HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-30-25 Public Comment - A. Sweeney - My support for graduated square foot cap regulationsFrom:Alison Sweeney
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]My support for graduated square foot cap regulations
Date:Monday, June 30, 2025 12:51:48 PM
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Hello Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Commissioners, and Community Development
Director George,
After the June 24th UDC work session, I wish to further clarify how I see a
graduated square foot cap benefitting Bozeman. The devil is in the details on this
and it is very easy to get wrong, just like the City's first attempt at FAR. I'm glad
you're considering this. Here's how I see it working.
If you are going to build a single family detached home you get a square foot
allowance of say 2,500 square feet. That allowance doesn’t include a garage, or an
attic, or a basement, or the stairs, (those don’t count towards your 2,500 sq. ft.) so it’s
large enough for a 3 bed, 2 bath house.
This metric is triggered by demolition and redevelopment in
existing neighborhoods only. It does not make existing larger homes non-
compliant. It does not prevent people from putting an addition on their existing home,
as long as they save the original (historic) structure.
What it does prevent is speculative redevelopment and McMansions. We've
seen too many smaller older homes (used to be called starter homes) demolished
and replaced with enormous homes just because someone liked the lot.
Now the graduated part comes in by allowing extra square footage if they add a
second unit. So if someone's building a duplex, they get 3,000 square feet (split
between the two units as you like). If you build a tri-plex you get 3,500 and so on,
with 500 square feet additional allowance for each additional dwelling unit.
I only support this if we have unit caps in place! So the maximum size structure
you can have in R-A would be a 3,000 sq. ft. duplex, plus your 1000 sq. ft. ADU out
back. THAT’S PLENTY! Do not remove unit caps in R-A and R-B! You can consider
a density bonus for affordable housing as described in my joint presentation with
Amaia Sangroniz. Don't give anything away for free! Leverage it for affordable
housing. Otherwise don't redevelop!!!!
In greenfield development you get the 2,500 sq. ft. allowance for the single family
home, and if you really need a bigger house, then you can pay cash-in-lieu of
providing the extra dwelling unit. Many families will buy homes at this size, but the
way the market works right now a developer will get a lot more money for a 3,600-
4,000 sq. ft. house, so that’s what they build.
There’s lots of ways to do this policy wrong, and create more harm than good. It
could be great for preserving existing smaller homes in historic neighborhoods and
creating new smaller starter homes in new neighborhoods (something developers
never seem to want to do; bigger is always better $$$).
I cannot endorse a graduated square foot cap without unit caps! NOT AT ALL!
Here's two more reasons not to remove unit caps in R-A and R-B;
First: since both our historic preservation program and our demolition code cannot
prevent housing from going to the landfill, this upzoning is incredibly dangerous to
neighborhood character and maintaining an economically diverse core of Bozeman.
We will continue to see smaller older homes torn down and redeveloped into luxury
condos as we do today. The march towards gentrification and displacement will
continue.
Second: the state legislature’s new parking regulations. No parking can be
required for dwelling units under 1200 sq. ft. So if there is no limit to the number
of units on a lot in R-A and R-B, a developer could build 8-10 units WITH NO
PARKING! The previous draft, that we all rose up against in 2023, was actually better
because it required off street parking! I know you want density, but what we create
has to be workable. People have cars. And there are bad actors in our community
who will abuse this. You know this.
Thank you for considering these recommendations.
Alison B. SweeneyBernadette's Handmade JewelryBozeman MT406-404-5740alison-bernadettes.com