HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-04-25 Public Comment - A. Lincke - Public Comment for Commission Meeting, 2-4From:Anja Lincke
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Courtney Smith
Subject:[EXTERNAL][SENDER UNVERIFIED]Public Comment for Commission Meeting, 2-4
Date:Tuesday, February 4, 2025 11:57:31 AM
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Public Comment, 2/4/25
Good evening. Anja Lincke, on behalf of Forward Montana.
I want to start by commending the city and the staff for the incredible community outreach
effort. After being involved in phase 1, I have eagerly been awaiting this data and
appreciate all of the work that city staff have done to get us here.
Some quick feedback: It wasn't clear to me that phase 1 was being extended through
group-specific conversations, and while I now have a date on the books, I would have liked
to organize with young people and renters in our community before this data was
presented.
With that, I would like to uplift a few things I heard discussed yesterday at the community
development board meeting:
1.
This data offers good insight into a subset of the community, and should not be used
as representative data for the whole community's priorities.
a.
I suspect that folks who are overrepresented in this are disproportionately
homeowners and those who have a sense of protective passion and deep
belongingness to their neighborhoods.
b.
I also suspect that this data underrepresents renters, people who feel isolated
from community in their current living conditions, and folks with limited access
to transportation and internet (to name a few).
We have a good idea of the needs of our community from the various planning
documents and assessments the city has already done. For example, We know that
there is a gap between the current housing supply and what we need to meet the
community's long term needs. We know that there are considerable numbers of
people who commute into Bozeman to work, and that impacts our traffic congestion
and carbon emissions. We know that building more densely allows for more
responsible land use and is required for the expansion of public transportation.
With that, I urge the commission to:
Highlight the needs and priorities of our community that are under-
represented in the data presented tonight ( that we know exist from other
planning the city has done) in your ongoing conversations and decisions
about the UDC.
2.
Second, there is value in doing a deep dive into the key topics, and I want to highlight
that all of these variables are deeply intertwined and impact each other.
The threat presented by dividing topics out like this is that it leaves the community
vulnerable to making unrecognized tradeoffs by prioritizing certain variables in their
advocacy.
Let’s take parking, for example. I think it is fair to say that most of us agree that
when we have a built environment so reliant on cars, our infrastructure also needs
to account for that. When folks then say that we need to maintain demanding
minimum parking requirements, the tradeoff is that we allow for less space to build
homes and ADUs, continue to deepen our reliance on cars over the investment in
public transportation, and feed market conditions where folks who don’t drive still
pay for the cost of parking spots in their rent (Which costs the renter on average
$225/month).
I request that the commission:
Ask the staff to identify in what way the variables influence each other, and
where there is broad community alignment with little tradeoff.
Add a workshop to discuss the priorities being expressed by the public that
come with major trade-offs.
Consider giving the environment and transportation their own focus
workshop.
Expand phase 2 if necessary.
I look forward to engaging with the commission and community in a robust conversation
about what we need to prioritize in our growth as a city, and I’m rooted in a vision of
housing that is affordable, sustainable, equitable, and community-oriented.
Thank you for your time,
Anja Lincke
--
Anja Lincke
She/They | Housing Campaign Manager
o: (406) 542-8683c: (406) 638-1183e: anja@forwardmontana.orgw: forwardmontana.org
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