HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-01-25 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Support the Guthrie AppealFrom:Zehra Osman
To:Bozeman Public Comment; Terry Cunningham; Joey Morrison; Jennifer Madgic; Douglas Fischer; Emma Bode
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Support the Guthrie Appeal
Date:Monday, March 31, 2025 10:11:36 PM
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Please post this comment within the public comment record for the Guthrie project.
Dear Mayor Cunningham, Deputy Mayor Morrison, and Bozeman City Commissioners:
I encourage you to uphold the appeal filed by the Whittier Elementary School neighborhood that opposes
the city planning staff's recent approval of the Guthrie building on the 300 block of North 5th Avenue.
As I wrote to you two weeks ago, the ONLY multi-family residential units that the city should allow within
the boundaries of the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) are those that are
COMPATIBLE:
The NCOD requires new construction in residential neighborhoods to follow established patterns in
building height, mass, density, materials, parking, open space, etc. The Guthrie, which is located
inside the NCOD, does not adhere to the NCOD regulations.
The regulatory language in the NCOD, if followed, would have resulted in a staff denial of the Guthrie. But
staff has wrongly interpreted the regulatory language in the NOCD to be "optional," which it is not. This is
a fatal error by staff.
If the approval stands, it would establish a negative precedent of allowing "big box" residential buildings to
be constructed on residentially zoned properties that are inside the boundaries of the Neighborhood
Conservation Overlay District or NCOD. At significant personal expense, neighbors of the project site have
obtained legal help and have filed an appeal of the staff approval. The city charges nearly $3000.00 just to
file an appeal, which is prohibitively high.
Allowing the out-of-scale Guthrie into a residential district inside the NCOD will open the door to more
such buildings across all the other residential districts inside the NCOD boundaries. For several years, this
has been met with consistent and resounding opposition by MOST Bozeman residents throughout Bozeman,
as well as by those living in these historic districts within the NCOD.
The scale and mass of the Guthrie violate Code: 38.230.100A.5.c.
The building design fails to integrate with the neighborhood. Code: 38.230.100A.7
The traffic study ignores failing intersections in the Whittier elementary school neighborhood. In fact,
traffic congestion was Deputy Mayor Morrison's reason for denying the previous iteration of the Guthrie
back in July 2024.
IN SUMMARY, I strongly urge you to uphold the citizens’ appeal. They are your constituents. Your staff
has made an error. Allow only compatible buildings within the NCOD and without tearing down historic
buildings.
Respectfully,
Zehra Osman
312 Sanders Ave.
Bozeman, 59718