HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-14-24 Public Comment - C. Loggers - Fw_ [EXTERNAL]Hidden Ck Community development plan commentsFrom:Terry Cunningham
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:Fw: [EXTERNAL]Hidden Ck Community development plan comments
Date:Friday, December 13, 2024 3:55:49 PM
Adding for visibility
Terry Cunningham - Mayor
City of Bozeman | 121 North Rouse Avenue | P.O. Box 1230 | Bozeman, MT 59771
P: 406.595-3295 | E: Tcunningham@bozeman.net | W: www.bozeman.net
From: CK A-L <ckeloggers@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, December 13, 2024 3:42 PM
To: Terry Cunningham <TCunningham@BOZEMAN.NET>
Subject: [EXTERNAL]Hidden Ck Community development plan comments
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.
Mayor, let me lead by letting you know that I support the development of affordable housing
and the project in general. My issue of concern lies with transportation management for theproject.
Full disclosure, I own a townhouse at 1488 Juniper St, west of the development; my daughterand her husband live in the house.
In the plans for the proposed project, I have not seen reference to a transportation management
plan so assume that one does not exist; I would like to be proven incorrect. Based on thecurrent plan of only 1 egress from the new Oak Park Drive extension, all traffic will be
funneled onto Juniper St. I think that most drivers from the proposed development will wantto drive south and to town via Durston, or north to Oak in order to access the shopping to the
east and west. Currently, the most efficient route would be to drive on Juniper to 15th andthen access Durston or Oak from 15th. Juniper street is about 32' wide. A truck plus mirrors
is about 8' wide. People park in front of their residences on both sides of Juniper St., so abouthalf the road width could be occupied by parked vehicles. Most people that I have witnessed
driving on Juniper, when both sides of the street have vehicles parked along them, leantowards driving more or less down the center of the street because of its narrowness. That
situation is not conducive to higher traffic volume, considering that vehicles in the 203proposed parking spots would probably run the route a few times each day. Additionally,
Juniper forms the southern border of a well-used park that lies just north of the proposeddevelopment. I assume that many young residents from the proposed development would use
the park and have to cross a rather busy street to do so. Finally, though an emergency exit isproposed to run through the Gallatin Co. Rest Home property, in an extreme emergency
people default to their learned behavior, and that would result in all traffic bottle-necking atthe Juniper-Oak Park Drive junction. It appears from the city plat that the major north-south
arterials west of the area are odd-numbered streets every about 3/4 of a mile, with somewhatnarrower through streets onto which traffic from east-west-running residential streets is
funnelled. This cartesian pattern seems to have been abandoned between 7th and 15th: 11th St(Oak Park Drive) is not a through street in the developed segment north of the proposed
project, much less to the south, and no others have been platted.
So how to direct traffic away from the rather narrow Juniper St and park and distribute futurecongestion? Disincentivizing traffic from driving west on Juniper St. could be done using
selective street narrowing, round-abouts, and/or speed bumps, and I'm sure other optionsexist. Snowplows and their drivers do not operate well with speed bumps, but they do with
other options. Minimizing traffic to the west would require better access to the north andsouth. Widening Oak Park Drive to the north is not feasible because it is not even a through
street, but an access to Oak could be created by moving traffic along Juniper 1 block to theeast and then north via 12th. A better option would be to continue Juniper St. east to 7th, and
then add 11th as a N-S street in keeping with what appears to be city street patterns. A routesouth to Durston remains absolutely necessary, for both traffic distribution and public safety,
and the only feasible route is between the Rest Home and the Legion Villa apartments. Noneof the options would be popular, and probably would require taking via eminent domain (I do
understand how fraught that issue is for an elected official). However, that is what electedofficials should do: make difficult decisions that might make them unpopular but which are in
the long-term interests of the city and its residents. Other options to pursue do exist, andinclude multi-party explorations into land swaps with the LLC adjacent the property or
elsewhere, which could allow better ingress and egress on existing roads.
I wish you luck in developing the project further,Chris Loggers
509-684-1216