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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-22-25 Public Comment - A. Sweeney - Jandt Neighborhood Survey on winter street maintenance optionsFrom:Jandt Neighborhood To:Nicholas Ross; Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]Jandt Neighborhood Survey on winter street maintenance options Date:Tuesday, April 22, 2025 11:24:18 AM Attachments:Jandt Winter Street Maintenance Preferences 2025-04-22 at 11.06.26 AM.pdf 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. Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Commissioners, and Director Ross, I put together a survey for my neighborhood about the 4 policy options for winter streetmaintenance. I'm submitting the results to you very late and I apologize for that. It was a tight turn around from the INC presentation to now. But hopefully this info is valuable to you. Wehad 31 respondents. As you digest this data please know 2 things: I did not have time to flyer my neighborhood so responses are mostly going to be fromhomeowners (We could really use some help onboarding twice annually as the student population is very transient and doesn't tend to join the email list) Our neighborhood has special circumstances that require a level of snow to be left on the streets to insulate water lines that are not buried deep enough to avoid freezing. Sowhile our neighborhood was probably accidentally colored in on the postcard mailer as being part of the pilot plowing program, we were not actually plowedconsistently because of the water lines. This will be resolved this summer, so a more consistent approach will be utilized in the future. Some of the ire in the free responsesis due to the inconsistency. I suspected most people would prefer option 3, the alternate side plowing like the pilotprogram, and it looks like this small sample size bears that out. Thanks so much for taking our perspective into consideration going forward. Alison Sweeney Chair of the Jandt Neighborhood How willing are you to see the City continue with the status quo for winter street maintenance (plowing)? 31 responses 15 10 5 6 (19.4%) 4 (12.9%) 4 (12.9%) 0 1 2 3 4 5 Very Unwilling Very Willing Comments and concerns: The current situation is unworkable. The pressure needs to be placed on all of the multi family houses with excess vehicles Parker cars are a pain in other additional ways like trying to get around them with our vehicle. They collect snow and debris and block passage. We live here and have several vehicles yet never have the need to leave our vehicles on the street during plowing times. It would be nice to have more plowing done. I don't like to move my work trailer because when I do move it and repark it, I can't get it close enough to the curb and it sits vulnerable to getting smashed by other vehicles. Our street is impassable if we get a lot of snow. I expect to need to drive slowly down neighborhood streets, so to me driving in snow is not the worst thing, BUT for parkers -their cars can get buried so, there are better options. The city has not adequately maintained the streets. Plowing has not been a priority In our neighborhood. When they do plow, they block driveways with piles of snow. Poorly worded question. We would like them to plow. Tow unmoved/ticketed vehicles. Streets get very narrow It's always been this way for me, so I'm used to it. I don't mind our street not being plowed in the winter, in fact, I appreciate that it slows the speeding drivers down and makes the street safer. Also, I enjoy cross-country skiing down the streets in the winter. It's a nice way to get exercise without having to drive anywhere. With snow comes issues of roads narrowing and rutting leading to more accidents Would you be willing to accept permanent parking restrictions on your street? 31 responses Comments and concerns: eves eNo •Maybe I park in my garage, and have additional parking in my driveway, so street parking is not an issue. what is an issue are all my neighbors whose garages are treated as storage, driveways storing winter & summer toya and their cars are ALWAYS y parked on the streets. FOR MONTHS! We simply utilize too much street parking in this neighborhood with 5-6 college kids in many of the houses, and each of them having their own car. This option just wouldn't work for us. Again pressure needs to be placed on people to U1lllze existing parking. Many of the houses on our street have two stall garages but they are currently used for storage not parking This would be fine with us but poses a, hardship to folks who don't have driveways or have multiple vehicles per house. There is not enough parking available at the present time. To exclude one side of the street would be a disaster. No because there Is not enough parking as Is. Still very hard to park on street when snow piles up That would not work on Story between 10th and 11th. It would limit us to 2 cars on one side of the street Tried not to vote, because I currently have off street parking, but required so hit maybe. over time this leads to wear and tear on one side and maintenance challenges for the side with constant cars. With the college students that live in Jandt this would restrict already precious parking. There are way too many cars on our street for this Not feasible on residentia I streets where some houses have 4-6 cars per house. Narrow streets need a single parking lane. Alternate on a yearly basis. I have no driveway, so I would love permit parking. There is not enough parking in my neighborhood (which has many rentals and therefore a high car:house ratio} to accommodate this option This would never work in our neighborhood as there are multi unit apartments around us Street parking is already an issue and important so I don't want to see it go away Would you be willing to accept temporary parking restrictions on a weekly basis through the winter months so that alternate sides of the street could be maintained every other week? 31 responses eves •No •Maybe Comments and Concerns: Your initial notice was just about COMPLETELY IGNORED! I saw the plow trucks often and they were unable to plow because cars were parked on both sides of the streets. several cars and one snow mobile showed up on Alderson and never MOVED over the entire winter. I say warn them, ticket them then tow them ..... We would need full signage and hefty parking tickets for the college kids who drive into town and use our neighborhood as parking for the university. But you need to plow when you say you will Yes we like this solution. This requires owners and renters to be diligent and respect/follow parking requests. We'd be happy with this. We'd also be happy if the city allowed towing of vehicles that block plowing egress. Residents need to participate and respect everyone's need to have streets plowed and snow removed. Towing is one solution. People are flakey and will not remember to move the vehicles resulting in more unpaid parking tickets. This system is too hard to remember, especially if there is no snow and the plows do not come. My biggest concern is that residents on my street went to great lengths to move all vehicles and trailers on the specific days and the plows didn't show up. Since they were inconsistent, people stopped moving their vehicles, then got plowed in and ticketed. Ticketing for a problem the city created makes it hard to be motivated to buy in on the program. Most preferred -just would want to know start and end dates I think the pilot program had a lot of potential ! If the city could use signage to people get the hang of when and where to park I see no reason it wouldn't work as we0II as the leaf pickup in the fall does. Tried not to vote, because I currently have off street parking, but required so hit maybe. But I have lived in areas where this is the norm. Its done year round so people get in the rhythm and roads are clean. If people want cleaner roads, Id recommend this one. I think the pilot program has promise but needs tweaking and more notice Alternate side system will work well if the city tows unmoved/ticketed vehicle vehicles. I like this option Yes, but I personally would need to know that I would be able to park on my block (between 11th and 10th on Koch). There isn't that much parking there currently. I am worried that if I'm out of town (I travel a fair amount for work) on a plowing day and therefore unable to move my car, I will get ticketed and/or plowed-in. It has to be done consistently, our streets were still only plowed once. So hard to know when you'll plow if not getting it done If you were part of the pilot program, how do you think this worked in your neighborhood? What are some issues that would need to be worked out for this to be a viable option for you or your neighborhood? 17 responses See above. People that live in the MSU restricted parking area north of College don't like to be told what to do. And vehemently refuse to timelines. But they have plenty of time and breath to complain when the City doesn't show up. (also noted in leaf removal)! It was inconsistent in our neighborhood so people stopped complying and then it was a huge mess! It would need to be consistent. It was okay. The city did a great Job!! Parked and abandoned cars on our street (13th) were a problem. Again, towing would alleviate this (if done the day before scheduled plowing). I would also bet that if the city towed, it would take about three seconds to get much better compliance with folks moving vehicles out of the way. Badly. The city didn't stick to the plan. I'm fine if the streets only get plowed when It gets really bad. My biggest concern is that residents on my street went to great lengths to move all vehicles and trailers on the specific days and the plows didn't show up. Since they were inconsistent, people stopped moving their vehicles, then got plowed in and ticketed. Ticketing for a problem the city created makes it hard to be motivated to buy in on the program. That being said (twice, lol) I do appreciate the plowing and hope that next year can be more reliable. A lot of our parking space is taken during the day by students going to MSU. Because they weren't from this neighborhood they didn' t know about the alternate parking experiment and so our street was jammed up with cars (including one that parked in front of my house for 2 weeks). No warnings or citations were issued and nothing was plowed, The city just forgot about us. Very unclear when plowing was happening, we need same warning as leaf pick up. Not good. Enforce ticketing and signs showing where to park and when N/a Pilot program was a disaster but it was the first year. It's ironic that the city didn't do more to notify residents to the plan. They had it in the paper and explained it at a commission meeting and a mailer but that was not sufficient. They only actually plowed 2x but it made a HUGE difference for us. I think this is the best answer City inconsistent on service but that is because South 14th should not have been on the pilot project map due to waterline issues. Signage See above. My street was supposedly part of the pilot program and my household tried to be good citizens and neighbors and remember to move our cars on the appropriate days, only to not have the street plowed. It was a big hassle for nothing. Never really saw it happen Lack of consistency was a major issue. There was little to no plowing on our street Expansion of Overnight Restrictions •Increase zone of existing 2am-7am parking restriction•Lamme to Olive, N 7th/8th to B1roadway/S Wallace•Requires moderate level of additional Parking Enforcement If you live in this area, would you be willing to accept this option? 31 responses eves eNo •Maybee Oon't live there Having reviewed all 4 options, which one would be your preferred street maintenance policy going forward? 31 responses Any additional comments or concerns 7 responses e Option 1; No Action e Option 2; Permanent Parl<ing Restrictions •Option 3; Alternate-side Part<ing R<>strictionse Option 4; Overnight Parking Restrictions I like the Alternate-side Parking Restrictions best because it makes the most sense -but without compliance from the residents• tthe City would have no choice but to not plow our entire neighborhood. Permanent Parking Restrictions would be the next choice, but again the residents MUST be proactive and comply with your requirements. Or you could do #2, #3 and #4, and tow every vehicle and 'toy" if they're not moved out of the way. I'd really like to be about to get my car in and out of my neighborhood during the winter without getting stuck. You need to do a City-wide education campaign because while residents will get used to it, our neighborhood is frequently used for parking by students or workers driving in from outlying areas. They need to know they can't come jam us up. None of the above. You need to post ·No Parking" signs so everyone knows what's going on. The odd-even didn't work well for our area (we live close to MSU and lots of students park here regularly). Your survey needs a does not apply option for your last question!! Thanks for doing this! We appreciate it! I like snow plowing only when it gels bad for my street. I do want the main roads plowed. None of them! I think having signs like In the summer for street maintenance Is the only way this will work!! I live in an area close to campus and LOTS of S1udems park in the area. If there's a no parking sign posted then they know not to park there. Your last queS1lon ooeds to have an option to say you don't want any of the plans!! So my opinion on it is not what I feel. H's a catch 22. The city needs to be more flexible as they imitate the plowlng changes.