HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-25 Public Comment - M. Egge - Egge Materials Re_ 11-17-25 CDB AgendaFrom:Mark Egge
To:Henry H. Happel; delmue; cegnatz@starbucks.com; Jennifer Madgic; Bozeman Public Comment;blloyd@henneberyeddy.com
Cc:Chris Saunders; Erin George
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Egge Materials Re: 11-17-25 CDB Agenda
Date:Sunday, November 16, 2025 3:10:19 PM
Attachments:Egge Comment Materials 2025-11-17.pdf
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Hello.
I have attached a PDF with materials that I intend to reference during ourCDB discussion on 11/17/2025. I am attaching here for our reference (in
lieu of printing) and to incorporate these into the public record.
Mark Egge1548 S Grand Ave, Bozeman, MT 59715
1
16 November 2025
Materials submitted to the Community Development Board and into the public record
regarding intended motions from Mark Egge at the board’s November 17th meeting,
concerning items #4, 7, 8 & 9.
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Allow Up to 12-Units per Building in R-B
Re: Item #4 “Whether in R-B the max # of units per building should be more than 8”
The legislature recently legalized single-stair apartment buildings (so long as other life safety
requirements are met), which can produce meaningful cost savings for three story buildings.
Internet sources estimate that a 12-unit single-stair walk-up generally pencils ~7% cheaper per
unit on pure construction, and ~14–16% cheaper per unit once you spread the same land cost
over more homes. Assuming 700 SF efficiency units (and an identical profit for either program)
that's the difference between $590k condos in an eight-plex versus sub-$500k condos in a 12-
plex, or a $1m smaller capital gap to construct 12 units of affordable housing.
Being able to build affordably is an essential pre-condition to having an affordable housing
stock. Allowing more kitchens inside a given envelope (especially when combined with single-
stair stair designs) can meaningfully reduce construction costs and ownership prices. While it
unlikely that we would see a large proliferation of these structures (only one 8-plex has been
built in R-3/R-B in the four years since the code change increasing the allowable units from four
to eight), it’s hard to see why we wouldn’t want to allow structures like those shown in the
photos below.
Intended Motion: We recommend that City Commission amend the UDC to increase the number
of allowable units in R-B from 8 to 12, subject to no increase in the height, lot coverage, open
space, and other building size restrictions.
2
Existing 9 – 12-unit Apartments
Photos from Google Streetview
150 South 4th Avenue – 10-unit apartment across from the Emerson Center
219 E Lamme St – 9-unit apartment near City Hall
3
908 West Alderson Street – 11-unit apartment across from Irving School
214 East Story Street – 11-unit apartment near Bogert Park
4
712 South 11th Avenue – 10-unit apartment behind Studio Coffee Roasters/Fedex Office
Ca. 1959 – 1960 of 712 S 11th and Westgate Village Shopping Center, both designed by Hugo
Eck (photo source: Westgate National Register of Historic Places Form 2024)
5
714 North Bozeman Avenue – 12-unit apartment near Centennial Park
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Street Facing Entrances
Re: Item #7 “Edits pertaining to entries, entry features and recessed garages.”
This requirement seems likely to have unintended consequence, creating undue prejudice
against certain practical multifamily building forms.
As someone who spent a college summer delivering pizzas in Bozeman and who has knocked
thousands of doors on behalf of various political campaigns, I have never had an issue finding a
front door in a manner that this code would cure.
Since our parcels in Bozeman tend to be long rather than wide, multifamily units with entrances
that face the side of the parcel are a common architectural form for missing middle type
housing, as shown in the examples below.
Intended motion: Whereas requiring that entrances must face the street may unduly limit
practical missing middle structural forms well suited to the typical shape of Bozeman parcels,
we recommend the treatment of building entrance requirements from the current code be
preserved in the draft code.
Triplex, North 3rd
7
Fourplex, South Grand
Fiveplex, East Story Street
8
Sixplex, North Church St
Fourplex, South Tracy
9
Bon Ton and Centennial Park Downzoning Requests
Re: Items #9 & #8 “Request to downzone the R-4 portion of the Bon Ton area to R-A.” and
“Request to downzone the Centennial Park area to R-A.”
Two petitions have been submitted to downzone longstanding R-4 (R-C) areas to the minimum
residential density. Relative to the existing R-4 zoning, R-C zoning substantially preserves
existing entitlements while introducing a new maximum of no more than 24 units per building.
Is this the right process? The Community Development Board recently considered a request to
rezone a parcel on 19th Ave. The board seemed to be in broad agreement that the development
code update isn’t the right time or process to be making zone map amendments based on
public comment. We have a process for zone map amendments, and that process requires
notifying everyone who would be affected (MCA § 76-25-304). (The petitioners may form an
HOA to limit redevelopment on their own properties, but extending those restrictions to what
others can do with their properties requires more public process.)
Does this change to the draft UDC to better implement the growth policy? I do not find it
consistent with our growth plan to rezone these downtown-adjacent, highly walkable and
amenity rich neighborhoods to have fewer residents in the future (which would be practical,
long-term effect of banning the existing triplexes, fourplexes, and neighborhood-scale
apartments). R-B and R-C structures already exist throughout these neighborhoods and are well
integrated.
Intended Motion: We recommend the City Commission to separate consideration of developer-
or citizen petition-initiated zone map amendments from the current UDC update and to instead
encourage those requested changes to be submitted independently through the Zone Map
Amendment process.
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Bon Ton Downzoning Request – Units per Parcel
Bon Ton: 33 resident petitioners, 61 parcels, 173 dwelling units
Zoning: R-C R-A
Conforming Dwelling Units 173 63
New Nonconforming Dwelling Units 0 110
New Nonconforming Parcels 0 12
Nonconformity created by requested rezoning
Conforming under petitioned zoning
11
Centennial Park Downzoning Request – Units per Parcel
Centennial Park: 66 resident petitioners, 124 parcels, 228 dwelling units
Zoning: R-C R-A
Conforming Dwelling Units 228 145
New Nonconforming Dwelling Units 0 83
New Nonconforming Parcels 0 8
Nonconformity created by requested rezoning
Conforming under petitioned zoning