HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-25 Public Comment - L. Jay - Vote NO on the Draft AHOFrom:Lorre Jay
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Vote NO on the Draft AHO
Date:Sunday, January 26, 2025 9:46:07 PM
Attachments:DRAFT AHO VOTE NO.pdf
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To: Bozeman City Commission
January 26, 2025
Re: Draft AHO Adoption
Dear City Commission:
Please vote no on the draft AHO adoption. There are many problems with the draft AHO
and the original AHO needs rehauling rather than adopting damaging incremental
changes.
The draft AHO keeps Bozeman in a housing trap where large developers and investment
institutions have unprecedented influence over what gets built and where, and none of
this influence benefits Bozeman. We need to work to repeal the AHO entirely to ensure
adequate affordable housing is built and Bozeman assets are not transferred to
investors for little or no consideration. The draft AHO is an UNFAIR deal for Bozeman.
Draft changes will not incentivize truly affordable housing and will materially change
neighborhoods. As an example, the 80% of maximum AMI threshold for Type A, B, and C
incentives is not truly affordable based on your own reporting of average renter’s income
@ $49,543 per Bozeman 2023 Economic Update, (p.6). Most of the Draft AHO incentives
are at 80% of AMI of $109,000 according to your website or $87,200 which is 176% of the
Bozeman median renter income.
The number of affordable units at mostly 5% are far too small given the large incentives
that are being provided and may be used by developers to house their own workers
which would effectively provide no new affordable housing at all.
The incentives will incentivize out-of-character buildings that will provide little to no
affordable housing using only lot size as a de minimus parameter.
The proposed administrative approval cements bad policy at a level that cannot be
changed democratically. A desk analysis done by an unelected official would serve to
continue to destroy land values, neighborhoods without transparency or public
input. This coupled with the resulting de minimus increase in affordable housing in
effect incentivizes bad development that transfers the City of Bozeman’s intangible
assets to investor/developers for no consideration. This reduces democracy. Again
reflecting an unfair deal without a process to appeal.
If you are unwilling to take these steps to get our community out of The Housing Trap, at
least mandate the following 3 point plan:
· Limit the use of this ordinance to greenfield development where infrastructure
can be properly sized to accommodate the impacts of this much density.
· Enlist creative solutions like an Affordable Housing Overlay Zone (AHOZ) and
incentives to local homeowners to create invisible infill in core neighborhoods to
protect historical character and NOAH.
· Mandate that developers proposing to use the City’s problematic Cash-In-Lieu of
Water Rights provision (CILWR) provide affordable housing in exchange for the
use of our water! A finite and undervalued public resource. If they bring water
rights they are more than welcome to build all the unaffordable housing they
want. If they want our water, they build affordable housing.
Sincerely,
Lorre Jay
Bozeman Resident