HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-17-23 Public Comment - L. Semones - attention City Commission, Community Development Board, Code StudioFrom:Linda Semones
To:Agenda
Subject:attention City Commission, Community Development Board, Code Studio
Date:Friday, March 17, 2023 10:12:24 AM
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Dear Members of the Community Development Board and the City Commission,
I am writing to comment on the proposed Zone Edge Transition options presented to you by
the UDC update consultant group, Code Studio. I am writing to you as a private citizen, and
not as a member of a city board. First of all, I want to emphasize that this group has made
an overwhelming and successful effort to gather public input. I have listened to their
presentations to the City Commission (February 14) and the Community Development Board
(February 27) as well as their presentation to the Inter Neighborhood Council (March 9) and
the Code Connect zoom meeting (March 8). In each meeting the Code Studio
representatives patiently answered every question, with thorough and thoughtful
details. They made each participant feel that they were listening, and that the varied
opinions expressed were valuable. I want to thank them for their work, which has surely
consumed hours.
During the City Commission meeting of February 14, the Commission members asked many
pointed questions. However, the general trend of their concerns were based on their
priority that construction cover a lot from edge to edge, to enable maximum infill and
maximum buildable profit for developers. This of course is a needed focus to promote new
housing starts in the city. There is no doubt that this chosen priority, to provide housing,
should be at the top of the list for general development.
However, during the meeting of February 27, the Community Development Board took a
somewhat different approach. The members acknowledged the community housing
concern. But they also emphasized FOR TRANSITION AREAS neighborhood character,
sustainability, walkability and livability. Various members discussed the need for designs
that maximized the sharing of sunlight between the zone edge districts, and the need for
designs that would allow air to circulate best in the area. They also discussed how the
planting of native foliage could benefit insects, wildlife, and people by providing shade and
food.
The Bozeman Community Plan has seven themes. One of the top among them is that
Bozeman is a city of unique neighborhoods. Within that theme, you can read that the
community goal is to promote a diverse supply of quality housing units, but also to continue
to encourage Bozeman’s sense of place. This sense of place is defined by the unique
character of each neighborhood, whether it be downtown, on the west side, or anywhere in-
between.
As is appropriate in certain development situations, city staff has prioritized the creation of
quality housing over the promotion of neighborhood character. But in this particular UDC
update, zone edge transitions, the city has the unique opportunity to recognize their
expressed theme of neighborhood character. The city also has the chance to prioritize
environmental sustainability. The zone edges that will be the scene of future conflict during
development are not huge swathes of city land. They are small, mostly lot sized or even half
lot sized areas where, for example, an R2 neighborhood of small bungalows and turn of the
last century homes abuts an area zoned B3. This is where well-designed transitions can
make a huge difference, by lessening the conflict between landowners and developers, by
moderating height, maximizing sunlight, and by creating plantings as buffers. These small
fringes where land uses collide is precisely where the city can best prioritize neighborhood
character and environmental sustainability without sacrificing quality housing. In fact, good
zone edge transitions can promote affordable housing by helping maintain the existing
housing, which is always more affordable than new construction according to Code Connect.
I live in the Bogert Park neighborhood. The area which I can foresee as becoming a zipper
line of conflict without the UDC provision of good transitions is the area along East Olive
Street, where mid-block, with no street or alley transition, the zoning changes from R2 (soon
to be RA) to B3. There is a huge discrepancy between uses in the 2 zones, and between
height in the 2 zones. Not only is there this huge change in zoning, but also, across the
street from the simple bungalows on the south side of East Olive is the Lindley Historic
District. A really good zone edge transition plan would not only ease the conflict to come in
the neighborhood, but it would also help preserve some unique historical city resources that
are providing housing for families. The homes in this historic district are not mansions. They
are small homes on small lots of working-class people, and to this day they house working
class people, either as rentals or as private homes. This is not the only area of town where
this type of zoning conflict exists. But it is the area I know. As members of the City
Commission and the Community Development Board I would respectfully request that you
come and walk along East Olive, and see for yourselves where the zone edge transition
lies. Then you could better imagine how the owner or renter of a small one to two story
bungalow will feel when at their rear property line, a 7-story building can jump into the sky,
blocking sunlight and eliminating any privacy.
So, to go on to discuss the options presented by the Code Studio group. These are not trivial
choices. They are choices that will affect the lives of the people at the zone edge transition
in an extreme way.
Of the 3 options for stepbacks , option 1A makes the most sense. Its 45-degree stepbacks
after the third floor (at the maximum height allowed in the lower district, which in RA will be
40 feet) allow for sunlight and air to circulate. Without sunlight and air, no plants can
grow. The option 1C is simply a 40-foot building with another big block up to the
7th story. A block on top of a block. Air and light will circulate minimally. We all like to
promote the simplest design, but sometimes the simplest design does not have the best
human qualities. In these old neighborhoods, a new building constructed to the full height
allowed of 40 feet will tower over its bungalow neighbors. So, when the stepbacks in the
zone edge transition START at 40 feet, a smaller home is already shaded and
overwhelmed. To protect the privacy, sunlight and air circulation for the smallest home on
the zone edge, it is only fair to have the 45-degree setbacks as in design 1A.
For lots separated by an alley, option 2A is the most human solution. Again, air and sunlight
come at a premium in the downtown when massive, tall structures line up along a street or
an alleyway. Do we really want to build massive walls along a B3 zone edge transition with a
residential abutment? Does that create a human scale, walkable and livable city?
The landscape buffer plan seems to be well thought out. The chart that provides for low
impact, medium impact and high impact buffers is easy to read and easy to
implement. Here in Montana, the planting buffer will have to consider several other
important design elements. The plantings should be whenever possible on the south, west
or east side of the building. The north side of most buildings is too shaded and cold to have
many plantings. Very few plants can survive the lack of sun on the north side. And, the
plantings should include a mix of native trees, shrubs and plants that will succeed in
Montana’s environment. Some of the trees should be deciduous natives, and some should
be green all year to help in the screening process year round. How our code could ever
leave plantings out of zone edge transitions is beyond me! Trees and plants protect insects,
bees, butterflies and wildlife from certain extinction. They cool off the urban streets during
this time of climate change. The native species use less water than exotic plantings. Trees
help reduce traffic speeds on city roads. Plantings add to place making, and create a safer
walking environment. Stormwater runoff and flooding potential is reduced through trees
and plantings. Trees convert harmful gases back into oxygen and other useful gases. For a
complete discussion of the power of trees to create a more human and healthy
environment, see https://www.walkable.org/download/22_benefits.pdf, Urban Street Trees,
22 benefits and specific applications by Dan Burden. For a scientific discussion of why
plantings are important, read Nature’s Best Hope by Doug Tallamy. The research is so
complete and so convincing on the importance of plantings that it cannot be ignored.
Code Studio recommends combining these concepts; stepbacks in height with landscape
buffers and set backs. There is no reason that a developer could not easily comply with
these features in a zone edge transition. In such a small area, the amount of housing units
traded for neighborhood character and sustainability is minimal. Zone edge transitions
create the best walkable and livable city possible, they help eliminate conflict in the
neighborhood, and they create a sustainable, healthy environment.
Sincerely and respectfully,
Linda Semones 404 S Church Ave. Bozeman MT 59715