HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-09-24 Public Comment - D. Carty - Community Development Board Special Meeting_ Mon, Aug 12, 2024From:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Jennifer Madgic; Chris Saunders
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Community Development Board Special Meeting: Mon, Aug 12, 2024
Date:Thursday, August 8, 2024 10:03:55 AM
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(Please post in the Community Development Board public comment folder and distribute to
all CDB members for their Mon, Aug, 12, 2024, special meeting. Thank you.)
Aug 8, 2024; 10:00am
To: Community Development Board (CDB)
Subject: Mon, Aug 12, CDB Special Meeting: Continuation of FYI/Discussion Item G.2:
Affordable Housing Ordinance Work Session
I am writing to comment on the City's plan to revise its Affordable Housing Ordinance (AHO).
With regard to the AHO, I ask the Community Development Board (CDB) to consider making
the following recommendations to the City Commission:
1. Repeal the Deep Incentives in their entirety and permanently because, as we have
learned from The Guthrie experience, the Deep Incentives amount to little more than a
giveaway of public resources to the private sector. Thus, the Deep Incentives providelittle or no benefit to the Bozeman community as a whole.
2. Develop a new, multi-variate definition of rental affordability that would include—at a
minimum—(a) rent based on 60% AMI or less for Gallatin County, (b) Bozeman’sannual median household income for renters (e.g., $49,543 per year or $23.82 per
hour based on the Bozeman 2023 Economic and Market Update, Table 3, page 6,
https://www.bozeman.net/home/showpublisheddocument/13746/638446301551230000 ,
(c) applicant's proposed monthly rent per square foot, and (d) how many hours aperson must work to earn monthly or annual rent at various hourly wages (e.g., MT
minimum wage of $10.30 per hour, $15, $20, $25, $30, and $35 per hour). Require that
this definition of rental affordability be updated annually.
3. Require all affordable rental units to be deed-restricted for at least 60 years with an
option to buy (i.e., give renters an opportunity to build equity).
4. Require all affordable rental units to be built to the same size and quality as market-rate units.
5. Require all projects built under the AHO to be environmentally responsible/sustainable
and include a plan for in perpetuity land stewardship. As a city, we can no longer affordto continue to cut down all the existing trees on a parcel, bulldoze the parcel flat, and
build high-rises from sidewalk to sidewalk—thus creating more and more heat islands.
For example, the affordable housing project proposed at N. 7th Ave and Aspen St
could well become one of the next big heat islands in the City.
6. Eliminate administrative-only reviews of affordable housing projects and replace them
with full-and-fair public hearings in front of all relevant Advisory Boards and the City
Commission. Arguably, administrative-only reviews violate the public's right to
participation in these types of decisions.
7. Require City staff to provide staff reports that are objective, critical reviews of allaffordable housing projects. Such reviews would cite and explain an affordable housing
project's strengths and weaknesses in relation not only to City code (including gray
areas and conflicting codes) but also in relation to all City plans (including the Climate
Plan and Sensitive Lands Protection Plan).
8. During public hearings of affordable housing projects, require the applicant to present
first (as in a thesis defense), followed by City staff's critical review of the project.
9. Finally, during public hearings of affordable housing projects, require all slides shown
by the applicant and City staff to be easily read from the rear of the Commission room
and be easily understood within approximately 1 minute. This is basic slide
presentation (aka PowerPoint) etiquette and, coincidentally, can help build trust.
Daniel Carty
213 N.3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
cc: City Commissioner Jennifer Madgic, Commission Liaison to the CDB, and Chris
Saunders, City Staff Liaison to the CDB