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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-09-24 Public Comment - D. Carty - Inter-Neighborhood Council Meeting, Aug 8, 2024From:Daniel Carty To:Bozeman Public Comment Cc:Emma Bode; Joey Morrison; Emily Kiely; Emily Talago Subject:[EXTERNAL]Inter-Neighborhood Council Meeting, Aug 8, 2024 Date:Thursday, August 8, 2024 8:15:53 AM 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. (Please post in the Inter-Neighborhood Council Advisory Board public comment folder and distribute to all INC Board members before today's INC meeting. Thank you.) Aug 8, 2024, 8:15am To: Inter-Neighborhood Council (INC) Advisory Partner Board Subject: INC meeting, Aug 8, 2024, 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 that ordinance, I ask the Inter-Neighborhood Council 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 make 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 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 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 all affordable housing projects. Such reviews would cite and explain an affordable housing project's strengths and weaknesses in relation not only to City code (including grayareas 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 presentfirst (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 roomand be easily understood within approximately 1 minute (i.e., this is basic slide presentation etiquette). Daniel Carty 213 N. 3rd Ave Bozeman, MT 59715 cc: Deputy Mayor Joey Morrison and Commissioner Emma Bode, City CommissionLiaison(s) to the INC; Emily Kiely, Community Engagement Coordinator and City Staff Liaison to the INC; and Emily Talago, INC Midtown Representative.