HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-28-25 Public Comment - S. O'Connell - In Support of Ordinance 38.380From:Seth O"Connell
To:Bozeman Public Comment; David Fine
Cc:Tyson O"Connell; Roeg
Subject:[EXTERNAL]In Support of Ordinance 38.380
Date:Monday, January 27, 2025 8:52:43 PM
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Mayor Cunningham & Bozeman Commissioners,
As an affordable housing developer working on rent-restricted apartment projects in
Montana and the Northwest Region, I am writing in support of the current staff revisions
to Ordinance 38.380 and keeping as many incentives to increase density for the
construction of rent-restricted rental dwellings in Bozeman as can be provided.
While every project is different, having incentives, particularly those that allow for
increased density can help close gaps and meet site constraints to make affordable
housing feasible. I believe Types A, B, and C, each offer useful benefits from flexibility in
the number of parking spots to units, meeting open space requirements, additional
height to buildings, along with both minimum lot area and the minimum area per
dwelling that will be utilized in increasing the supply of safe, affordable housing that the
City can take pride in.
I will also add that projects benefit greatly from preferential and accelerated review
processes. Something we are currently seeking to meet a late summer closing deadline.
Hidden Creek Apartments, our current project in Bozeman, is a 182 dwelling 100% rent-
restricted apartment complex offering permanently affordable units from 1-4 bedrooms
reserved entirely for residents earning 70% or below of the Area Median Income (AMI).
The Project will include 40 units for Extremely Low-Income beneficiaries earning 30%
AMI or below.
The current site plan for this Project has been in the works for nearly a year and is
scheduled to be submitted for City review within the next three weeks. Based on the
existing 38.380 Ordinance, Hidden Creek is planning to request the following incentives:
shallow incentives for
one additional story of building height in R-4 Zoning (38.380.020-2 b.),
One parking stall per dwelling (38.380.020-2 d.)
And deep incentives for
Lot area per dwelling units all zoning districts (38.380.030.B.3.F (1))
Concurrent construction of infrastructure and housing per
38.270.030 (38.380.030.B.4)
For any of these incentives, or the departures for housing creation to be lost now would
be detrimental to delivering this Project, which has already been stuck for over 7 months
now in what seemed to be a simple and straight forward administrative 2 lot minor
subdivision process.
It is important for developers to know that the rules will not change halfway through the
process, particularly when delivery 100% dwellings restricted well below the target
requirements. Please fight to keep all incentives available, even if how often they will be
used is hard to quantify.
Thank you for your consideration and consistent support on this far-reaching ordinance
and all commonsense decisions to delivering more affordable housing to Bozeman.