HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-05-23 Public Comment - B. Parsch - Comment on Baxter 80 AmendmentFrom:BRAD JOSETTE PARSCH
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Comment on Baxter 80 Amendment
Date:Saturday, February 3, 2024 6:34:27 AM
Attachments:Template for Laurel Glen HOA Zoning Designation Comment.docx
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Please see attached letter.
Sincerely, Brad Parsch
ATTN: Tom Rogers RE: Baxter 80 Annexation and Zone Map Amendment – Application 23208 by the Community
Dear Community Development Board, I oppose the zoning designation of R4 – High Density and R5 – High Density Mixed Use for the following compelling reasons:
(1) The Bozeman 2020 Community Plan asserts that “the needs of new and existing development coexist and they should remain in balance, neither should overwhelm the other (Bozeman 2020 Community Plan, p. 20)
• Although we have pockets of R4 high density in our neighborhoods, the apartment
complexes are smaller and limited to two stories with setbacks that blend in well with more medium to moderate zoned areas.
• An abrupt transition to R-4 (Residential High Density) and R-5 (Residential High-Density - Mixed) would threaten to overwhelm our more medium to moderate density
neighborhood areas and would create an imbalance between the two-story character of our residences and the potential three to four story dwellings with out of place commercial businesses mixed in.
• We bought our homes knowing there would be no commercial businesses nearby in
well-established residential neighborhoods. Businesses do not always make the best neighbors and there are valid and legitimate reasons for separating them from residential areas. Today’s coffee shop can become tomorrow’s pawn shop.
• Please put yourselves, for just a minute, in the place of residents already living in the
adjacent subdivisions, that accepted that the subject property would be built upon at
some point in the future. Now, we are told that the property is proposed to support twice as many residents, and the structures are to be twice as tall? There comes a point at which you, as our representatives, must be OUR representatives!
(2) According to the Bozeman 2020 Community Plan under the City Responsibility section, it states that: “the City’s primary function is to provide a safe, healthy, and high-quality environment….. The way a community is shaped through………green spaces can contribute to the well-being of residents” (Bozeman 2020 Community Plan, p. 21).
• The property contains significant wetlands that spread out from Baxter, Ajacker, and McDonald Creeks and should be protected to support our well-being with green space in the form of parks along the wetlands for current and future residents to enjoy.
• The R4 and R5 designations could negatively impact the wetlands and shrink the
opportunity to establish parks along them.
• If a high-density development is added there without parks and protection of the
wetlands, many of those residents will seek out our parks and green spaces that we
pay to maintain.
• The wetlands currently running through the property are used extensively by waterfowl. And “development” of this property, at any level, would be another “nail in the coffin” for wildlife in the Gallatin valley.
Thank you for taking the time to carefully consider these compelling reasons for rejecting this zoning proposal and the potential for it to adversely impact our well-established residential neighborhoods.
Sincerely, Brad and Josette Parsch P.O. Box 273, Gallatin Gateway, MT 59730 Owners: Charles Place Condominium #877H Members: Laurel Glen HOA