HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-16-25 Public Comment - J. Goetz - FW_ Attn_ City Commissioners - UDCFrom:Myriam Jackson
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]FW: Attn: City Commissioners - UDC
Date:Wednesday, July 16, 2025 4:08:57 PM
Attachments:2025-07-15 Goetz - Commissioners.pdf
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Good afternoon, Please forward the below and attached to the appropriate persons. Thank you!
Best,Myriam Myriam Jackson
Legal Assistant Goetz, Geddes & Gardner, P.C.35 North Grand | P.O. Box 6580
Bozeman, MT 59771-6580T: (406) 587.0618 | F: (406) 587.5144 NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission may contain confidential or Attorney-Client privileged
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From: Myriam Jackson
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2025 4:40 PM
To: agenda@bozeman.net
Cc: Jim Goetz <jim@Goetzlawfirm.com>
Subject: Attn: City Commissioners - UDC
Good afternoon, Please find attached a letter from Jim Goetz to the City Commissioners regarding the UDC. Hardcopies have been placed in the mail.
Thank you.Myriam
Myriam JacksonLegal Assistant Goetz, Geddes & Gardner, P.C.
35 North Grand | P.O. Box 6580Bozeman, MT 59771-6580T: (406) 587.0618 | F: (406) 587.5144
NOTICE: This electronic mail transmission may contain confidential or Attorney-Client privileged
communications. It is not intended for transmission to, or receipt by, any unauthorized persons. Ifyou have received this electronic mail transmission in error, please delete it from your systemwithout copying it and notify the sender by reply e-mail.
James H. Goetz
jim@goetzlawfirm.com
The Ketterer Building
35 North Grand
P.O. Box 6580
Bozeman, MT 59771
(406) 587-0618
goetzlawfirm.com
July 15, 2025
Via US Mail and Email
Mayor Terry Cunningham
Deputy Mayor Joey Morrison
Bozeman City Commissioners
Jennifer Madgic
Douglas Fischer
Emma Bode
121 N Rouse Ave.
Bozeman, Montana 59715
via email to: agenda@bozeman.net
Re: UDC—Greek Houses
Dear Commissioners:
I was disturbed by the misleading comments regarding Greek houses made by Planner
Chris Saunders at the UDC work session held July 14. Mr. Saunders indicated his preference to
treat university Greek houses under the category of “group living”, claiming an inability to make
a coherent distinction between Greek houses and “group living”. I heard him make a similar
argument several years ago claiming that he saw no way to make a “principled” distinction
between Greek houses and other group living arrangements. Mr. Saunders argued that the
Bozeman zoning code was amended in 2018 (to remove a separate categorical treatment of Greek
houses) because it was “redundant”—i.e., arguing that group living and Greek living are the
same.
At the July 14 meeting he even went so far as to place the burden on you, the
Commissioners, arguing that if the City were to treat Greek houses as a separate category, you
(the Board) must come up with some rationale so that the City could factually defend the
distinction. Implicit in this argument is that he and his staff were unable to do so. This seems
both quite audacious and juvenile. You, the Board, are the policy-makers. The planning staff
should follow your direction—not the other way around.
I, personally, have nothing against Greek living. In fact, I was a fraternity member and
house president of my fraternity at MSU, before graduating in 1965. Having lived in a fraternity, I
have a unique perspective. I grew to appreciate their advantages and their potential problems,
Bozeman City Commissioners
July 15, 2025
Page 2
including how Greek houses can wreak havoc on quiet neighborhoods. Greek houses have their
benefits but care must be taken regarding their location.
Conflating fraternities with group living makes no sense. For over forty-years, from 1973
through 2018, the City of Bozeman made a distinction between the category of
fraternities/sororities and group living. Why, for many years, were these different, and how did
they suddenly become the same?
Courts have recognized the difference between group living and college fraternities. For
example, in Long Beach v. California Lambda Chapter of Sigma Epsilon Fraternity, 255 Cal. App.
2d. 796, 797 (1968), the Court held:
The city council apparently was fully aware the college spirit
contemplates frequent gatherings with attendant boisterous conduct
on occasions. The “rush parties”, the dances, the rallies, and other
manifestations of the collegiate spirit are present in a fraternity
house and frequently absent in a boarding house, a lodging house or
an apartment.
“Group home” is defined at §76-2-411, MCA. It includes homes for disabled persons,
assisted living facilities, half-way houses, and the like. It does not include fraternities and
sororities. Unlike group homes, Greek houses serve as a magnet. Few people might actually
reside at the fraternity house, but fraternities conduct general membership meetings, rush
events, and parties, which attract numerous people who don’t reside at the site. This is a matter
of common sense.
In fact, the planning industry has historically made a sharp distinction between Greek
houses and group homes. Since 2018, the Bozeman UDC has lacked a separate definition for
Greek houses. However, Section 38.700.010 of the Bozeman Municipal Code provides for a
default: “…[terms] if not defined herein, must be defined as an in the latest edition of ‘The
Illustrated Book of Development Definitions’ by Harvey S. Moskowitz, Carl G. Lindbloom…”.
That book, in turn, defines “fraternity house” as,
A building containing sleeping rooms, bathrooms, common rooms,
and a central kitchen and dining room maintained exclusively for
fraternity members and guests or visitors and affiliated with an
institution of higher learning.
See attached Dkt. 85.1 (emphasis added).
As the recent letter of Kathy Powell points out, both the cities of Missoula and Billings
have regulations that treat Greek houses separately. Can it be that their planners are smarter than
ours because they appreciate the difference between Greek living and group living?
Bozeman City Commissioners
July 15, 2025
Page 3
At the July 14 hearing, Mr. Saunders also raised a red herring. He produced a map
showing existing Greek houses in the University Neighborhood. No one is challenging these
existing houses—they are obviously grandfathered in. The worry in the Neighborhood is that
there will come a “tipping point” at which, if further current residential houses are sold for
Greek living, there will be an exodus en masse.
One of the Commissioners queried whether “Greek Way” would be an appropriate place
for Greek houses. The answer is, yes. That is exactly why it was so named. But, unfortunately,
ex-President Cruzado had other plans. Perhaps the new President of MSU will take a different
approach. This is, after all, a University issue.
Finally, Mr. Saunders glossed over the litigation between University Neighbors and the
City that occurred a few years ago when a fraternity sprung up on Garfield Street. When the
Neighbors discovered that this was a fraternity they wondered how this could happen, thinking
the City’s zoning code prohibited that. It turned out that the change in 2018 was done very
quietly. A poll conducted of 147 University Neighbors indicated that not a single one had been
aware of the surreptitious 2018 change. Thinking this was a mistake that could easily be
corrected, the Neighbors administratively petitioned the City Commission, but to no avail. The
City doubled down, despite this abysmal lack of public notice.
After serious and expensive litigation, costing the Neighbors and the City substantial
sums, District Judge Bruener invalidated the 2018 zone change regarding Greek houses, stating:
The removal of the decades-old prohibition against new Greek
housing in Plaintiffs’ neighborhoods was accomplished without the
kind of notice reasonably addressed to the constitutional mandate of
encouraging public participation.
The notice here was insufficient, inadequate and unreasonable, as a
matter of Montana’s constitutional public participation and due
process provisions.
See Susan Johnson, et al. v. City of Bozeman, Opinion, September 6, 2023, p. 7.
Although the case was reversed by the Montana Supreme Court, this holding of Judge
Breuner remains intact. The Supreme Court reversed on procedural grounds, finding that the
Plaintiffs had not complied with the 30-day statute of limitations for filing such a case.
The point here is not to re-litigate this case, but to point out how quietly the 2018 claim
went into effect, and to call attention to Mr. Saunders’ glib discussion of the 2018 change, where
he glossed over the change, arguing that (somebody—the planning staff?) thought that separate
regulation of Greek houses was, somehow, redundant.
Bozeman City Commissioners
July 15, 2025
Page 4
But this lawsuit illustrates a more important point. The mayor continuously lectures the
public on the importance of civility. I agree. But the Commissioners should understand the
bitterness that this episode engendered. The government should never operate in secret. The
planning staff did with this change—and the Commissioners never corrected it. Rather, it
doubled down.
Accordingly, I hope you can understand why some of your good, taxpaying citizens, are a
bit jaundiced.
By the way, the same is true of the recent effort to compromise on the new R-A proposal.
For two years, the Commission has led the public to believe that areas previously zoned as single-
family would be subjected to duplexes and ADUs, but no more. Now, this seemingly-acceptable
compromise is again on the chopping block. Please do not do that to us.
Finally, I acknowledge that you routinely defer to your professional planning staff,
understandably. But please don’t follow the example of Trump allowing the ill-equipped Pete
Hegseth to run the Pentagon. At some point, bureaucratic ineptitude must be overridden by good
judgment. Otherwise, the public suffers the consequences.
Sincerely,
GOETZ, GEDDES & GARDNER, P.C.
___________________________
James H. Goetz
JHG:mj
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MONTANA EIGHTEENTH JUDICIAL DISTRICT
COUNTY OF GALLATIN
* * * * * * * * * *
Susan Johnson, Dave
Johnson, Kathy Rich,
Susan Hinkins, Richard
Gillette, Linda Fuller,
Larry Jent, Julie Jent,
Richard Charron, Kristin
Charron
PLAINTIFF,
VS.
Alpha Sigma Phi (Montana
State University
Chapter), and the City
of Bozeman,
DEFENDANT.
________________________
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CAUSE NO. DV-22-1006
TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS
Before the Honorable Andrew Breuner, Judge Presiding
Date:Friday, May 26, 2023
Place:Law and Justice
Center
615 South 16th Avenue
Bozeman, MT 59715
JULIANNE COLDIRON
Official Reporter, Eighteenth Judicial District
615 South 16th Avenue
Room 202
Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 582-3612
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APPEARANCES
For the Plaintiffs:
Brian K. Gallik
Gallik & Bremer, P.C.
777 E. Main Street, Suite 203
P.O. Box 70
Bozeman, Montana 59771-0070
406-404-1728
brian@galliklawfirm.com
James H. Goetz, Henry J.K. Tesar
Goetz, Geddes & Gardner, P.C.
35 North Grand Avenue
P.O. Box 6580
Bozeman Montana 59771-6580
406-587-0618 406-587-5144
jim@goetzlawfirm.com
htesar@goetzlawfirm.com
For the Defendant City of Bozeman:
Elizabeth W. Lund
Berg Lilly, P.C.
1 West Main Street
Bozeman Montana 59715
406-587-3181 406-587-3249
lund@berglawfirm.com
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the City of Bozeman since the 1930's or so and it's
in the Purdy affidavit, has separately categorized
fraternities and sororities from any other category
in the UDC. Now, somehow we're informed that
fraternities have now been merged with group living
or group residential depending on the language they
use, but there's nothing in the UDC that says that.
There's nothing up to the point of adoption of the
ordinance that says that.
So what we have is the word of Mr. Rogers,
the city planner, that that's indeed what they did.
They folded it in, to merge group residential, is the
term he uses, which is not code, by the way.
THE COURT: So what you're saying, except
for an e-mail response that talked about a preference
for consolidating the number of classifications, the
effect -- so fraternities and sororities disappeared
from the prohibited list. You wouldn't know they
were incorporated into group living except but for
the explanation that Ms. Powell got. Is that what
you're saying?
MR. GOETZ: Exactly. But, interestingly,
the explanation is not part of the initial record.
It came after post talk, the adoption of the
ordinance, so even then, it's Mr. Rogers trying to
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explain why they did what they did, and the
consolidations, if you look at the savings in terms
of categories of prohibited uses, you save about
three out of about 56 on that table. So it really
didn't make much sense, but it's after the fact, so
it's not cognizable in any event in my view. But my
point here at present, there is no definition in the
UDC of fraternities, but if you look at the top of my
handout on Page 3, I cite UDC Sec. 38.700.010 which
is a default provision. If the term isn't defined in
the code, then among other things, they look to this
"Illustrated Book of Development Definitions" which
we tracked down, and there is a specific definition
of fraternities.
There's an equivalent definition of
sororities, and it's important that the Court look at
the comment because after all, however you define
group living or group residential, it's a different
concept then fraternities and sororities for this
reason, and I know, Your Honor, is familiar with
fraternities. You made it clear at the conference.
Fraternities act as a magnet. In this case,
the fraternity in question has only four to six in
resident members, but when they have rush parties,
when they have other parties, events, people converge
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and their 40-50, sometimes female company, that's
just the way fraternities are. It's just not the
same as the typical group living, and this comment at
the bottom of Page 3 says that.
Fraternity has a distinct and separate use.
It is not a dwelling unit or multi family structure.
The reason I point that out is just what I said, that
somehow, you had for many years, the city code
explaining or prohibiting fraternities and sororities
in certain residential areas. For many years, there
is a distinction between group living from
fraternities and sororities.
At least the public should be told why, all
of a sudden, the City is trying to fold one into the
other. But there's no explanation. It came out of
the blue, or sometimes I say, I shouldn't say it, out
of somebody's derriere, I think. Now, on Page 4,
I've attached just to complete this thought, there is
a table on parking, and they have a category for
group homes and community residential facilities, and
then they have a category for group living,
cooperative household, fraternity slash sorority.
One would think reading this there is a
distinction, and that's still in the code. Whatever
they did when they tried to fold fraternities into
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group living, they did not do it with rigor. They
didn't change the other definitions. Somehow, you
have this dangling differentiation between
fraternities and sororities. Why would you continue
that distinction if indeed this was a thoughtful,
carefully made, modification.
THE COURT: Isn't the group living
characterization -- I mean, I guess one question I
have is how useful is the fraternity, sorority label,
let's just hypothetically say Plaintiffs prevail
change is voided, fraternities and sororities were
returned to the unapproved status, you got the
existing sorority houses that have been there for
many many years.
And so the particular members of this
household that have been causing the problems,
they've got to comply with the new -- the return to
status quo prior to 2018 and so they now lease the
house in their individual capacities as roommates, as
a group, they identify as members of a fraternity,
they express themselves as members of the fraternity,
they adhere to the rights of the fraternity, they
follow the traditions of the fraternity, they express
their identity that way, they just happen to be
living there together.
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REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE
I, Julianne Coldiron, an Official
Stenographic Reporter, located in the City of
Bozeman, State of Montana, hereby certify:
That prior to being examined, the witnesses
named in the foregoing proceeding were sworn to
testify to the truth, the whole truth, and nothing
but the truth;
That the said proceeding was recorded on an
Stenographic machine and FTR system within the
courthouse and was thereafter reduced to typewriting
by computer-aided transcription under my direction.
I further certify that I am not in any way
interested in the outcome of this action and that I
am not related to any of the parties thereto.
Witness my hand this 26th day of May, 2023.
/s/ Julianne Coldiron
Julianne Coldiron
Official Court Reporter