HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-19-24 Public Comment - M. Frost and R. Kerin - Historic PreservationFrom:MARY FROST
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Historic Preservation
Date:Tuesday, November 19, 2024 10:47:44 AM
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609 S. 6th Ave.
Bozeman, MT 59715
November 18, 2024
RE: Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD)
Dear City Commissioners:
My husband, Richard Kerin, and I are both long term Bozeman residents. We both have lived in the
Cooper Park Neighborhood for 40+ years. We are also active members of the Better Bozeman Coalition
(BBC). We have personally worked with the NCOD and COA processes when making improvements to
our homes in our Cooper Park Historic District and the NCOD that envelopes it. We can attest to the
benefit of having the NCOD to protect our District beyond just the regulations imposed by zoning. Zoning
alone does nothing to protect the unique historical character of the dwellings in our neighborhood.
In the years since we have worked with the building construction plan review and permitting process, we
have seen the guidelines and regulations within the NCOD weaken to the point of becoming voluntary or
not required all with the passage of Ordinance 1927 in May of 2016. With the changes to the NCOD, we
now see wholesale destruction of historic and natural occurring affordable housing (NOAH) in Bozeman’s
core neighborhoods, making way for unattainable housing in multistory (high-rise) buildings.
The NCOD was created to preserve the character of existing core/historic neighborhoods and worked fordecades before recent changes were made. Guidelines are useless unless they are required. Adeveloper is only going to move in the direction that maximizes profit with little regard for community andthe integrity of neighborhoods or the overall city for that matter. We have now seen the directconsequence of that change in destruction and disregard of established neighborhoods in the pursuit ofprofit. Developing housing for the wealthy is destroying the historic character of our downtown andhistoric (core) neighborhoods. We are also losing naturally occurring affordable housing which will neverbe recovered.
With Bozeman changing and evolving so quickly, it is incumbent that our city commission strengthen our
NCOD to prevent further destruction of our historic core neighborhoods. Limiting Bozeman’s historical
character to just a select few dwellings and sites, categorized as Landmark properties and neglect the
rest, is incredibly short sighted.
In addition to codifying the guidelines in the NCOD, we can further work to save our city’s cultural heritage
by promoting our Historic Preservation Officer to a full-time position with full-time pay. Historic
Preservation needs to be in the foreground of development so that valuable historic properties are not
destroyed to make way for new development. Rather than upzoning historic neighborhoods, they should
be downzoned to further preserve their character. To create affordable housing, incentives should be in
place to also encourage property owners to repurpose existing buildings to help fill housing needs.
Additional housing (density) can be accomplished in the downtown district without leveling existing
structures.
We support the city placing more emphasis on the preservation of historic neighborhoods through
strengthening regulations within the NCOD when rewriting the new UDC. These neighborhoods and
historic buildings are a huge part of the reason people love Bozeman.
Bozeman’s Historic District must be of value to the city because freeway signage coming into town directs
travelers to it.
Mary Frost
Richard Kerin