HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-26-25 Public Comment - S. Mitchell - UDC Draft and Fraternities & SororitiesFrom:Sam M
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]UDC Draft and Fraternities & Sororities
Date:Tuesday, August 26, 2025 1:17:10 AM
Attachments:Bozeman City Commission letter 082525 UDC draft.pdf
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Dear Bozeman City Commission,Attached, please find my public comment prior to the 082625 working meeting.
Thank you,Sam Mitchell
RE: Bozeman Draft UDC and Fraternities & Sororities August 25, 2025
To: Mayor Terry Cunningham
Deputy Mayor Joey Morrison
City Commissioners Jennifer Madgic, Douglas Fischer, and Emma Bode
Dear Bozeman City Commission,
The Agenda for the 8/26/25 working meeting includes a draft definition for
Fraternities & Sororities from City Staff that would apply to new applications:
“38.800.070 F Definition, add –
Fraternity/sorority house: A group living facility occupied by and maintained exclusively for
fraternity or sorority members, their guests or visitors and affiliated with and acknowledged
as a fraternity/sorority house by an accredited institution of higher learning as defined in 38
U.S. Code Section 3452; and which operates to provide assembly space for the regular
activities of the fraternity or sorority members.”
Thank you to the City staff for arriving at a definition they find workable
for the draft UDC!
However, the Agenda items add the following (my emphasis marked in
bold/underlined):
“38.320.040. Use Specific Standards:
New addition to Group Living special standards in 38.320.040.B.6 Fraternity/Sorority
a. Must provide one or more assembly space(s) internal to a building adequate in size to
accommodate not less than three-quarters of the enrolled members of the fraternity or
sorority at the time the use is approved by the City.
b. Assembly area occupant loads must be consistent with currently adopted State of
Montana Building Codes. The Building Department can evaluate the occupancy use and
Occupant load on a case-by-case basis.
38.530.040.B.2 (parking) Same as typical group living for residential use but add an additional
5 parking space requirement for assembly area to provide some parking for visitors.
Alternatively, could require visitor spaces based on a percentage of the number of parking spaces
for approved residents.”
This is followed by a comment and two examples:
“Two facilities have submitted for a city permit in the past five years that required floor
plans. Staff was able to compare the facility layouts against the proposed standard. Both are
purpose-built buildings and would comply with the suggested definition and standard.
• Delta Gamma House (site plan 20170) - would meet proposed standard, approx. 910 sq.
ft. room and 860 and 400 sq. ft. rooms, 95 member per web
• Sigma Chi (building permit for remodeling) would meet proposed standard, approx. 920
sq. ft. room and two other rooms >750 sq. ft., 91 members per web”
My concerns are the following:
1) “One or more assembly spaces”: The UDC does not define Meeting Halls as
having multiple assembly spaces. This would be akin to saying that Bozeman
City could have a 750 sq. ft. meeting room for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and
City staff; a separate 750 sq. ft. room for the Commissioners; and a separate
1000 sq. ft. room for the public. Whatever that creates would be interesting, but
it would not be a communal meeting space. Changing Meeting Hall to Meeting
Halls would be a significant change for democratic debate and voting.
From the examples given, the Delta Gamma house would require 910 + 860 +
400 = 2170 sq. ft. total; the Sigma Chi 920 + 750 + 750 = 2420 sq. ft. total.
There is no requirement they be contiguous, so they could easily be separate
rooms in the basement, ground floor, and second floor of a two-story residence.
Many houses in the Bozeman core have 2500+ sq. ft. available through
basement + living room + dining room + bedrooms and could therefore easily
become a Fraternity or Sorority by this definition.
2) “Three quarters of the enrolled members” and “at the time the use is
approved by the City.” Greek chapter meetings have required attendance with
very few excusable reasons so the calculation of 75% should be 90% or more. If
a chapter opens a residential house with 10 enrolled members with City
approval, then rapidly swells to the typical 90+ members - what then? The
draft UDC has no mechanism for dealing with a use which has far outgrown its
original size and would have never been approved at the ultimate size.
3) “…add an additional 5 parking space requirement”. As I type this on the
evening of 8/25/25, a Greek house not two blocks from my house has 100+
participants plus guests for their Rush. They have spilled into the streets, filling
a 4-block area of Garfield, 3rd/4th/5th Ave with parked cars. My wife just took a
video of an apparently inebriated member standing in the back of a pickup
blocking 4th Ave screaming “Shut the fuck up!” at the top of her lungs to her
adoring audience. [We have no interest in embarrassing her by publicly posting
but will show to the Commissioners if they doubt the accuracy of our
statement]. “5 parking spaces” is an insult to common sense.
The City staff appear to have focused on a loosely defined interpretation of
“Meeting Hall” which does not meet their own definition. They also appear to have
forgotten the issues of parties, recruiting events, game nights, and chapter meetings
regularly hosted by Fraternities and Sororities, all of which overlap closely with
the UDC definitions of ‘Amusement & Recreation’, ‘Arts & Entertainment’,
‘Casino’, ‘Meeting Hall’, and ‘Alcohol Sales, On-premises consumption.’ The
City, constituted by its residents, does not allow those 5 defined activities/groups
to open or operate in Residentially-zoned areas due to their disruptive nature.
With respect, the Commission should not allow new Fraternities or Sororities in
Bozeman residential zones for the same reasons.
Thank you,
Sam Mitchell
Bozeman resident