HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-25-25 Public Comment - F. Metzger - Public CommentFrom:Frances Metzger
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment
Date:Tuesday, June 24, 2025 12:34:42 PM
Attachments:Public Comment.pdf
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Hello!
I have attached a public comment for this evening's meeting. I know that I am thirty minuteslate to the deadline by thirty minutes, but if there is any way for it to be considered, I would be
deeply grateful.
Thank you so much for your time,
Frances Metzger
My name is Frances Metzger and I am a renter near Beall Park. I worked at Country Bookshelf
for over 4 years and now am a Sales Representative for a publishing company, selling books to
the beloved Indies across Montana. I faced housing insecurity constantly for 2 years, moving
suddenly every 6 months until I found my current apartment where I have been living for 3
years.
I live in a triplex a black away from Beall Park. From the outside my building looks like a quaint
house with a garage in the back. From the inside, my triplex offers 3 spacious units including the
garden level apartment I live in. Every tenant in my building is incredibly friendly: I see one
mowing our neighbor’s lawn from time to time, I see another helping our next door neighbor with
car projects. I know I can rely on those around me to lend a hand, and they know they can rely
on me.
I love my neighborhood. I watch the seasons change through the park: couples ice skating and
teens playing hockey in winter; little kids squealing during their first game of T-Ball in the spring;
weddings and birthday parties held in the community center and under the pavilion in the
summer; dogs crunching leaves beneath their paws as the chase after a ball in the fall. A day
that I get in my car is a rarity, as I can walk and bike to everything I need.
I walk around my neighborhood and see houses for sale that I could never afford. I have seen
condos listed for over 1 million dollars, houses falling apart for over half a million, and multiple
lots bought just to be bulldozed to be consolidated into McMansions for single families. When I
see these things, it becomes obvious that the only way someone like me can afford to live in a
place like this is when there are options like apartments and multi unit housing.
My neighborhood is proposed as being RA, meaning housing like mine would not exist in the
future, meaning people like me will not get to live in neighborhoods that offer the amazing
community, access, and walkability that mine affords me. I dream of eliminating minimum lot
size and width requirements so that I can one day afford a modest home in my neighborhood. I
dream of a neighborhood where lot-consolidation doesn’t exist so that I can call more people my
neighbors. I dream of a Bozeman where housing like mine is a commonality, not a rarity.
Yet I fear that we are at risk of eliminating the middle class in Bozeman and creating a space
where only the affluent will survive, the middle class will flee for towns more affordable, and the
poor will do what they can to scrape by with nowhere else to go.
I am urging you to update the UDC to support more housing options for more people. My North
Bozeman neighborhood is an example of how life can be for everyone, not a neighborhood that
requires revision.
Thank you for your time and energy.