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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-17-24 Public Comment - N. Nakamura - Fowler Ave ConnectionFrom:Natsuki Nakamura To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Fowler Ave Connection Date:Monday, June 17, 2024 3:02:31 PM CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Dear Commission, I participated in the Fowler walking tour last week. First of all, thank you so much to Director Nick Ross and Project Manager Joey Staszcuk for taking the time to walk us through the areaand answer everyone's questions. It felt like a very productive opportunity for community members to voice their concerns and get answers to their questions, and also for staff toexplain where there is still room for changes and clear up any misconceptions. I hope there are more opportunities for community engagement like this one for other projects. While I am still learning about this project, some takeaways I had were: 1. I appreciate the effort that has been made to reduce impacts to the established trees. The walking tour was a great way to see the magnificence of the trees in the area and whichtrees will be lost or severely impacted by the road and construction. I think more trees can remain if we reduce some of the cross streets that are currently included in thedesign (namely Cascade, Oliver, and Annie). I believe less cross streets will also make it safer to bike or walk along Fowler, while only adding minimal inconvenience (less than0.5 miles) to cars wanting to turn off Fowler. 2. I appreciate the incorporation of wide shared-use paths. As someone who wants to bikemore, it definitely helps a lot to have a continuous path. Because there is already a shared-use path on the west side from Babcock to Durston, I think it would make senseto continue the shared-use path to Oak on the west side. I would be supportive of a narrower sidewalk for pedestrians on the east side between Durston and Oak in order tonarrow the impact of the road to the existing trees. If I am biking north from Babcock on the wide shared-use path, I would continue on the shared-use path on the west side pastDurston, rather than crossing over to the east side, so I don’t believe having a wide shared-use path on both the east and west side in the portion between Durston and Oakwhen it is not possible to have it south of Durston will provide much additional benefit, while it would have a significant extra impact on the existing vegetation. While ashared-use path is not possible to continue on the west side between Babcock and Huffine, I think the proposed addition of the street light at the Babcock/Fowlerintersection will make it safer and viable for bikers or pedestrians to cross over at that intersection as needed.3. To reduce the impact on the established trees between Oak and Durston, I am supportive of the proposed median being removed. Neither of the other sections have or will havemedians, and while I understand some of the potential benefits of reducing head-on collisions, the median might encourage higher speeds and will definitely result in agreater footprint of the road. The rendering of the road shows trees and landscaping in the median, but any new vegetation in the median will take years to establish andprobably decades to catch up to the established trees that would be lost from the wider footprint.4. Lastly, I am not entirely convinced that we need to construct the road of phase 2 (between Durston & Babcock). This stretch has some of the largest trees and thesoothing sound of running water can be enjoyed from the shared-use path. Plus, this phase requires acquisition of private land, so the cost of this phase is quite significant.Perhaps instead of prioritizing car traffic in the stretch between Durston and Babcock, we can prioritize pedestrian and bike traffic by making improvements to the existingpath to make it a safe and effective path for as many months of the year as possible, and cars can instead route through another street if needed. Adding the stretch between Oak& Durston seems to provide a significant increase in access to the neighborhoods for emergency vehicles, while the stretch of phase 2 seems to be providing less benefit. Again, I am appreciative of the thought put into the design and the community dialogue. If any Commissioners have not yet walked the stretch of the proposed project, I highly encouragetaking the time to do so! Some photos are below. Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to the discussion. Natsuki Nakamura One of 2 giant trees near Cascade St, which would definitely have to be removed if aconnection between Fowler and Cascade was constructed. A large amount of vegetation near Babcock that would have to be removed in the constructionof Fowler connecting to Babcock. On the right, the gravel path that currently exists betweenBabcock and Durston that could be expanded to encourage more bike and pedestrian use. The current proposed edge of the road (from Oak to Durston) which includes 2 wide shared- use paths and a median. All the vegetation behind the marker would have to be removed.