Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-02-25 Public Comment - D. Donnelly - Guthrie commentsFrom:Diane Donnelly To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Guthrie comments Date:Tuesday, April 1, 2025 2:07:44 PM Attachments:guthrie letter.apr2025.docx 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. Please accept the attached comments for the meeting this evening on the Guthrie proposal. Thank you. Diane Donnelly 3150 E. Graf St. #11Bozeman MT 59715 Public Comment to the Bozeman City Commission Re: Opposition to the Guthrie Project – Support for Appeal of COA Approval Diane Donnelly – April 1, 2025 Mayor, Commissioners, Thank you for the opportunity to provide public comments. As a Bozeman resident of 45 years, I am speaking today in firm opposition to the proposed construction of the Guthrie project at the site located in the Karp Addition and in full support of the appeal to overturn the Certificate of Appropriateness and site plan approval issued for this project. I have witnessed tremendous changes since I moved here in 1980, and the community has benefitted from most of those changes and continues to be a special place to live. But I do believe we must be careful to thoughtfully preserve what makes Bozeman so great. I am not rejecting growth, affordable housing, or development in our city. Rather, I ask that development within the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) be consistent with the mandatory code we collectively agreed to enforce. The Guthrie project, as currently proposed, clearly and substantially violates the NCOD Design Guidelines—guidelines that are adopted into Bozeman’s Unified Development Code and must be upheld. I feel that the Guthrie, as proposed, is deeply incompatible with the surrounding neighborhood and would not be in character with this residential area as protected by the NCOD. It overwhelms rather than complements, and disregards NCOD Guidelines, such as Design Guideline B: Building Mass and Scale, which states: “A new building should not be so dramatically greater in scale than the established context that the visual continuity of the neighborhood would be compromised.” I am hopeful the Bozeman City Commission will honor the principles of fairness, transparency, and community protection. The NCOD has been in place since 1991. It has shaped the look, feel, and livability of our historic neighborhoods for over three decades. It was created to prevent precisely this kind of development mismatch. Allowing this project to proceed without requiring compliance with the NCOD not only erodes neighborhood character—it erodes public trust. It sends the message that our planning code is optional, that developers can ignore established guidelines if they’re inconvenient, and that community voices don’t matter. That is not how Bozeman should grow. I urge this Commission to uphold the appeal and require that any future development on this site comply fully with the NCOD Design Guidelines. This is about more than a single building—it’s about preserving Bozeman’s identity, honoring our code, and protecting the integrity of our process. Thank you.