HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-16-24 Public Comment - P. Knight - Fowler Avenue ConnectorFrom:Phil Knight
To:Bozeman Public Comment; alk205@hotmail.com; bozemantreecoalition@gmail.com
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Fowler Avenue Connector
Date:Tuesday, July 16, 2024 9:42:49 AM
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July 16, 2024
Re: Fowler Avenue Connection
Dear Mayor Cunningham, Deputy Mayor Morrison, Commissioners Madgic,
Fischer, and Bode, and fellow city officials and advisory boards: Transportation and
Engineering Director Ross, Transportation Advisory Board (TAB), Parks and
Recreation Director Overton, and Urban Parks and Forestry Advisory Board (UPF):
I appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Fowler Avenue Connection (FAC)
road project (Oak St. to Huffine Lane), I want to see the corridor of native willows
and cottonwoods left as is. In fact, it would be great to see the ditch opened up fromwhere it disappears underground as it approaches Babcock Street.
The native trees in this corridor provide ecological benefits and ecosystem services
for people and the wildlife that inhabit it. Trees absorb and hold carbon to mitigatethe impacts of climate change, and help cool the overall environment, a majorconcern with local and global temperates hitting record levels. The FAC corridor
presents the City of Bozeman with a rare opportunity to keep the connectivity that
remains and improve on fragmented islands of habitat.
My wife Alaina and I are long time residents of the West Babcock area. We live on
North 24th Avenue and are fortunate to have some green space and large trees and a
creek behind our house due to the "pocket park" on the HRDC land we live on. We
can attest to the quality of life that comes with green space and large trees. Weenjoy the presence of many species of birds, wild ducks, deer, rabbits and other
wildlife species. We benefit from the shade provided by mature willow trees along
West Catron Creek behind our house. The tall sand willow hedge along the creek is
a welcome buffer from other homes and from traffic noise on North 25th Avenue.We enjoy the live water in the creek and the peaceful setting of the green space.
This sort of buffer should be available to people along the FAC.
We have used the trails in the Fowler Avenue corridor for many years and enjoy thewater and large trees and wildlife found there.
I would much prefer to see the Fowler Avenue Connector denied and not built at all.
Bozeman is doing fine without it. Bozeman and the Gallatin valley suffer from far
too much construction and sprawl. Urbanization is diminishing the quality of lifefor a lot of residents. More pavement means less water infiltrating the ground, more
heat sent into the atmosphere, more cars and trucks with resulting air pollution,
traffic and noise, more roadkill, and in general less green space and less quality of
life.
Construction of the FAC would bring a lot of truck traffic to Bozeman streets that
are already clogged with trucks and traffic. Noise, dust and air pollution from trucks
would go on for years. Backup beepers would chime incessantly. Large trucks oncity streets are dangerous - I was nearly killed by a large gravel truck that ran thered light at Beall and North 19th.
I have watched with concern as many areas of existing urban forest have beendestroyed for more housing and road construction. The huge development at StoryMill Road is one example, where many large cottonwoods were mowed down.
Another was right where Fowler meets Huffine, on the south side of Huffine, where
a big patch of mature trees was leveled and now there is a huge apartment or office
building.
I support the Bozeman Tree Coalition (BTC) and echo their concerns over the FAC
and loss of urban forest in Bozeman. Planting new trees to replace mature forest
makes no sense. Better we add more trees and maintain existing forest.
I concur with the Gallatin Wildlife Association’s July 2, 2024, letter and other
concerned residents that the following design features are some of the most
important to include in the design plan:
1. Commit to disturbing the absolute minimum number of trees as possible for this
project, recognizing that a small but ecologically functioning linear forest
(especially the riparian area along the irrigation ditch) is much more valuable thanplanted trees on the boulevard.
2. Commit to a native vegetation buffer/setback from the road and shared use path
to protect the root zone of existing trees and current ecological function and habitat.
3. Limit the width of the proposed two lanes of vehicle travel to the minimum
required.
4. Locate a shared use path on the west side and a boulevard/sidewalk on the east
side from Babcock to Oak to retain as much existing native vegetation as possible.
5. Allow the existing trees to remain in an unimproved natural state to maintaintheir ecological functioning. Retain a largely unmowed buffer as habitat for birds
and pollinators. To deter birds from the right of way, mow a narrow portion on aschedule that avoids ground nesting bird breeding season.
6. Formalize a zoning designation that will protect this habitat corridor area into the
future.
7. Incorporate ecology professionals early in the design process and through project
completion.
8. Install one shared pathway to eliminate the need for an additional bike path/lane.
9. Eliminate additional east-west connectors because they are not warranted by the
current transportation design, which currently calls for connectors to be locatedevery half mile.
10. Eliminate medians from Oak St to Durston Rd, which is an efficient use ofspace and is supported by the lack of existing medians on the other two sections ofthe FAC (Durston Rd to Babcock St and Babcock St to Huffine Ln).
I urge you to seriously consider the negative results of building out this roadcorridor. We would be far better off with a green space park and non motorized trailsystem running along the FAC. Let's call it the Fowler Greenway and preserve it
green and peaceful character for generations to come.
For green space and trees
Phil Knight
205 North 24th Ave.Bozeman