HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-16-23 Public Comment - G. Schontzler - Zoning rewriteFrom:Keith McCafferty & Gail Schontzler
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Zoning rewrite
Date:Monday, October 16, 2023 12:01:26 PM
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Dear City Commissioners and planning board members,
While the city’s proposed zoning ordinance may be well-intentioned, it
threatens the place we call home, the human-scale older neighborhoods that
give the city much of its character and charm.
Under the current R-2 zoning, my neighborhood near Montana State
University has single-family homes and duplexes.
The proposed RA zoning would allow four times that density -- eight-
plexes up to three stories high. The fact that this new RA zone is called “low”
density, despite quadrupling what’s allowed in the current “moderate” density,
seems highly deceptive, if not Orwellian.
The change means when my neighbor puts his house up for sale, there’s
nothing to keep deep-pocket developers from buying the property, tearing
down the house and putting up a massive building that would dominate and
dwarf the modest homes on our street. If the real estate market makes it
profitable, there would be nothing to stop a proliferation of giant buildings and
the destruction of Bozeman’s older neighborhoods.
We’ve already seen this happening with the Olive and Black building.
One advocate for the proposed zoning rewrite called it a “gentle” change.
In reality it is a radical change and a threat to our neighborhoods.
Some think we are selfish for trying to protect our homes. Please
remember that we are the people who voted in election after election over the
decades to raise our own taxes to make Bozeman a better community.
The older neighborhoods have been reliable supporters of school bonds,
including the historic $125 million bond to build Gallatin High School and
renovate Bozeman High. Our neighborhoods supported millions more in bonds
to build new elementary schools, the beautiful new library and the new public
safety center. Many of us donated money for Peets Hill and for the HRDC
warming center. Over the years we have volunteered at countless charities and
nonprofits. We havemarched to oppose neo-Nazis and to support racial
equality, gay pride, women’s rights and climate action. We have helped make
Bozeman a tolerant, welcoming, attractive community.
We raised our families here, often while earning modest salaries, and
invested our savings in fixing up our old-fashioned homes, keeping the historic
part of town livable and desirable, rather than letting it decline.
And now it feels like the city wants to throw all that effort away.
Yes, Bozeman needs more affordable housing for the workers, students,
teachers and young families. But increasing density carries no guarantee that
the eight-plexes you envision will be affordable. Most of the new condos the
city has approved seem to sell for a half-million dollars or more. The density-
equals-affordability equation is an illusion.
During the Vietnam War, a U.S. Army leader said that his soldiers had to
destroy the village in order to save the village. I believe the proposed zoning
rewrite would do something similar -- destroy the older neighborhoods in the
heart of Bozeman, in a vain effort to create affordable housing.
Please reject the proposed code revision.
Thanks for listening,
Gail Schontzler
1115 South Grand Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59715
406 570-0984