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Bozeman Health Campus Master Site Plan
Location: 915 Highland Boulevard, Bozeman, MT 59715
Legal Description: Parcel 1 & 2, Section 17 & 18, Township 02S, Range 06E,
C.O.S. 2047, Plat J-483, Gallatin County
Submitted: November 29, 2023
REVISED: March 11, 2025
Project Narrative
Overall Context
Update: The geographic extent of this Master Site Plan, as described below,
represents only a portion of the nearly 500 acres owned by Bozeman Health to the
east and west of Highland Boulevard. This Master Site Plan only pertains to part of the
Bozeman Health land west of Highland Boulevard.
The City Commission formally adopted the 2024 Bozeman Health Subarea Plan on
August 20, 2024. The Subarea Plan directly references this Master Site Plan on pages
49 and 50.
This Master Site Plan is unique for several reasons. First, the Bozeman Health
Campus is a site that has been incrementally developed over the last 30 years. So
compared to the typical MSP outlining new ‘greenfield’ development, the Bozeman
Health MSP represents a handful of infill projects within a site that 80%+ developed.
Secondly, Bozeman Health is not a land developer that is proposing new buildings
and infrastructure as part of a ‘for-profit’ business venture. But rather, Bozeman
Health is proposing additional facility expansions, new construction, and the
associated site improvements as a means to provide best-in-class ‘not-for-profit’
health care services to the community. Bozeman Health’s needs and financial ability
to meet those needs are constantly changing. Therefore, within those realities, this
MSP attempts to provide the most accurate vision of improvements over the next five
years.
Existing Conditions
Parcel 1 of the project site is approximately 38-acres and includes the Hillcrest Senior Living
facilities, a large Bozeman Health surface parking lot, and a temporary maintenance and storage
yard. Parcel 2 is the site of Bozeman Health’s Deaconess Regional Medical Center including
inpatient and outpatient buildings, an emergency department, and numerous surface parking
lots. See the included Existing Footprints Exhibit for more details.
Update: Both parcels (1 and 2) and all the facilities (Regional Medical Center and
Hillcrest) are owned and operated by Bozeman Health. But the only physical Hillcrest
component of the Bozeman Health MSP is the dilapidated, unused garages that are
being proposed for demolition as part of Phase 1.
A variety of adjacent uses surround the project site. To the north, northwest, and west is City
of Bozeman properties managed for the cemetery and Parks & Recreation uses. To the south is
the Knolls residential neighborhood. To the east, across Highland Boulevard, is additional
Bozeman Health land that is managed for agriculture and as publicly accessible open space,
known as Highland Glen.
Parcel 1 is zoned R-O and Parcel 2 is zoned B-2. See the included Property Zoning Exhibit for
more details.
Update: Groundwater monitoring was conducted for the area included in Phase 1
from April, 2024 through July, 2024. Additional groundwater monitoring is scheduled
for April 2025 through July 2025. Groundwater measurements will be collected with
all future site plan and design phases.
Existing Infrastructure
Transportation
The project site is serviced by Highland Boulevard (Minor Arterial), Ellis Street (Local), and Old
Highland Boulevard (Local). There are shared use paths along the entire length of Highland
Boulevard, Old Highland Boulevard, and Ellis Street. Natural surface trails connect the project
site to Burke Park (aka Peet’s Hill) to the west, Lindley Park to the north, and the Highland
Glen trail system to the east. Streamline’s Purple Line provides transit service along Highland
Boulevard.
Public Utilities
WATER
A 12-inch ductile iron water main runs the length of Highland Boulevard. The Hillcrest Senior
Living Center and Regional Medical Center are serviced by a series of looped ductile iron water
mains ranging in size between six (6) and fourteen (14) inches. The project area includes twenty
(20) fire hydrants.
See Civil Sheet C2.0 for more details.
SANITARY SEWER
The sewer main servicing the project area is an eight (8) inch vitrified clay line running
northeast from the Highland-Old Highland intersection, across Ellis Street, through the City
Parks & Recreation softball facility, and then tying in at Haggerty Lane. The main trunk servicing
Hillcrest is also an eight (8) inch clay line. The main trunks servicing the Regional Medical
Center are eight (8) inch PVC lines except for the main for the Emergency Department which
is a six (6) inch PVC line.
See Civil Sheet C2.0 for more details.
STORMWATER
The existing storm water system for the subject property includes surface runoff to inlets
feeding pipes ranging in size from twelve (12) to twenty-four (24) inches which lead to four
surface ponds or the intermittent “urban waterway” conveyance on the east side of Highland
Boulevard.
See Civil Sheet C2.0 for more details.
Proposed Development
Site Improvements
The proposed phased developments for the Bozeman Health Deaconess Regional Medical
Center include the following improvements:
• Mitigation of the existing non-conforming conditions with Parking Lot I and the
maintenance and storage yard
• Construction of an Emergency Department expansion (approximately 10,000 GSF)
• Construction of a parking garage (400-500 spaces) and an enclosed wayfinding
concourse connecting several of the existing medical office building entrances
• Construction of MOB 6 (Medical Office Building) (up to 5 floors with up to 100,000
GSF)
• Vertical expansion of the Bridger Critical Care Tower (Floors 4-5 with approximately
35,000 GSF)
• New landscaped open space around the primary stormwater pond at the southwest
corner of the Highland-Ellis intersection
• New landscaped open space at north of the Highland-Old Highland intersection to
rehabilitate the existing Parking Lot I
• Horizontal expansion of Parking Lots A and E
Refer to the included Master Campus Plan exhibit for more details.
See the Lot Coverage Exhibit-Current for a detailed analysis of the existing ratios between lot
coverage and open space. See the Lot Coverage Exhibit-Future for the approximate ratios upon
completion of all the development phases.
The proposed MSP parking improvements will add approximately 486 net new parking spaces
to the Regional Medical Center campus. The current parking inventory is approximately 1,692
spaces. Therefore, the total parking inventory at full buildout of the MSP would be more than
2,170 spaces. A parking demand analysis is included in the Traffic Impact Study submitted as
part of this MSP application package.
Update: The TIS included with the original MSP submittal included the following parking
analysis.
Parking Analysis
An inventory of parking availability found that the Bozeman Health Campus currently provides
1,692 spaces, including approximately 230 spaces in the gravel Lot I. Construction of the
Master Site Plan will add 475 net new spaces, for a total of 2,167 spaces on the Bozeman
Health Campus.
Section 38.540.050 of the Bozeman Unified Development Code (UDC) outlines the number of
parking spaces required for residential and non-residential uses. Table 1 below provides a
summary of the calculations completed to address the UDC requirements, including summaries
of general land use information and code-required parking calculations. For the Bozeman
Health Campus those calculations are based on the number of employees, doctors, and hospital
beds.
According to the UDC, one space must be provided for each full-time medical office building
employee, four for each full-time doctor, and one for each hospital bed.
Please note that as the surface parking improvements continue to be designed as the Phase 1
Site Plan the exact parking inventory gets revised. Therefore, there will be some discrepancies
between the original parking analysis in the TIS, the parking summarized in the MSP, and the
actual number of spaces in the Phase 1 Construction Documents. Despite some slight numeric
discrepancies, the applicant has, and continues to, diligently assess and calculate the parking
requirements. Also, considering the Bozeman Health campus has hundreds of parking spaces in
excess of the UDC minimum requirement, any small discrepancies should not have any
regulatory significance.
Below is the revised parking inventory from the Phase 1 Site Plan showing the changes to Lot
A, Lot E and Lot I which equate to a net increase of 209 surface parking spaces.
LOT NAME EXISTING
SPACES
NEW
SPACES
TOTAL
SPACES
Lot A 109 197 306
Lot B 79 79
Lot C 260 260
Lot D 42 42
Lot E 545 162 707
Lot F 78 78
Lot G 194 194
Lot H 105 105
Lot I 150 -150 0
TOTAL
SPACES
1562 209 1771
Landscape & Irrigation
Landscape improvements include approximately 192,731-square feet of new parking lot and
street frontage landscaping that accompany the proposed phased developments. The new
landscaping shall comply with all requirements listed in the Bozeman Municipal Code at the time
of Site Plan submittal. New parking lot landscaping includes parking lot large canopy trees,
parking lot landscape areas, and parking lot screening. New street frontage landscaping includes
large canopy street trees and boulevard landscaping.
Additionally, there is approximately 384,135-square feet of new open space landscaping with
proposed natural fines walking paths. Within the Phase 1 development, the existing
nonconforming parking Lot I will be rehabilitated as a landscaped open space a natural fines
walking path. In addition, Phase 1 includes improvements to the existing maintenance yard to
meet UDC requirements including landscape screening. Also, as part of Phase 1, the expansion
parking Lot E will require landscaping of the relocated storm pond open space to the west.
Within Phase 5 development, there will be landscape improvements to the stormwater pond at
the intersection of Highland Boulevard and Ellis Street including shrub plantings, walking paths,
and trees to provide shade to trail users. A conceptual illustration showing the proposed
character of this portion of the site is shown on sheet L2.1. Precedent images further illustrate
how the retaining walls that are likely required for the construction of parking Lot A can create
an opportunity for signage and corresponding landscaping to create a better landmark
acknowledging arrival from the north to the hospital campus.
Approximately 36,366-square feet of existing parking lot landscaping shall be restored to satisfy
parking lot requirements as shown on previously approved site plans. This shall include the
replacement of parking lot trees that may have died or been removed previously for reasons
not regarding safety, utility conflicts, or other reasonable cases.
See Landscape Sheets L1.1 and L2.1 for more details about overall landscape plan.
Pedestrian Oriented Open Space
Update: The Bozeman Health Campus currently has approximately 46,000 SF of
existing commercial open space that consists of pedestrian areas and seating at the
major entrances of the hospital. Each phase of the master plan that includes new
building construction will introduce additional open space. It is estimated that
Phases 4 and 6 will add approximately 20,000 SF of new pedestrian-oriented opens
space.
See Landscape Sheet L1.1 for the existing and future pedestrian oriented open space
areas.
Transportation Improvements
A Traffic Impact Study (TIS) was conducted and submitted with this formal MSP application.
The TIS includes analysis of trip generation, trip distribution, traffic assignments, traffic impacts,
and a summary of parking demands.
The TIS concludes:
“The preceding analysis has shown that buildout of Phases 1-5 of the Bozeman Health Campus
Master Plan will generate a moderate volume of new traffic demand for area streets and
intersections. These phases are estimated to generate approximately 3,756 gross new trips on
an average weekday.”
The recommended transportation network improvements include:
“Reconstruction of the south approach of the Kagy Boulevard/Highland Boulevard intersection
to a three-lane section with a southbound thru/right-turn and dedicated left-turn lane should be
considered to address predicted capacity deficiency.
The warranted northbound left-turn and southbound right-turn lanes should be considered for
installation at the Highland Boulevard/Lots C/H Access intersection.”
Update: A TIS waiver request was submitted with the Phase 1 Site Plan. A copy of that
letter has been included with the MSP resubmittal to show that while the phasing of
the original improvements has been revised, the traffic projections remain
unchanged.
A revised Streamline bus route and new bus shelter along Old Highland Boulevard are
proposed but have not yet been negotiated with Streamline.
Refer to the included Campus Mobility Network exhibit for more details about proposed
transit, improved pedestrian pathways, and existing bike/ped facilities.
Update: Multimodal Network Connections
The Bozeman Health Campus is very well connected to the overall city multimodal
network. As mentioned above and shown on the Campus Mobility Plan, the
Streamline bus system Purple Line provides drop-off and pick-up locations at the
campus. The applicant has corresponded with Streamline about improving the bus
service to campus. That correspondence has been provided as part of the MSP
resubmittal.
Campus is integrated with GVLT’s Main Street to Mountains trail system. Natural
fines trails immediately adjacent to campus connect to the west to the Peet’s
Hill/Burke Park trail system and to Highland Glen trail system to the east. The shared
use paths and sidewalks on campus connect directly to shared use path on the west
side of Highland Boulevard which provides access to Main Street to the north and
Kagy Boulevard to the south.
Utility Improvements
WATER
An initial assessment of the potential new water demand indicates there is sufficient existing
capacity. The 2016 Water Facility Plan proposes a new twelve (12) inch water main to be
installed along Ellis Street (between the intersection with Highland) then running south along
Old Highland before turning west along the Bozeman Health-City of Bozeman property line.
These improvements are identified as CIP Numbers FP_1544, FP_1545, and FP_1546 and are
all unscheduled. Although not required, the formal MSP submittal includes preliminary water
demand calculations for the proposed new buildings.
See Civil Sheets C3.1, C3.2, and C3.3 for more details about the proposed new water mains to
be installed with each phase.
SANITARY SEWER
There appears to be adequate grades and capacity to accommodate the anticipated increases to
the sewer demands of the proposed phased development. Although not required, the formal
MSP submittal includes preliminary sewer demand calculations for the proposed new buildings.
See Civil Sheets C3.1, C3.2, and C3.3 for more details about the proposed new sewer mains to
be installed with each phase.
STORMWATER
The existing stormwater ponds will be modified as needed to accommodate for the additional
runoff associated with the proposed phased developments. The existing pond to the west of
Lot E will be relocated to the west of the parking lot expansion as part of Phase I. The north
stormwater pond will be improved as needed to meet all code requirements and will include
landscaping and a walking path.
Also, subsurface chamber systems will be added for the new paved parking lot areas associated
with Phase 1 and Phase 4. The chamber systems will be connected to the existing stormwater
system and overflow to the north pond during larger stormwater events.
The stormwater facilities for each phase will function independently of future phases.
See Civil Sheets C3.1, C3.2, and C3.3 for more details about the proposed new stormwater
facilities to be installed with each phase.
Entitlement Period
Bozeman Health requests the maximum MSP entitlement period of five years.
Phasing Plan
The proposed phases are shown in the included Campus Phasing Plan exhibit and the Civil
Sheet C3.0.
The phased build out is tentatively planned as follows:
2024/25 Phase 1—Parking Lot E expansion and non-conforming conditions
2025/26 Phase 2—Emergency Department expansion
2025/26 Phase 3—Parking structure and wayfinding concourse
2027/28 Phase 4—MOB 6 construction
2028/29 Phase 5—Bridger Tower vertical expansion and parking lot expansion
Update: The phasing has been revised as follows and as shown on the Campus
Phasing Plan exhibit and Civil Sheet C3.0
2025 Phase 1—Parking Lot E expansion, Parking Lot A expansion, and non-conforming
conditions resolved for the maintenance yard and Parking Lot I
2026 Phase 2—Emergency Department expansion
2027 Phase 3— Bridger Tower vertical expansion
2028 Phase 4— Parking structure and wayfinding concourse
• This phase includes the installation and/or rerouting of water and sewer mains. All of
these improvements will be designed to meet the City Public Works Standards and
submitted as part of a formal Site Plan application.
2029 Phase 5— MOB 6 construction
• This phase includes the installation and/or rerouting of water and sewer mains. All of
these improvements will be designed to meet the City Public Works Standards and
submitted as part of a formal Site Plan application.
During the specific design and Site Plan application for each phase, offsite
improvements and traffic mitigation will be addressed as required. A site plan
specific Traffic Impact Study will be prepared for each phase.
For phases that involve both private development and public infrastructure
improvements, concurrent construction will be requested with site plan application.
The following phasing components are included this MSP application:
• Proposed limit of construction for each phase
• Proposed plan for staging and phasing of construction including storage of topsoil, spoils,
and construction materials and equipment
A phasing plan for building and site improvements include the corresponding infrastructure
improvements. Therefore, there is no separate phasing plan for infrastructure improvements.
Sequential Site Plans
Bozeman Health shall submit sequential individual site plans for each phase of the master site
plan. Each subsequent application shall be consistent with the approved master site plan and
subject to review criteria of Section 38.230.100.A, BMC. If it does not, a modification to the
master site plan will be submitted.
Draft Design Guidelines
During the City of Bozeman Pre-Application meeting on July 20, 2023, Brian Krueger indicated
that draft design guidelines are not required as part of this MSP application. Mr. Krueger
acknowledged that the existing variety of building designs spanning 40 years of development
preclude establishing design guidelines at this point.
Block Frontage
Update: No conceptual building designs have been completed by the applicant at the
time of the Master Site Plan submittal. All subsequent site plans will comply with the
applicable block frontage standards codified at that time and all new buildings will
‘face’ the adjacent street.
Financial Guarantees
It is not anticipated at this time that any financial guarantees will be required.