HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-14-23 Public Comment - A. Kociolek - Public Comment for UDC 2151From:Angela Kociolek
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment for UDC 2151
Date:Saturday, October 14, 2023 8:01:28 AM
Attachments:October 14 Comm Dev and CIty Comm.pdf
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October 14, 2023
Dear Community Development Board and City Commission,
The draft UDC proposal has sparked and sustained a public backlash. It has been time
consuming and traumatic for those of us who are paying attention. Most of us have nothing to
gain financially from submitting comments. We, home owners/tax payers, are speaking because
we are scared and sad and frustrated. Hear us, please.
Some of the draft either totally ignores items that should be in a Unified Development Code –
i.e. strong environmental protections for trees, native vegetation, soil, and water – whereas
other items liberally allow the destruction of existing neighborhoods under the unproven guise
of creating affordable housing. It’s time to stop, assess and start over.
What’s worse, the public engagement piece is not robust enough. You are receiving a flood of
comments that share a general sentiment of scrap the plan/slow down/start over yet you
wouldn’t know it based on this https://legistarweb-
production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/2226040/UDC_Comment_summary_-
_Text_10-12-2023.pdf Where is the column that categorizes and, more importantly, COUNTS
the ”scrap the plan/slow down/start over” comments as staff has done with metrics they
thought were important? If “Process” and “Other” are the attempted way to address these
comments, they are not sufficient to fully capture – and COUNT - this echoed sentiment.
Also, this Comment Summary document (as well as the Sustainability Board memo) have errors
in them. When I click on the link that is supposed to go to a comment I have made in the past, it
takes me to Alison Levy’s comment. This lack of attention to detail appears to be another
symptom of the unnecessary overwhelm caused by this process.
Additionally, in response to public comments I have made, an architect friend took time out of
her day to call and nicely let me know I didn’t understand what my current zone (R4) allows and
how it would be similar or different from the proposed RB. I saw, in reading my immediate
neighbors’ public comments, they didn’t seem to fully understand either. To rectify this, I have
arranged a meeting with staff to learn more so that we can make more intelligible comments.
That meeting is next week. So, even though you have not received much comment on RB to
date, be prepared for more.
I’ve been told that the time for public engagement meetings like the Code Connect ones have
passed. First, as of October 13, 2023 those links aren’t functional so we can ‘t even view them.
Second, they were slated to go through 2023. Third, more public engagement is exactly what is
needed to build trust in this commission, in this process, in knowing that Bozeman has not
completely lost its soul and conscience.
So, we’ll see if this comment gets counted as one that calls for 1. scrap the plan/slow
down/start over and 2. more public engagement and education before steamrolling ahead with
any re-zoning.
Sincerely,
Angie Kociolek
620 N Tracy Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715