HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-25 Public Comment - D. Egnatz - AHO revisions_City CommissionFrom:Diane Sheehan Egnatz
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]AHO revisions/City Commission
Date:Tuesday, January 28, 2025 8:32:44 AM
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Dear City Commission,
I am writing today to request that you consider making some additional amendments to the
Affordable Housing Ordinance before approving it. I truly believe our city will be better ifwe can provide opportunities for all people in our community. I support the idea that there
needs to be a trade off to enable that, however, there are a couple of key points that the draftAHO is missing. I think we all can agree that the current AHO had some unintended
consequences, let's not rush into a revision and make the same mistake.
1. There's no provision in the AHO to link housing need to the type of housing being built. Infact, city staff do not even have the data available to identify the true need: Is it studios or 3bd
units for families? What level of affordability are we missing- 80% of AMI or 120% ofAMI? How many of each type of unit do we currently have in the city- and what's the
deficit? We can't effectively address a problem when we don't even know the full picture. Irecommend requiring an annual (semi-annual?) analysis of the affordable housing market and
linking use of the AH provisions to the actual need in the community. We need 3bd units? Great, to use the AHO incentives, you need to build that size unit. We don't want to "give
away" the character of Bozeman for a bunch of studios that will sit empty or, even worse, thata family will try to squish into because that's all that was built for them.
2. The wholesale adoption of the AHO citywide is problematic. It would make more sense to
identify opportunity areas around core services needed (transit stops, walkable grocery stores,etc) to ensure that the housing created meets the needs of the population it's intended to serve,
and the greater vision for Bozeman city. Additionally, as mentioned in the staff report, theissue of infill and the impact on the surrounding community with a "one size fits all" approach
will cause unintended detriments to existing residents and businesses- with no way to mitigate.
3. Related to the previous point above, I am particularly concerned that there is no opportunityfor city review of projects planning to utilize the AHO incentives. While I fully understand
the intent is to streamline development by reducing red tape and uncertainty in the project, nothaving the ability for the city commission to say "no" is giving away too much. Could the
approval process be more streamlined with less documentation required and a guarantee to betaken up quickly (30 days) by the commission? We need to retain the power of the city
commission to decide what's right for Bozeman, not developers.
4. With the city's increasing vacancy rate (~10%?), housing supply isn't our issue anymore. The city has been stuck following a false narrative that we can somehow build our way out of
the affordability crisis. We need to provide the right kind of support for housing affordability,not just keep building at all costs. Can we look into more creative ways to support
affordability? Higher impact fees on all projects to support below market rent or purchaseincentives? A tax on units vacant for longer than 3 months to encourage lowering rents and
filling the units we do have? Subsidies or reduced rate loans for homeowners willing to build
out an ADU? I'm not opposed to the AHO incentives but we need to recognize that they arejust one approach to housing affordability. We shouldn't give away sweeping incentives
without also looking at other avenues.
Thanks for your consideration,Diane Sheehan Egnatz
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Diane Sheehan Egnatz
339-206-4459