HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-03-24 Public Comment - C. Clay - Guthrie App.23354Dear Mayor Cunningham and City Commissioners,
This letter is to express my total opposition to the proposal of The Guthrie by Homebase and the
application using “deep incentives” and public money. Others have addressed many of the issues,
but I would like to talk about the architecture, and impact to the surrounding neighborhood and
community.
If you look at the floor plans, the layout of most of the units are not 1 bedroom, they are studios with
the bed in the very limited living space. I do not feel what is proposed is “affordable” nor will it be a
thriving, nourishing place to live. It will be cramped and unwelcoming.
Waiving on-site parking does not mean there will not be automobiles, it is unrealistic and ridiculous and
should never be waived to essentially enhance the developers profits over community impacts.
These impacts on the neighborhood will be overwhelming and permanent if this project is allowed to
proceed in the current proposal.
As in other projects on the North side, almost every person living in these buildings has a car. People will
not ride bicycles most of the year in this climate, no matter how difficult it is to find parking spaces on
the street. If they do ride a bicycle, many of them have a car in addition to get into the recreational
areas around Bozeman.
The impact of lack of parking to the neighbors will be a daily and significant frustration. It will also affect
the attitude of people living in the neighborhood and their quality of life.
Most egregious is that the Bozeman Planning department is not requiring a Traffic Study to be paid for
by the developer as a requirement for approval or review. This is a joke.
Placing this cost onto the citizens and community that this development impacts is criminal.
This should be an absolute requirement for Homebase to supply this information.
By allowing this building to go to 5 stories, the massing will not be in keeping with anything in the
neighborhood. This height will block the sun from reaching the north side of the building and it will
become a dark tunnel. Please look at the other massive buildings recently built in Bozeman and you
can see this locally. It is a definite negative to those living and moving through the north side of the
site. This should also be a requirement for Homebase to supply a Shadow Study of how the proposed
building will impact solar paths to the surrounding neighborhood.
This is a massive box that is totally out of character with the neighborhood. It overpowers anything
in the area in height and scale. The strip of wood on the side of the windows will not make the
building fit into the community or give it a sense of place, or a human-friendly scale.
On these points alone, I am asking that the proposal be turned down.
In addition, the review of something so important, with the use of taxpayer money, should require the
full City Commission’s attention, therefore I urge you to reclaim review authority for any such project.
Thank you for your consideration.
Regards,
Chris Clay AIA, NCARB
Lynda Andros- Clay
425 North Grand Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715