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Home My WebLink About07-09-24 Public Comment - M. Osman - The GuthrieFrom:Michelle Osman To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]The Guthrie Date:Monday, July 8, 2024 3:13:25 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 Cunningham, Madgic, Morrision, Fisher and Bode, Let’s re-visit the reason we’re all here. Trust. There is a huge lack of trust in our city government. Why? Because in 2015 our commissioners and Mayors decided that we needed to upgrade the downtown district and B3. On May 18th 2015 the commission had a public meeting to discuss the proposed changes in zoning. At 10:30 pm Mayor Krauss opened public comment. Four public comments were recorded. At 11PM the motion was approved by all with a “Friendly Amendment” to amend the language in the staff report to read in section 4, under section A, under mass and scale, “building sites that abut or are across an alley from a residential zoning district shall be sensitive…”etc. In May of 2016 the commission approved and Carson Taylor signed Ordinance 1927 Revisions to the Historic Preservation Advisory Board, removing all the board’s powers to do anything more than “advise” on historic preservation. Demolition Ordinance 1920 made it easier to demolish historic buildings. This was approved by the commission and signed by Carson Taylor in 2017. Community engagement was primarily business ‘Stakeholders”. On October 6, 2017 Ordinance 1981 was approved by the commission and signed by then Mayor Carson Taylor. It states that questions had arisen regarding the process followed in May of 2015 to provide notice to the public. Save Bozeman, a group of residents tried to fight the re-zoning and the lack of public notice. However, public notice was considered legally viable because the commission meeting on May 18th had been noticed in the “Legals” section of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle a mere 5 days prior to adoption of Ordinance 1981. The residents didn’t know what was good for them. The Zoning Commission recommended approval. The Historic Preservation Advisory Board did not recommend affirmation or approval. If you want to see how B3 turned out, take a walk down Villard or Beall on the North side and appreciate how the towering luxury condos stare into the back yards and block out the sun of one story homes across the street or alley. The new buildings, almost all of which are built by Home Base Partners are anything but “sensitive”. They take the code to its very limit. Adjacent residential neighborhoods are cast in shadow by a total lack of zone edge transitions. Block Character, which was removed from the language of the NCOD, has been tossed out the window with giant five and six story condo buildings leaning over one story homes. Public outcry continues to be ignored because the city is afraid of getting sued for the code it created. “By right” is a phrase tossed around a lot these days, as we residents try to reign in what our “leaders” deemed best for us. Another thing shoved down our throats is the housing crisis. This is ironic because we only have a housing crisis when zoning or developers are on the table. We don’t have a housing crisis when a housing authority is brought before the commission. Also, our housing crisis is for “middle and low income” housing. Yet, most of the condos built by Home Base are luxury apartments and 60 percent are selling for cash per a recent real-estate analysis. Cash buyers are not typically first time home owners. Ironically, our downtown is so desirable because we used to have an NCOD that protected the historic downtown neighborhoods from re- development. When I look at tax records though I see a trend. The new fancy stuff gives the city way more in taxes than the historic old homes. So, it benefits the city to allow for tear down and re-development of our neighborhoods. And they can tell us it’s more environmentally friendly to have high density, walkable neighborhoods than sprawl. This is ironic again, because the county has no zoning code and thus the city isn’t able to control sprawl, so it’s just a talking point to cover up the amount of materials headed to the dump as homes are scraped for their sweet location to down town. I’ve been on a bit of a rant here. Let’s get back to the point. Jump to 2023. The commission was on the verge of up zoning the whole city again with very little public engagement, when public outcry and our last mayor’s weak attempt at gaining favor during an election, put the code changes on pause. Again, not really creating trust. Now we have a new Deputy Mayor and due to forces unforeseen, two new commissioners. You have inherited our deep mistrust and the debacle of a once again, poorly and hastily created Ordinance, the Affordable Housing Ordinance. The Affordable housing ordinance has two incentive packages. The first is Shallow Incentives. The consultants hired to research possible zoning solutions used these shallow incentives to calculate that they could provide up to an 8% of affordable units per development. The second or Deep Incentives requires over 50% of affordable units. It was designed to work with low income tax credit projects, such as Habitat for Humanity. Unlike the shallow incentives it doesn’t require any parking. After much discussion the Community Development Board voted down passing the ordinance 5 to 1, with most agreeing that it needed more community input and concerns that our city doesn’t have the public transit infrastructure to compensate for zero parking requirements. The Community Development Board voted down passing the ordinance 5 to 1, with most agreeing that it needed more community input and concerns that our city doesn’t have the public transit infrastructure to compensate for zero parking requirements. The ordinance was brought to the city commission where it passed 5-0. Enter The Guthrie, the first development that is using the deep incentives of the Affordable Housing Ordinance. The Guthrie is a 111 unit, five story condominium slated to be built at Villard and 5th. All of the units are rentals. Most of the units are one bedroom. The square footage of the units varies between 317 and 600 square feet. The Guthrie will offer 50% affordable units at 80% area medium income, for two people per unit, or $1684 a month. Ironically, the same developer has luxury condos in the 800 square foot range that rent for $2095. Home Base, the company building this condominium, has stated that they hope to rent to their employees since there is a lack of “work force” housing in Bozeman in addition to creating more affordable housing for the community. Among some of the amenities the units have are their own bathrooms, movable partitions to create the feeling of two rooms, murphy beds and hot plates. The common spaces include a game room, common work room and recreation area all with washer and driers a few feet from the desks, TV and activities. The affordable housing ordinance uses the word Home with pride, which is hard to maintain in the undignified housing that Home Base deems good enough for their workers and anyone else who can’t afford more than the company store. Or should we look at this another way. I suspect they will become 30 day rentals perfectly poised to be a hotel/residence, like various of Home Base’s other projects, if or should I say when, our state government, that touts small, hands off policy, makes us change our city laws to allow type 3 STR’s. The commission did the right thing by taking back the authority to be the final vote in approval or denial of the Guthrie. To regain our trust and do right by the residents, rather than the developers, the commission needs to either deny the Guthrie, or give Home Base strict and strong conditions to improve the project. Some ideas are, four stories, better building materials, an AMI that makes micro units actually affordable or units that are larger for the price. Most of you who I've spoken with and many of the city employees have largely agreed that the Affordable Housing Ordinance needs fixing and far greater community engagement. Don't let the Guthrie be a five story mistake that you couldn't own up to. Back to trust. Dr Becky Kennedy is a clinical psychologist and a national sensation for better parenting and I’m going to suggest the city listen closely to hear words on repair. In her book, Good Inside, she states, “Good parents don’t get it right all of the time. Good parents repair”. It’s time for the city commission to do the same. Thank you for your time and we are counting on you, as our elected representatives to represent us, the residents. Michelle Osman -- Michelle Osman 419 North 5th AveBozeman Mt. 59715 (406) 579 3992www.michelleosman.com