HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-04-25 Public Comment - C. Lawrence - Public comment related to Application 24606...From:Cory Lawrence
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment related to Application 24606...
Date:Monday, March 3, 2025 4:49:10 PM
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe.
To Director of Community Development:
Please accept this public comment against the Modification Application #24606.
The applicant has provided volumes of parking information but unfortunately, it is all very
confusing, hard to follow, inconsistent, and when recalculated, does not appear comply with
parking requirements for the intended buildings.
This is particularly so in the case of what is referred to as the Mountainview buildings. For
these, there is a claim that 186 SID parking spaces are associated with the former Mountain
View property. First, have the SID spaces been confirmed? Where are the documents
providing for these spaces, confirming their existence? No information is provided by the
applicant. Second, how are SID spaces associated with a building that has been demolished
available to be used “in credit” for a greenfield development? These SID spaces were
associated with the building that existed and were originally associated with a surface lot
located a few blocks away. Now that the building has been demolished in favor of a much
larger building that is being built from the ground up, how can the applicant get credit for these
spaces? And, if there are 186 “SID parking spaces”, how were these spaces originally
calculated? How different were the rules at the time such that the total is artificially inflated
due to differences in governing ordinances many decades ago versus the requirements of
today? These differences result in a significant windfall for the developer who will be allowed
to avoid providing for a single parking space for the new buildings on the actual lot where the
Mountain View property formerly existed. Lastly, under the current modified application, the
applicant appears to be using SID parking spaces associated with the original Mountain View
property for another building that is entirely unrelated to the Mountain View property and not
on the same property (located one block to the north of the former Mountain View property).
The overarching concern with this application is the applicant is proposing building significant
square footage across the entirety of the project and not providing for sufficient, actual parking
spaces, as our current governing code requires for the safety of the public. There are a number
of questions that remain unanswered from the applicant’s modified application and the City is
accountable to its citizens for their health and safety for projects that are approved for
development. There are many people who have a grave concern over the issues that seem
likely to prevail with such a large development that will inadequately provide for actual parking
spaces related to the square footage constructed. The assertions of the applicant related to
parking calculations must be independently verified as a part of providing approvals. The use
and porting of SID spaces as credit towards what is required to be provided per current code
must be fully vetted by the City in its review. The public must have confidence the
requirements for parking are being met, in substance, or the safety and well-being of Bozeman
citizens is at risk.
I encourage the Director of Community Development to take more time to allow for the full and
complete and verified review of the parking calculations and the use of credits of all kinds in
the current calculations offered by the applicant. Providing approval without validating all of
these questions would be a catastrophic failure and will result in a long-term problem for
downtown residents, business owners, and visitors alike. We already see many dangerous
situations every week associated with vehicular and pedestrian encounters on Tracy between
Mendenhall and Lamme related to the AC Hotel and the way in which the loading zone,
parking, and traffic were approved. Don’t let the latest decision related to parking for this
significant project – yet another from the same developer who constructed the AC Hotel –
amplify these unnecessarily dangerous circumstances.
Respectfully submitted,
Cory Lawrence
7 E Beall St
Bozeman, MT 59715