HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-25 Public Comment - C. Courtenaye - Draft AHOFrom:C. Courtenaye
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Draft AHO
Date:Sunday, January 26, 2025 12:20:29 PM
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To: Bozeman City Commission
Re: Proposed draft of the Affordable Housing Ordinance
While one luxury housing unit, massive and blocky, after another gets approved under current
guidelines, we are rapidly losing out to developers. The price we are paying for your approvalsof developments containing a tiny proportion of so-called affordable units is simply too high
in terms of the negative impact they impart to existing neighborhoods and in fact to thecharacter of the entire city. You have approved far too many developments that are
incompatible with existing neighborhood character, likely because you were legally obligatedto do so.
So please, prioritize the rewrite of guidelines and policies and strategies that currently allow
for such unbalanced development. ENGINEER LEGAL OBSTACLES TO BUILDINGMORE LUXURY UNITS. If you don’t act quickly, with the input of concerned citizens, we
will lose what’s left of what we love about our town. Our “SENSE OF PLACE” (as codifiedin the Strategic Plan) is evaporating.
The bar should be higher for how projects get approved “administratively.” Please revise thelegal framework so all proposals within the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District(NCOD) go before the Commission and allow for citizen impact and appeal.
I encourage the Commission to come up with more creative ways to incentivize the creation ofaffordable housing units. This town does not need and does not want one more “luxuryapartment.” Please explore asking much more of developers, legally, in your upcoming policyrevisions. No one wants the City to be sued; change the policies so that developers areincentivized to work for the common good.
Developers should be encouraged by the City, with all the tools in the toolbox, to PRESERVEEXISTING AFFORDABLE HOUSING (from the 2021 UDC Affordable HousingAssessment recommendations) and employ creative reuse of existing structures. So that wedon’t have yet another Black and Olive, another Guthrie debacle to mourn.
Time is of the essence.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Respectfully,
Catherine Courtenaye
311 S. 8th AveBozeman MT 59715