HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-25 Public Comment - M. Osman - No UPZONING!From:Michelle Osman
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]No UPZONING!
Date:Monday, November 17, 2025 11:58:35 AM
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Hello Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Commissioners,
I'm sending you this form letter because I care deeply about my town and showing up for it. I
also have a life and constantly staying on top of what the city is doing in order to add input isanother ask of my time. I have a six and eight year old. The folks at the meetings are rarely
parents because parents have as much on their plate as they can handle. So I agree with everybullet point below. The amount of time the residents have put into working with the city for
growth that is reasonable is significant. Keep the zoning reasonable! Gianforte says Montanais easy to sell. Don't do the same with Bozeman. It is as desirable as it has become because of
many reasons, but one is the folks who have cared for it over the many years. Don't upzonetheir homes.
First I am writing to urge you to keep both Centennial Park and the Bon Ton zoned R-A, as
shown in the current proposed draft. The fact that this is in danger at the 11th hour isunacceptable.
Second, since the draft UDC was first released in 2023 residents have consistently and
overwhelmingly opposed increasing density through upzoning. There are other options foradding housing, and the proposed draft implements several. There is no need to resort to
traditional upzoning.
I'm writing to you today to ask that you keep the following unit caps in the final UDC youadopt.
>Keep R-A at 2 units while allowing for the Existing Building Alternative. DO NOT
UPZONE TO 4 UNITS BY-RIGHT!
>Keep R-B at 8 units, which is perfectly adequate to build missing middle housing! The 3story 12-plex that one architect is angling for can easily be built in R-C. DO NOT UPZONE
TO 12 UNITS!
>Keep R-C at 24 units. If you remove unit caps in this zoning district there is no realdifference between R-C and R-D. It would be good for our community to have an option at 24
units because new state law doesn't allow us to require parking. Many areas zoned R-C cannothandle increased demand of on-street parking, it will only lead to dysfunction. DO NOT
REMOVE UNIT CAPS IN R-C!
Our growth policy calls for a gradual and predictable increase in density. Further upzoningbeyond the draft UDC unit caps is not acceptable because it isn't gradual or predictable.
Thank you,
Michelle Osman