HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-13-25 Public Comment - R. Bell - Affordable Housing OrdinanceFrom:Robert Bell
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:nenabozeman@gmail.com
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Affordable Housing Ordinance
Date:Monday, January 13, 2025 4:57:38 PM
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To whom it may concern:
I’m writing to provide comments on the proposed Affordable Housing Ordinance. My specific
comments have to do with the number of parking spaces required for each dwelling unit. A
Forbes magazine article (https://www.forbes.com/advisor/car-insurance/car-ownership-
statistics/ ) on vehicle ownership reports that 95.4% of Montana households report access to
at least one vehicle in 2022 – the fourth highest in the USA. Illinois is the lowest at 89.2%. The
article further reports that there are 2,618 vehicles per 1,000 Montana residents, and that
more than 30% of households have 2 vehicles.
The Incentives for multi-household dwellings permit the reduction of the number of on-site
parking spaces to less than 1 space per unit. This will force tenants to park vehicles on city
streets.
In this hypothetical example:
One Type B Incentive 36-unit complex would provide only 9 on-site parking spaces. Using the
statistics from the Forbes article, 65% of the tenants would own 1 vehicle and 30% would own
2 vehicles. Total number of vehicles owned by tenants would be 45. The first 9 vehicles would
be accommodated in the required onsite parking spaces. The remaining 36 would be parked
on the street. Each vehicle requires ~18 feet of curbside for parallel parking. The 36 vehicles
would use ~650 feet of on-street parking. For reference, that is the distance in front of the
Willson Auditorium!
Placing such a structure in an existing residential neighborhood would have huge negative
impacts. Snow removal and emergency vehicle access would be most impacted.
The recent arguments from developers in support of the reduced parking requirements cite
much lower vehicle ownership rates. Where are the facts supporting this claim? Without
further evidence that parking in these multi-unit complexes is not needed, I respectfully
request that these drastic parking reductions be removed from the AHO. My recommendation
would be to require at least 1 on-site parking space per unit.
Regards,
Bobby Bell
North East Neighborhood Property Owner
Full-Time Resident
Do not fear failure.
Be terrified of regret!