HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-14-25 Public Comment - J. Webster - City Commission Zoning Workshop 7_14_25From:Jim Webster
To:Bozeman Public Comment; Terry Cunningham; Joey Morrison; Douglas Fischer; Jennifer Madgic; Emma Bode;Erin George; Chuck Winn; Chris Saunders
Cc:Sarah Rosenberg; Chelsea Holling; mike@arch118.com; allycaroline@gmail.com; lindasemones@hotmail.com;
elizabeth.darrow@gmail.com; ashleyharville@yahoo.com
Subject:[EXTERNAL]City Commission Zoning Workshop 7/14/25
Date:Sunday, July 13, 2025 7:24:42 PM
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Apologies for not being able to be there, but a hiking trip inEngland first planned for July 2020, is at hand. I hope you all havea robust and productive workshop session and Val & I wish you allwell! Probably no new ground here, so an executive summary of mythoughts, follow for the record. While I’m a member of the HPAB,as always, I speak for myself and not the board here. All five commissioners came to the Bon Ton for either a tour ora casual social function; thank you for making that effort and Iknow you also had a chance to tour Centennial with AngieKociolek as well. This speaks highly of engagement within ourcommunity as you all now can speak to what you’ve seen, which isfair. As far as the Bon Ton goes, on display were quite a fewrenovated single-family homes that have been modified into 4-5apartment units, plus an ADU in some cases. While RA wouldallow for 2 units plus an ADU and RB up to 8 units, the informallychristened, “RA and-a-half” concept, was first brought up when Jenand Joey toured with us and then was referred to by that very namewhen Emma and Douglas made the walk a short time later. Simplyput, RA and-a-half allows for up to 4 to 5 units in an existing homethat keeps compatible form. We feel that this concept has merit, aswe’re not trying to say that existing homes can’t be modified at all,into structures offering a “gentle increase” in density. Jen also saidat the time of her walk on June 1st, that she would look into the RH(Residential Historic) zoning that Missoula has engaged with. Weawait those findings.
More recently there has been an increased push from some (whodon’t actually live there by the way) to consider 12-unit structureswhich I’ll dub the “Bonnett 12,” after local architect, Erik Bonnett,drew these up and commented about them. In my humble opinion,these are not compatible with the existing forms found in the BonTon. While yes, the 40 unit Evergreen is there, that should not bean automatic “carte blanche” to add more structures withsignificant increased density as might occur under this plan.
Possible loss of historic district status is also possible with toomuch infill. Do we really want to risk flushing all the hard work of
people like John DeHaas in the 1980’s, that pushed to make theBon Ton and other historic districts, happen?
Other unintended consequences could include lack ofaffordability for the very people that Forward Montana and others
wanted to see benefit. Given the cost of land and the further cost todemo a property, how would a new structure’s costs compete with
the affordability already found in Bon Ton NOAH housing? Itwould seem that the new structures would need to carry higher
rents to make them pencil in for their developers. I don’t thinkanyone wants to see this.
Another example of “unintended consequences” is taking a lookat how the new alternate side of the street parking for winter
plowing is working, which frankly was a good idea as plowing wasnever carried out well in the past. I can speak from experience as
we keep a vehicle in front of our house and so had to move it lastwinter regularly with the new plowing regs in effect. The end
result for the neighborhood was that not all the cars were movedaround when they needed to be, due to: mostly not enough room to
go to the other side, although undoubtedly, there were a smallnumber as there always are, of people who just did not move them.
This resulted in a less than ideal, plowing result, so further work isstill needed to make this policy be effective.
Regardless of the plan in place, winter plowing has been andmost likely always will be a challenge. Do we want to keep adding
more cars to the mix and more people that would come with higherzoning density, probably mean more cars in the neighborhood.
Those are the highlights and thank you all once again for yourconsideration re taking these public comments.
Sincerely,
Jim WebsterBon Ton Neighborhood
Sent from my iPhone