Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-30-23 Public Comment - B. Thome - Project 22090 - Gran Cielo II - Public CommentaryFrom:Brad Thome To:Agenda Subject:Project 22090 - Gran Cielo II - Public Commentary Date:Sunday, April 30, 2023 5:04:34 PM Attachments:Project 22090 - Gran Cielo II - Public Commentary.docx 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. Hello, attached is a document with my public commentary for project 22090.I am Bradley Thome. I live at 3221 S. 26th Ave.My email is bthome4@gmail.com My phone number is 406-219-3548 Thank you. NAME: Bradley Thome ADDRESS: 3221 S. 26th Ave., Bozeman, MT 59718 EMAIL: bthome4@gmail.com PHONE: 406-219-3548 TO: Bozeman City Commission RE: Project 22090 – Gran Cielo II – Annexation and Zoning Designation Dear Commission, This is my public commentary as a property adjoiner to Gran Cielo II. The thoughts expressed in this document should be considered within the context of the Protest Letter we submitted and taken as a whole. I left out some specifics in this document because they were included in the protest letter. Here we go again. Another parcel of land right next to the current city limits is up for annexation and the applicant has requested an R-4 zoning designation. On April 17th, the Community Development Board , brought up the idea of REMU, which is higher density. There was a lot of confusion during the discussion held amongst the Community Development Board members and they decided not to send a recommendation to the City Commission. Can the City Commission even note on this annexation and zoning designation without a recommendation from the Community Development Board ? Did the Community Development Board follow the rules during the April 17th meeting ? I think someone should look into that and let us know Tuesday, May 2nd at the meeting. I would like the City Commission to consider an R-1 zoning designation on Tuesday, with the idea being that the final approved site plan will be single family residential detached. Gran Cielo II’s borders are Graf-S. 27th-Kurk-Fowler. If you go West from S. 19th between Blackwood and Graf, the vast majority of the housing is single-family residential. Single Family Residential Detached home are the character of this neighborhood. We are for development, but common sense development. When we all bought our houses, we had a reasonable expectation that future development would be in the same character as the rest of the neighborhood . In any other city in America the size of Bozeman, high density housing next to single family detached housing would never be approved. This City Commission does not listen to the citizens. The persistent approval of zoning designations goes against the will of the citizens of Bozeman. The City Commission acts like they won their Commission seats with over 70% of the all the voters of Bozeman. And you act like the 2020 Bozeman Community Development Plan must be followed at all costs. You approach your zoning decisions with a cult like zeal towards high-density that is not shared by the vast majority of Bozeman citizens that I speak with. Most people view the 2020 Bozeman Community Development Plan as a word salad catch-all that is so overcomplicated and wordy, that you can find anything in that document to support any zoning designation. I hope that you all can find some common sense and make this an R1 subdivision with single family detached housing. As I understand it, the major guiding principle of the 2020 Bozeman Community Development Plan is to avoid Urban Sprawl. Urban Sprawl is not an objectively defined term. Therefore, you are starting out with a subjective principle and the Community Development Plan gets more subjective from there. We do not need to build out Bozeman to a certain density with a certain number of houses. You do not have a mandate from the citizens of Bozeman to do that. And you are not reducing sprawl. The Gallatin County Commission voted on April 25th to approve a 160 acre subdivision, Sandhill, that is on the corner of Kagy and Arnica. If you stand on the corner of Kagy and Arnica, you can see practically the whole hospital. If this isn’t urban sprawl on the boundary of Bozeman, then what is it ?? The County is already built out in any direction you go. So, if you are rich enough to be able to afford the quality of life you worked hard your whole life to achieve in the County, but your American dream in Bozeman needs high-density building right next to it. The sadly ironic thing about the high-density zoning designations you all approve is that many of you don’t have to live with it. Where Cyndy Andrus and Terry Cunningham live, there is no chance that a high density housing subdivision will be built right across the street from them. The same goes for Henry Happell and Jason Delmue (the two most vocal proponents on the Community Development Board for REMU for GRAN CIELO II). I will gladly swap houses with any of the 4 of you. I will even throw in my favorite lawn chairs and patio furniture. Then you can sit on my patio and look across S. 27th street and immerse yourself and your family in the high-density hell you are imposing on everyone else. I feel like it is blatantly hypocritical to continue to approve high density housing when it can’t directly affect you. You all have your R1 homes ? Right ? But the hell with anyone else who worked their whole life to achieve their dream. If you don’t want to swap houses, then treat this like an eminent domain decision. Give me and my fellow property adjoiners 150% of the market value of our houses. Then we can move somewhere else. One of the tragic outcomes of the high-density religion of the City Commission is that big money private equity real estate groups are targeting Bozeman. Rockefeller Group owns the Buffalo Run development now. Gran Cielo I and II are owned by the West Coast LLC. There are others that are buying property. None of these groups care about Bozeman at all. They just care about profit. It is well known in real estate private equity groups that they will find friends on the Bozeman City Commission. These high density developments are unlike anywhere else in America for a town this size. You are ruining the heart and soul of this city that we all love. Please stop and consider what this look like in 10,20,30 years. I predict that your legacy will not be a good one. In our square mile bounded by Graf-S. 19th-Fowler-Stucky (which Gran Cielo II is inside of) , we will approach 5,000 to 9,000 people if we keep building out high density housing. That is the same density as downtown Houston or Minneapolis. It is just not appropriate for a city this size. The City can’t even provide services to us now, how can they possibly provide services for a higher density number of people ? We don’t have great services now for the following: • Fire • Police • Snow Removal • Traffic • Roads (they aren’t built to the proper grade to start with) • Water • Infrastructure • Schools Where is the focus on operating this city effectively in a manner to provide services to the existing citizens ? Every other city I have lived in, that was the number one priority of the City Commission. The 2nd priority should be to make decisions that don’t negatively impact the quality of life and property values. The new schools aren’t even funded properly, and classrooms are overcrowded. Please focus your energies on providing excellent services to existing citizens instead of approving all this high density housing madness. I feel like it is time for the City Commission to finally listen to the citizens of Bozeman. Please make a common sense decision and designate Gran Cielo II as an R1 parcel.