HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-26-24 Public Comment - R. Dolan - Sundance Springs Site Plan #22047From:Richard Dolan
To:Agenda
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Sundance Springs Site Plan #22047
Date:Monday, February 26, 2024 11:56:43 AM
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To: Bozeman City Commission City of Bozeman
From: Dick and Lori Dolan 3300 Sundance Drive Bozeman, MT 59715
We are writing to express our concern over the approval of Site Plan#22047 in the Sundance Spring Subdivision. The Director of CommunityDevelopment erred in approving the plan. The City has the obligation andauthority to protect our open spaces, our trail systems, and ourneighborhoods from incompatible development.
We have lived in Bozeman for 38 of the last 47 years. The nine years wedidn’t live here we spent in larger cities. Like almost all of GallatinValley’s residents, we chose not to live in those larger communitiesbecause they cannot provide the “way of life” that Bozeman has providedus. Denials of bad development proposals like this one are one of the mainreasons Bozeman is still--and can remain--a gem, despite the explosivegrowth we are experiencing.
For 25 years the City has enforced the Sundance Spring PUD, whichprovides strong protection for the public open spaces that wereincorporated into the subdivision. Now that the formal record of the PUD'srequirements is somehow missing, the City Attorney and CommunityDevelopment Director are redefining the terms of the PUD by hand-selecting limited pieces of the public record (namely, just the Commission'sConditions of Approval for the PUD's preliminary application) to representthe terms of the PUD. Other evidence of the PUD's requirements in thepublic record are being ignored.
The City Attorney's Office claims, without access to the PUD's ApprovedFinal Plan, that they know the terms of the PUD better than experiencedplanners who actually reviewed the PUD's Approved Final Plan when theymade their determinations. Case in point is the 2020 Concept Review forthe Site Plan in question. In 2020, when the Approved Final Plan wasavailable to consult, the City Planner concluded that the PUD's Master Plan
implemented the B-1 District from the 1992 zoning ordinance. Now thatthe Approved Final Plan is missing, the City Attorney claims, withoutevidence, that the planner was in error, and the City attorney states that thehistorical zoning does not apply.
When authoritative documents go missing, it is customary to look to theremainder of the public record assuming it is factual and correct, in orderunderstand what the missing documents required. Instead, in the face of theuncertainty associated with the loss of the Approved Final Plan, the Cityhas overturned its long-standing position on the Sundance Springs PUD.For 25 years, while the Approved Final Plan existed, the City enforced theSundance Springs PUD Master Plan and Covenants & DevelopmentGuidelines as binding requirements under the Unified Development Code.Now that the Approved Final Plan is missing, the City has reversed itslong-held position and claims that the surviving elements of the MasterPlan map are simply a "concept Sketch" and that Covenants &Development Guidelines are "private agreements" that need not beenforced.
It's time to start enforcing the code -- with the City calling the shots, not thedevelopers. It's time to put teeth back in enforcement to ensure thatdevelopments like Site Plan #22047 don't get approved until they are fullycompliant with the Unified Development Code. In this case, the Site Planonly reached approval because the developer and the City ignored therequirements of the PUD and failed to consider important review criteriathat must be met before a departure from the Unified Development Codecan be granted.
Under the unified development code, the City has all the authority it needsto protect open spaces, public trails and neighborhoods, and to promotepublic safety while still allowing development that is consistent with ourshared vision for Bozeman as a vibrant and livable city. There has been alot of talk lately about the need for Bozeman city government to rebuildtrust with the residents of this City. Trust is built when government listensto its citizens and doesn’t simply dismiss their concerns as NIMBYism (ofcourse most opposition to bad development proposals comes fromneighbors that will bear the brunt of misguided development—that does notmake their concerns less valid). Overturning an errant decision of theDirector of Community Development seems like a good place to startrebuilding trust. We are asking you to reassert your authority over themanagement of growth in Bozeman. You can begin that process today byoverturning the approval of Site Plan #22047.