HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-03-23 Public Comment - K. Bergevin - UDCFrom:Kathy Bergevin
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]UDC
Date:Tuesday, October 3, 2023 9:43:00 AM
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Thought this comment recently posted on Nextdoor app deserved another look by the
Bozeman City Council and commissioners . She makes a good point and demonstrates howthe city neglected to include Bozeman residents in the decision making. Developers and
architects make up less than 1% of the population of this city.
If, like me, you only heard of the proposed updates to the Unified Development Code in the
last month, we are not alone. The City has recently released it’s Final Engagement Report
on the project website engage.bozeman.net. Maybe you’ve seen this graphic explaining
their outreach efforts. This brings many questions to mind, but the most pressing to me
were the following: 1) Who got the 435 brochures? 2) Who was invited to the 10
Stakeholder meetings? The answers are in the report and I suggest everyone read it. The
answers are very disturbing. The brochures were handed out at 12 “intercept events”
around town over a 1 year period. There were 20 different brochures on topics like,
"Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)", "Bike Parking", "Height Limits", "Zone Edge Transitions"
etc. At the back of these brochures there was a short questionnaire and a place for people
to provide general comment. The responses are fairly well detailed in the report, check it
out. engage.bozeman.net. However, only 435 brochures were returned, with some
individuals completing more than one brochure. Bozeman’s population at the last census
was somewhere over 50,000 people. So effectively the City heard from less than 1/1000th
(0.001%) of the population. The situation with the Stakeholder meetings is even more
distressing. The list of meetings starts on page 54 of the report. I couldn’t find 10
“Stakeholder meetings”, but those labeled as such included the following: 9/12/22 was
Designers and Architects. 9/13/22 was Real Estate Developers. 1/30/23 Northwestern
Energy Stakeholder meeting. 2/17/23 Affordable Housing Group Stakeholder meeting
2/28/23 Real Estate Developers 2nd meeting 2/28/23 Designers and Architects 2nd
meeting That's 6 meetings, but it doesn't identify who any of the attending individuals, firms,
or organizations. A group called Neighborhood Economics says: “Who are community
stakeholders? They are generally defined as people, groups, organizations or businesses
that have interest or concern in the community. Stakeholders can affect or be affected by
the community’s actions, objectives and policies.” By this definition, I don’t feel that ALL
categories of stakeholders were adequately consulted. I constantly hear the criticism that
the City is catering to developers over residents. Their own report makes me think this IS in
fact the case. In closing I present this to my fellow residents and neighbors, taken directly
from the City’s Final Engagement Report itself: “Engagement Role Updates to the Unified
Development Code affect every member of the Bozeman community. Over time revisions
to the UDC shape the city through setting the parameters for all future development. Given
how these modernizations significantly govern Bozeman’s built environment, it is important
to collect robust community input on these technical but decisive adjustments to city code.”
Do we think the community input they collected from less than .001% of the population
qualifies as ROBUST? I don't.
Sent from my iPhone
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes inHim should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16