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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-27-24 Public Comment - L. Semones - UDC Engagement Sessions; recommendations for City CommissionFrom:Linda Semones To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]UDC Engagement Sessions; recommendations for City Commission Date:Friday, September 27, 2024 12:27:10 PM 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. Dear Mayor Cunningham, Deputy Mayor Morrison and City Commissioners, You asked for suggestions for the engagement process at your City Commission meeting on September 17, 2024. Many residents at that time made public comment asking for more personal engagement choices. I would like to agree with them. All the choices offered were clearly useful. But no choice is more useful in engagement than the town hall format. We need to be able to have a back and forth discussion that is free of the 3 minute presentation used during City Commission meetings. Town Halls could be held using neighborhood organizations, including INC and HOA's (which are more common in the subdivisions across town). This would be an opportunity to have actual discussions, hear first hand about the citizens' perception of UDC priorities, and gather data for use later in the process. By holding Town Halls in defined areas across the entire town, every resident, renter or owner, would have the opportunity to explain how the UDC would affect their life. Of course this would be more work for the Commissioners and Staff. But I am convinced that if the citizens of Bozeman see that the Commissioners are making this huge sacrifice, the citizens from all walks of life will turn out to equally make a sacrifice of time given their busy lives, including renters, the unhomed and those holding down 2 or 3 jobs. As a statement of fact, the downtown neighborhoods are FULL of renters. They are full of service workers, doctors, nurses and teachers. Closer to MSU they are FULL of students. They are FULL of people seeking missing middle housing. They are FULL of retirees living on fixed incomes. They are quite frankly a cross section of Bozeman's demographics. Please do not assume that all the neighbors of the downtown area are rich part time residents who should have little say about their future. This is offensive to those of us who do not fall into the super-wealthy and privileged category. Thank you all for taking on this monumental task. Please let us form a plan that will get this process right, and create a UDC that will work for everyone, wherever they live in the city and whatever their occupation and income might be. Let's not tinker with old ideas that have been rejected. Please be forward-looking, and investigate all possibilities presented, such as affordable housing overlays, floor ratios, buffers, deconstruction regulation and other newer ideas. The old ideas that promote density and height over livability and affordability are not working for us. Please be creative in your thinking. Sincerely, Linda Semones 404 S Church Ave Member of HPAB, but writing this comment as a private citizen.