HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-15-25 Public Comment - D. Carty - Public Comment_ Boutique Hotel, Application 24147From:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment: Boutique Hotel, Application 24147
Date:Sunday, April 13, 2025 5:52:40 PM
Attachments:DCarty_PublicComment_BoutiqueHotel_4-13-25.pdf
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April 13, 2025 5:50 p.m.
Please post this email and my attached public comment (pdf) in the folder for Application
24147, the Boutique Hotel. Thank you.
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
Public Comment
Request to deny Application 24147, the Boutique Hotel
Page 1 of 2
April 13, 2025
Dear Bozeman City Commissioners:
I am writing to ask the Bozeman City Commission (City) to deny the Boutique Hotel
development project, Application No. 24147 (as follows):
The developers of the Boutique Hotel, Application No. 24147, seek a 30-foot incursion
into the City’s required 35-foot watercourse setback so that they can build an outdoor
patio complex, and the developers seek to build the hotel itself within the Bozeman
Creek floodplain. It is common knowledge that not building within watercourse setbacks
and not building within floodplains are important for many reasons, including but not
limited to (1) protecting water quality via pollutant filtering and preventing erosion; (2)
flood control management via increasing water storage capacity and slowing the spread
of floodwaters; (3) protecting riparian ecosystems, which provide bank stabilization and
wildlife habitat; (4) protecting the public health, safety, and general welfare, as well as
protecting public and private properties from erosion and flooding; and (5) the inherent
natural beauty of watercourses and their riparian areas and floodplains. Consequently,
no development in Bozeman should ever be granted any incursion into the City's 35-foot
watercourse setback requirement, and no development in Bozeman should ever be
granted a permit to build within a floodplain.
Arguably, if the City has any real and abiding interest in restoring Bozeman Creek—its
meanders, riparian zone, and aquatic life—through the downtown area, then approving
the Boutique Hotel is the very last thing the City should do. Moreover, allowing the
Boutique Hotel to be built within the Bozeman Creek floodplain will—sooner or later—
endanger the public health, safety, and general welfare of Bozeman residents and
visitors alike. To be candid, the arrogance of humans continuing to build in floodplains is
beyond the pale.
Questions for your consideration: Has an independent hydro-geo-morphologist been
asked to weigh in on the potential short-term, mid-term, and long-term adverse effects
of building the Boutique Hotel? Has an independent aquatic ecologist been asked to
weigh in? Has an independent riparian ecologist been asked to weigh in? I’m guessing
the answer to all three of these questions is “no.” Ultimately, if the Boutique Hotel is
built, it will be just another nail in the coffin of the ecologically, socio-culturally, and
economically beneficial idea of restoring Bozeman Creek through the downtown area.
In conclusion, it is clear the Boutique Hotel does not pencil out as benefitting the
Bozeman Community as whole. Allowing the developers’ request for a 30-foot incursion
Public Comment
Request to deny Application 24147, the Boutique Hotel
Page 2 of 2
into the City’s required 35-foot watercourse setback or allowing this hotel to be built in
the Bozeman Creek floodplain will (1) endanger the public health, safety, and general
welfare of Bozeman residents and visitors alike and (2) act against the much-better,
long-term idea of restoring Bozeman Creek through the downtown area. Please deny
Application 24147, the Boutique Hotel. Thank you.
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see
land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and
respect.” Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac, 1949