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Home My WebLink About07-15-25 Public Comment - C. Stoddard - ZoningFrom:City of Bozeman, MT To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]*NEW SUBMISSION* Public Comment Form - City Clerk Date:Monday, July 14, 2025 11:40:35 AM 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. Public Comment Form - City Clerk Submission #:4185526 IP Address:38.148.36.36 Submission Date:07/14/2025 11:40 Survey Time:2 minutes, 10 seconds You have a new online form submission. Note: all answers displaying "*****" are marked as sensitive and must be viewed after your login. Read-Only Content Full Name Christiana Stoddard Email chrisstodd@gmail.com Phone (406) 600-0507 Comments I will also be reading my comment at the meeting. Document attached with references. If you would like to submit additional documents (.pdf, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .gif, .jpg, .png, .rtf, .txt) along with your comment, you may alternately address comments@bozeman.net directly to ensure receipt of all information. Stoddard zoning comment.docx Thank you, City Of Bozeman This is an automated message generated by Granicus. Please do not reply directly to this email. Christiana Stoddard, PhD Public Comment on proposed zoning changes 1502 S Black Ave Bozeman MT 59715 chrisstodd@gmail.com I'm a homeowner who's lived in Bozeman for 25 years, raising my kids in a central neighborhood where we can walk to the university, school, library, and downtown. As I understand it, the questions at stake are whether building should be paused and whether neighborhoods like mine, close to the university and Wilson, can have more multifamily units and apartment buildings, especially 3-4 story ones. Today I'm speaking from both my personal experience and as an economics professor at MSU in favor of Bozeman continuing to build more housing, more varieties of housing, and denser housing in centrally located neighborhoods. Research from other growing communities shows cities with fewer zoning restrictions fare much better on affordability. Case studies of smaller cities like Walla Walla Washington, Tysons, VA, South Bend, IN, New Rochelle NY, and bigger citiies like Minneapolis, Houston, and Portland all showed that more flexible zoning led to slower rent and housing price growth than in comparable cities. Other national research comparing across states, research that has which has been conducted in different years under different economic conditions, has consistently found that restrictive zoning drives up housing prices. This benefits existing homeowners, but sustainable community growth requires responsive housing supply. The research convinces me that the only way to attract and keep families and young professionals is through a generous supply of mixed housing types. That’s my perspective based on the research. However, I also personally believe that economically diverse communities are also stronger. My young family started in a four-unit building near our kids' elementary school—the type that couldn't be built under the proposed restrictive code. As we grew, housing diversity let us stay in the same neighborhood rather than moving when our situation changed. I also have friends who are artists, filmmakers, and nonprofit workers who rent nearby and are deeply invested in our community. When they're ready to buy, they'll need 4- or 6-plexes—which wouldn't be allowed in my neighborhood under restrictive zoning—or they'll have to commute from far out, or leave entirely. Many lots in my older neighborhood could easily accommodate multi-unit dwellings mixed with single-family homes, housing older neighbors downsizing, younger families, and folks starting careers. High-density development in central areas like mine counters the sprawl in our valley, and dense neighborhoods around Main Street and the university foster walking, biking, and transit use, protecting our air quality. I urge you to choose zoning policy that allows more housing, more types of housing, and centrally located density that accommodates Bozeman's growth while keeping our community both affordable and economically vibrant. Research on zoning and housing affordability Broad economic research: “The Economic Implications of Housing Supply” Journal of Economic Perspectives, Edward Glaeser and Joseph Gyourko (2018) Finds zoning restrictions overall reduced GDP by 2%. Li (2022) “Do new housing units in your backyard raise your rents?” Journal of Economic Geography “for every 10% increase in the housing stock, rents decrease by 1%; and for every 10% increase in the condo stock, condo sales prices decrease by 0.9%. In addition, I show that new high-rises attract new restaurants, which is consistent with the hypothesis about amenity effects. However, I find that the supply effect dominates the amenity effect, causing net reductions in the rents and sales prices of nearby residential properties.” Been, Ellen, and O’Regan (2018) “We ultimately conclude, from both theory and empirical evidence, that adding new homes moderates price increases and therefore makes housing more affordable to low- and moderate-income families.” Pennington (2021) “rents fall by 2% for parcels within 100m of new construction. Renters’ risk of being displaced to a lower-income neighborhood falls by 17%.” Case study of 4 cities: https://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/04/17/more- flexible-zoning-helps-contain-rising-rents “More flexible Zoning Helps Contain Rising Rents”. New data from 4 jurisdictions that are allowing more housing shows sharply slowed rent growth “Research shows that rents rise when more people need housing relative to how many homes are available. Restrictive zoning policies make it harder and more expensive to build new housing for everyone who wants it, and most researchers have found that this drives up home prices and rents. Rents usually rise quickly when an area has rapid job growth, an influx of new residents, or a surge in households. But what happens to rents after new homes are built? Studies show that adding new housing supply slows rent growth—both nearby and regionally— by reducing competition among tenants for each available home and thereby lowering displacement pressures. This finding from the four jurisdictions examined supports the argument that updating zoning to allow more housing can improve affordability.” Case Study: Dallas vs Houston https://www.pew.org/en/about/news-room/opinion/2024/02/19/zoning- reform-can-reduce-homelessness Houston reduced minimum lot sizes and built 34,000 new townhouses while keeping housing costs below the national median, Dallas saw rising rents and homelessness. Case study: MInneapolis https://www.pew.org/en/research-and- analysis/articles/2024/01/04/minneapolis-land-use-reforms-offer-a- blueprint-for-housing-affordability Minneapolis relaxed zoning restrictions around parking, apartment construction, and duplexes and triplexes. “From 2017 to 2022, Minneapolis increased its housing stock by 12% while rents grew by just 1%. Over the same period, the rest of Minnesota added only 4% to its housing stock while rents went up by 14%.” From:Chris Stoddard To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL][WARNING: ATTACHMENT UNSCANNED]Comment at zoning meeting Date:Monday, July 14, 2025 11:47:04 AM Attachments:Stoddard zoning comment.docx 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. I am interested in commenting at today's meeting. My comments are attached--I alsosubmitted in the online link. Thank you -- Christiana Stoddard (she/her)Professor Graduate Program Coordinator for MS in Applied EconomicsDept. of Ag. Economics and Economics Montana State UniversityBozeman, MT 59717 (406) 994-5634Fax: (406) 994-4838