HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-25 Public Comment - J. Jelinski - Affordable Housing Ordinance and the UDCFrom:JACK and JANE JELINSKI
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Affordable Housing Ordinance and the UDC
Date:Monday, January 27, 2025 1:09:34 PM
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Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Commissioners
We urge you to vote no on the Affordable Housing proposal and the UDC and
repeal both of them. Instead, create an Affordable Housing Overlay District to
protect the historical character of neighborhoods.
H.L. Mencken wrote that “For every complex problem there is a solution that is
simple, neat and wrong.” This applies to your consistent repetition that density
is the solution to affordable housing, in spite of the overwhelming objection
from your constituents. Density can be considered as part of the solution as
long as it is employed in the appropriate location with adequate infrastructure
and in consideration for quality and maintenance of currently built
neighborhoods which have provided housing for our workforce and our middle
class for more than one hundred years.
The survey employed for your outreach required respondents to choose
between two undesirable preferences – taller buildings or less parking. We
question the survey’s scientific validity. Neither of these choices protect the
public health, safety and welfare. Our recent snow storm magnifies the
problem created by less parking standards that impair snow plowing efforts to
clean the streets to allow emergency response access and safe transportation
routes throughout the city. We already have available a two-year study
conducted by faculty experts in the MSU School of Architecture titled
Investigating Neighborhood Character in the NE Neighborhood of Bozeman. It
is statistically valid, unbiased, and full of data about high quality affordable
residential development. Please study the data and replicate the features that
make for successful housing.
Your decisions for the past 5 years have exacerbated the loss of affordable
housing. According to the data published in the December issue of Bozeman
Magazine, the number of home sales for under $500 thousand since 2020
decreased from 915 to 136. But the number of homes sold for $2.5 million
dollars in that time period grew from 17 to 37 homes in 2024. This is evidence
that your planning policies have contributed to huge growth in the luxury
segment and have had a negative effect on housing availability for the middle
class. There are many other factors that have caused this disproportionate
growth in luxury housing and the decline of affordable housing, but your
planning policies are key contributors.
Your policies have made many developers very rich but your stable, middle
class residents poorer with inflated appraisals and exploding property taxes.
This kind of growth does not pay for itself and undermines our sense of place
and quality of life. Your proposed UDC and Affordable House Ordinance do not
facilitate affordable housing.
Jack and Jane Jelinski
433 N Tracy Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
406-587-8367
jjjelinski@msn.com