HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-17-24 Public Comment - M. Osman - UDC updateFrom:Michelle Osman
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]UDC update
Date:Tuesday, September 17, 2024 11:33:10 AM
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Dear Mayor Cunningham, Deputy Mayor Morrison, Commissioners Madgic, Fischer and
Bode,
I'm excited for the opportunity ahead of us as a city to create a UDC that truly reflects thevalues of our town.
Per the Strategic Plan we need 1: an engaged community. I commend the city on its efforts to
pause the UDC and engage the community. I would ask that more of the engagement be inperson in the form of town halls, working with INC and making sure there are enough after
work events that people can fit at least one into their busy lives.
2: An innovative Economy. Bozeman needs to protect its historical neighborhoods as aneconomic engine as well as a cultural value for generations to come. The reason property
values are so high in the downtown core are due to its structural beauty, mature trees, oldparks and walkability to main street. We still have them because of the NCOD. If we
leverage these properties for the tax value they can provide the city then we lose both theeconomic boon they provide by making the streets just off of main somewhere visitors want to
wander with their coffee or walk en route to dinner. Don't let them be demolished andreplaced because developers are breathing down your necks about opportunity.
3. A safe welcoming community. We need to have a long vision for our city. Let's take a
breather, get creative and take a few risks rather than giving away our land by upzoning it. Give an Affordable Housing Overlay a chance. Give small scale, local developers a chance.
Give a housing authority a chance. If it doesn't work we can pivot. But don't give big,corporate developers our land, especially not the land that is already developed. When you do
that you just line the portfolios of the already affluent, instead of housing your localpopulation. Sixty percent of the new downtown luxury condos sold for cash this year, per a
recent real estate article by Tom Ford in Bozeman Magazine. We have enough emptydensity. Now it's time to fix the holes in our current code that allow for these formulaic 5 over
1 financial behemoths. Don't allow parcel assembly. Instead enact strong floor area ratios. Let folks subdivide already build structures. Please, please stop thinking that developers need
to be given anything, anything to "sweeten the pot". If it doesn't pencil out they won't build. Right now our city has given the developers the idea that they get special gifts because they
are providing housing. They are getting land, our land. Our land is only going to get morevaluable. Notice that the "affordable" units are always for rent. Thus the developers and
landlords still hold the purse strings. Tenant's right to counsel is critical.
4. A well planned city. We need to keep the structures that were built by the people whomade Bozeman what it is today. The stories they hold enrich our community. Protect them
and bring the HPAB into the conversation regarding the UDC. Then use the downtown coreas a model to create walkable centers in other parts of the city. Above all know that what you
do today needs to reflect not only the needs of today but also tomorrow. We are the stewards
of our town, our legacy to future generations. Will we honor our past by protecting it forfuture generations or leverage it for the highest tax gain?
5. A creative learning culture. This to me means listening and asking the community for
ideas and solutions, rather than selling a pre-existing idea of what needs to happen to us.
6. Sustainable environment. Infill can and will happen without throwing our houses in thelandfill. A deconstruction ordinance could be useful. Solar protections and a flourishing
urban forest are all parts of sustainability that need to be strongly considered.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Michelle Osman
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Michelle Osman 419 North 5th Ave
Bozeman Mt. 59715(406) 579 3992
www.michelleosman.com