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Home My WebLink About09-17-24 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Public comment for UDC Update worksession 9_17_24From:Zehra Osman To:Bozeman Public Comment Cc:Terry Cunningham; Joey Morrison; Jennifer Madgic; Douglas Fischer; Emma Bode; Takami Clark; Chris Saunders; Nicholas Ross Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment for UDC Update worksession 9/17/24 Date:Tuesday, September 17, 2024 11:29:48 AM Attachments:ZO Comment UDC 9-17-24.pdf 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 forward these attached comments to all City staff who are involved in the UDC update, and to all advisory boards (especially the Historic Preservation Advisory Board and Urban Parks and Forestry Board). Please post on public comment webpage. Zehra Osman312 Sanders 59718 UDC Update 09/17/2024 City Commission Workshop comments Honorable Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Commissioners, City Staff, and Advisory Board members: There is a unique opportunity that emerges when one pauses an effort/project to improve public engagement. The opportunity is one of hope and optimism for collaboration, transparency, and trust. This moment can be nurtured to extend through all phases of this UDC update process. It can also be abruptly shut down with disillusionment, cynicism, and distrust. I applaud last year’s decision to pause the process and encourage you to now take this rare window of opportunity to make the UDC update process a true collaboration by all Bozemanites and for all present and future Bozemanites. When we see your sincere, time consuming, and sometimes uncomfortable efforts for true public engagement going forward, we will see you and support you. This will take two approaches, as your City staff have correctly identiﬁed: (1) ensure collaboration with the public that public engagement is adequate and appropriate and (2) ensure collaboration with the public that what’s important serves as the foundation for the code. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Regarding City’s Proposed Key Partners/Constituents/Community Groups Broaden Multi-Disciplinary Internal Team In addition to the listed internal participants, ensure City staff who are working on the UDC update have the credentials to be able to make educated recommendations to the commission regarding Bozeman’s key issues such as: Social Issues: affordable housing, accessibility for those of all abilities/disabilities, income diversity, social diversity, Resource Issues: historic properties, sensitive lands, urban forests, wildlife, climate resiliency, and the effects of the UDC on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem **If the City staff does not have the credentials to understand the implications of their recommendations on these important resources, the City must hire and/or conduct outreach to gain this expertise, independent of the UDC consultant, in a manner that does not censor these specialists’ ﬁndings. Include the Urban Parks and Forestry Advisory Board and the Historic Preservation Advisory Board to the list as key members of the UDC update process. External: In order to have some kind of representation of our mist vulnerable neighbors, please add the expertise of organizations such as the HRDC, Bozeman Co Housing, BridgerCare, and other similar nonproﬁt community organizations. Regarding Public Engagement Bozeman’s natural and heritage resources do not belong to any one group, any one developer, any burdened staff member, or any one property owner. They belong to future generations. Therefore, we cannot let any focus group(s) have more opportunity to inﬂuence the public engagement process. It’s important to take the time and funding to allow lots of opportunities to directly engage with the broad public and provide evidence that the public is being heard. The 2024 Fowler Avenue public engagement process is a good example to follow: What worked well: First, a City staff member presented the 30% design to a public audience at an open house and answered public questions and listened to public concerns while the consultant took notes. It was great that everyone heard the presentation together and listened to each other’s questions and the staff member’s responses. The 30% design drawings, narrative, and sketches were promptly made available on the City website. The City staff member later lead an on-site walk-through of the entire proposed road corridor where he presented the project to the entire group and then listed to and answered the group’s questions and concerns. He placed stakes in the ground so the public could see the extent of the project footprint. Note everyone is familiar with reading plans, and these stakes were extremely helpful in facilitating an informed and honest conversation about impacts. There were no leading/misleading surveys. What did not work well is that the consultant did not change the drawings as the public engagement process progressed. For example, after the Transportation Advisory Board recommended a continuous shared use path on both sides of the road, it would have been helpful for the City Commission to see drawings of how that particular recommendation impacted the existing riparian corridor that we were all trying to protect. We all suspected that this recommendation would have adverse impacts to the trees however, without the revised drawings, the commission didn’t have the data to conﬁrm or deny this suspicion. Alternatives, even at the 30% design stage, would have been useful. WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO BOZEMANITES? The UDC should reﬂect what is important to current and future Bozemanites. This should serve as the foundation, goals, and objectives of the UDC updates. I’ve divided this up into two categories: natural and cultural resources that can be mapped and those that cannot - such as diversity, equity, and inclusion. 1. Important Resources to Protect    The UDC should reﬂect the importance of these resources. I live on the west side of 19th and I care about all of the heritage resources and natural resources throughout Bozeman - for this and future generations. Older countries have been able to keep their heritage resources while evolving and changing over the centuries. They do not “mow down" history to accommodate an investor’s and developer’s hubris. Also, the public spent so much time and energy on the NCOD study back in 2019. Its recommendations never went anywhere and now there is another attempt at reviewing the historic landmark program, which implies the Bendon Adams recommendations are being discarded. This destroys public trust. Historic and cultural resources, i.e. “Old Places” matter because they: •connect one generation to another •help us put ourselves in someone else’s shoes — someone from another culture, from another time, when the world was a different place •help us see ourselves and the rest of the world from a different point of view, regardless of our background •allow us to discover unexpected commonalities •help us learn not only about our own immediate ancestors, but about other traditions as well, such as indigenous groups who have called this valley their home for thousands of years. We absolutely must do a better job incorporating this knowledge into Bozeman’s future. We have Climate Plan, Sensitive Lands plan, etc. that outline the importance of trees, urban forests, wetlands, wildlife, etc. The UDC should reﬂect the importance of these resources over proﬁt/return on investment. Once a historic building is gone, it’s gone forever, as is the story it once told. Once a tree is cut down, it will take many decades to grow a new one and with today’s climate crisis we don’t have the luxury of time to wait for that new tree to grow. Keep what we have. Do no harm. 2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion What is also important to Bozeman, which cannot be shown on maps, includes the diversity that is Bozeman. We are people of all abilities and disabilities, all income levels, all ages, all races, all genders, all sexualities, etc. We all have and need our support systems here in Bozeman - - our families, our friends, those who take care of our education, our health, and our welfare. The code within the UDC should protect this diversity, equity, and inclusion by protecting those systems that support this diversity of demographics and ensure everyone can ﬂourish. This should be added to the UDC goals and objectives. Everyone has a right to affordable and adequate housing and to have their support systems intact. Please do not assume that we can either protect natural/cultural resources or have affordable housing. This is not an either/or situation. Let’s have both. The next section has examples of how we can have both. It’s really a matter to building a map that shows what we want to protect, asking developers to respect/protect/preserve these resources, and then encouraging affordable housing everywhere - throughout Bozeman - while doing so. This isn’t impossible. Other countries have made this work and so can we. HOW WOULD THESE FUNDAMENTAL RESOURCES AND VALUES LOOK IN THE UDC UPDATE PROCESS? HOW WOULD THE UDC FUNCTION? •Do not make it easier for future development to adversely impact Bozeman’s heritage resources and natural resources. In fact, make it clear to future developers that we in the City of Bozeman value these resources above a developer’s proﬁt and return on investment. •Ask yourself why developers aren’t proposing to tear down a series of houses on Bozeman’s west side to construct a high-density building in its place. Why do they instead want to do this downtown? Just because it is more desirable and proﬁtable for a developer to build a large multi-story luxury building downtown doesn’t mean we should let them cannibalize and devour our important heritage and natural resources. Inﬁll within the NCOD should always be designed to be compatible per the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. Period. If a developer has a “great idea” for a proposed multi-story complex that will help our affordable housing crisis, they can build it outside of our heritage resources. •Allow every rooftop to have the right to solar access. •Allow every person to have the right to digniﬁed and adequate housing. •Question the Myths that are currently guiding the UDC process: •The idea that higher density downtown prevents sprawl on the City fringes is fraught with problems. For example, is the person who wants to live in a luxury condo downtown the same person who wants to have a 3-car garage in their sprawling luxury house on Bozeman’s west side? How does one replace the other? We have enough luxury or high- end housing units already. Since there is no such thing as “trickle-down housing,” non of these high-end modern developments have made a positive impact on Bozeman’s affordable housing crisis. In fact, they have exacerbated the sky-rocketing cost of housing and sprawl has continued. •Upzoning: When you zone a low-density property at a higher density, you cause the property value to sky-rocket because of the potential proﬁt inherent in the additional housing units on that lot. This causes taxes to sky-rocket. You are therefore exacerbating the skyrocketing rents. Property prices/the cost of land is a critical part of the equation to lower the price of housing so it is affordable. •Walkability: There is more to Bozeman than the core area downtown east of 15th. Let’s acknowledge that other parts of Bozeman (NW/SW) are worthy of being walkable. Within walking distance of all neighborhoods, add elements that improve walkability such as grocery stores, places of work, art studios, restaurants, farmers market spots, food truck spots, and other typical and desirable destinations. Town and Country grocery store was a nice addition to improve walkability in Bozeman’s west side. The extra large Town Pump and all the commercial storage units do NOT improve walkability. •Again, please don’t forget the side of town west of 19th. Thank you for this opportunity to comment on the public engagement and focus areas for the UDC Update. Respectfully, Zehra Osman 312 Sanders Ave. 59718