HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-03-24 Public Comment - R. & M. Seed - Written Protest to Harper's Corner Zone Map Amendment, App 23127 Ray and Mary Seed •
2380 Watts Lane c _off
Bozeman, MT 59718
May 3, 2024
Bozeman City Commission
121 North Rouse Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59771-1230
Re: Written Protest to Harper's Corner Zone Map Amendment, Application 23127
for R4 (Residential High Density) zoning.
Dear City Commissioners:
Raymond B. Seed and Mary S. Seed are Grantors of the Raymond and Mary Seed Family
Trust, which includes the residential home located at 2380 Watts Lane, Bozeman, MT. This
property is directly across from the proposed Harper's Corner Annexation;Application 23127.
We protest this application for R4 zoning for reasons outlined in the letter submitted by our
attorney,Erin Arnold.Approving R4 zoning for this 40-acre property would have a negative impact
on our neighborhood and public safety. There are over 200 acres of land between the properties on
Watts Lane and east of Harper Pucket. Hidden Valley Road, a two-lane road with ditches on both
sides, is the only road that crosses these 200 acres from east to west. The 200 acres form an island
that the city would have to jump over to connect roads with annexable land west of Harper Pucket.
The increase in traffic that R4 housing would bring to this road will create an unsafe situation.
An application for R4 zoning was presented and denied with a 3-2 vote on January 23,
2024.Nothing has changed,the developer refused to work with us on tapered zoning.In good faith
we met with the developers,Jon Knokey and Drew Russell,at our house on February Bch with other
neighbors to discuss tapered zoning.After one and a half hours of side-stepping zoning,they were
asked directly how they were going to taper the zoning and they said, we are not, we are applying
for R4 zoning again and will get one of the commissioners to change their vote. They went on to
use intimidation tactics by stating,if you don't go along with R4 then the Commissioners are going
to assign REMU. In the next few minutes, they said, if we don't go along then they were going to
sell to the 86 developers to the east of the property and they were going to get REMU. Because of
these disingenuous tactics,misinformation and the incongruent statements made by the developers
we retained an attorney, Erin Arnold,to advocate for our interests.
We ask that you read and consider Erin's letter as it addresses all our concerns and outlines
clearly what we are asking from the commissioners regarding zoning and annexation of Harper's
Corner, a 40-acre property.
Yours sincerely,
Raymond B. Seed Mary"SSeed