HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-09-25 Public Comment - D. Carty - Sept 9 City Commission_ Agenda Item K.2_ Wetlands and Watercourse setbacksFrom:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Nicholas Ross
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Sept 9 City Commission: Agenda Item K.2: Wetlands and Watercourse setbacks
Date:Tuesday, September 9, 2025 11:08:58 AM
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Tue, September 9, 2025; 11:10am
Bozeman City Commission:
I am writing to comment on Action Item K.2: Wetland regulations and watercourse
setbacks:
A slide presentation shown at last night’s (September 8) Community Development Board
meeting included a slide that will undoubtedly be shown again at tonight’s City Commission
meeting. This slide, titled Policy Intent includes the statement:
Enhance the protection of aquatic resources in a manner that is compatible with
sustainable urban development.
Of course, this statement is anthropocentric (human-centered), and thus this statement
reflects the City of Bozeman’s (City) worldview that the City develops for people—usually at
the expense of Bozeman's natural resources.
For whatever reasons, the City does not seem to understand the eco-centric worldview,
which acknowledges that the well-being of people is intertwined with the well-being of air,
land, and water. If the City understood and acted from the eco-centric worldview, then the
Policy Intent statement above could be (and should be) rewritten as follows:
Urban development must be compatible with maintaining or enhancing all existing wetlands
and watercourses that are under the jurisdiction of the City of Bozeman.
It is only from a Policy Intent statement like the latter that the City will be able to regulate
wetlands and watercourse setbacks in a manner in which the ecology of wetlands and
watercourses drives decision-making rather than the City continuing to develop for people.
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715