HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-16-24 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Public comment for each of the Historic Preservation Advisory Board members for tonight's meetingFrom:Zehra Osman
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Sarah Rosenberg
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment for each of the Historic Preservation Advisory Board members for tonight"s meeting
Date:Wednesday, October 16, 2024 11:56:09 AM
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Please submit my public comment to each of the members of the Historic Preservation Advisory Board and
post to the public record (the public record was not viewable this morning, which affected my ability to
engage as a member of the public).
Dear members of the Historic Preservation Advisory Board,
Thank you for volunteering your time and energy to protecting and preserving our City’s cultural resources,
which include Bozeman’s historic buildings, districts, streets, trees, and landscapes. It must be frustrating to
try so hard to stand for these cultural resources when it appears that your board has been marginalized. We
the public see you and we acknowledge the work you are doing.
Cultural resources, like natural resources, belong to all and to future generations. It is infuriating that
someone with wealth can purchase a historic property for the purposes of demolishing it and creating a
monument to themselves, thereby buying their place in Bozeman’s history. Someone who honors historic
properties and understands that they themselves are but one owner in a long line of owners and of future
owners would never have the hubris to "make their mark.” They would feel honored to live there and would
carefully and lovingly care for these properties following well established preservation and rehabilitation
standards and guidelines such as in the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic
Properties (SOI Standards) (in particular see rehabilitation chapter)
https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1739/upload/treatment-guidelines-2017-part1-preservation-rehabilitation.pdf . If
they found the property did not have the square footage they needed, they would curb their own desires to
follow these standards/guidelines or, better yet, would not buy the property in the first place.
But what must be most frustrating for you are the developments funded by institutional investors who buy
historic properties with the intention to demolish them and build a hideous apartment building so their
shareholders can make more money by marketing their development as being “within walking distance to
Bozeman’s downtown.” This is where the City’s planning must take the pressure off of Bozeman’s NCOD
and creating multiple walkable neighborhoods and communities. For example, I live on the west side of
town and the new Town and Country helps us be a more walkable community, while the huge Town Pump
and commercial stage facilities do not. All of these planning efforts are intertwined and it is a full-time job
for Bozemanites to keep up with them all. It’s a full time job. Maybe that’s the point of having all these
projects happen simultaneously.
New historic preservation planning should follow the SOI Standards and in particular its chapter on
Rehabilitation beginning on page 75. Let’s be careful to not reinvent the wheel.
Please let us know how we can help you withstand these enormous pressures. Thank you so much.
Respectfully and with gratitude,
Zehra Osman
Sanders Ave, 59718