. In conclusion In my assessment, many public comments submitted to the commission against this projectconcern public safety, runoff mitigation strategies, and wetlands protection.
We have designed our project from the beginning to the specifications of the BozemanMunicipal Code. We have vetted and refined this design for public safety with the review andassistance of Bozeman Planning, Engineering, and the City’s Public Safety Officials anddesigned our cul-de-sac to the International Fire code standards, both in terms of length andsize of the ball of the cul-de-sac. We have repeatedly received full support including approvalsfrom the Army Corp of Engineers and FEMA.
In designing, this neighborhood, we had two choices pertaining to wetlands: purchasemitigation credits from the Upper Missouri Mitigation Bank and bulldoze the existingwetlands, moving them to Ruby Valley or somewhere else in the state, or try to design theproject to try to keep those existing wetlands in Bozeman and enhance them. Our wetlandexpert Lynn Bacon and I chose the latter route. This plan replaces the old railroad bed with abiodiverse, regenerative planting that provides more and healthier wetlands than existcurrently- even with the setback relaxations.
Everyone we have worked with in the city have been professional experts that care about ourcity and are diligent about the quality of their work. We are extremely grateful for their adviceand assistance. We cannot speak highly enough about them. Lance Lehigh and Lynn Hydewere extraordinary. Our City Commission should be extremely grateful for their tirelessservice.
I am certain that once built Shady Glen will be a valuable addition to Bozeman’s establishedneighborhoods, especially because of the proximity to existing amenities, recreation, parks,and local services. This neighborhood’s new connectivity will considerably benefit the publicsafety for all residents and workers nearby.
My hope is that you on the city commission will:
Recognize the diligence we’ve given to ensure major public concerns are addressed.
See the benefits that our Shady Glen neighborhood provides.
Find that these benefits outweigh the minor relaxations requested, and
Approve it unanimously.
Sincerely,
Thomas Murphy
185 Endurance Lane
Bozeman, Mt 59715