HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-17-25 Public Comment - Z. Osman - Public Comment regarding UDC Update and Historic Landmark StudyFrom:Zehra Osman
To:Terry Cunningham; Joey Morrison; Jennifer Madgic; Douglas Fischer; Emma Bode; Erin George; delmue;henryhhappel@gmail.com; markegge@gmail.com; blloyd@henneberyeddy.com; scegnatz@gmail.com; BozemanPublic Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment regarding UDC Update and Historic Landmark Study
Date:Monday, November 17, 2025 11:59:37 AM
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(Please place this public comment in the public record for the UDC and the Historic Landmark Study.
Please forward to Community Development Board Members and City Staff)
Honorable Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Commissioners, City Staff, Historic Preservation Advisory Board, and
Community Development Board,
I am writing this public comment on the UDC Update and Landmark Study. The first part of this testimony
is a response to some detracting and belittling remarks made about some members of the public. The second
part of this testimony contains specific comments regarding the UDC Update and the Landmark Study.
"Privileged, White Seniors"
I don’t live in a historic district. I live on the west side. Time and time again, I've heard from city officials
and developers that people like me keep "showing up" and and participating in our city government
democratic processes. These processes include public engagement in the UDC updates and Landmark
Program updates, which according to MLUPA will be our last opportunity to weigh in.
Well, as accused, I am a white senior. I am aware that I enjoy privileges because I am white. Many of these
privileges are not offered to people like my parents, who were WWII refugees who started from scratch in
the U.S.A. after being displaced by Stalin and then German forced labor camps. When they visited their
childhood village after perestroika, much of their historic village was razed to make way for sterile and
severe Soviet "karopka" (boxes). The sense of place was gone and the buildings and districts that told the
history of the inhabitants over time had been erased. This is one reason why I show up.
Another reason why I show up is because I am from the generation that saw local and state governments
follow suit with the federal government after the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the
National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) were enacted. Since then, local, state, and federal governments
have used public engagement and impact mitigation measures to balance development with the
preservation of natural and cultural resources. Even those of us who don’t live in Bozeman’s core and do
not have “skin in the game” still care about our valley’s cultural resources as much as those who do live in
historic districts.
Another reason why I show up is because watching excavators demolish historic buildings in Bozeman’s
core in order to make way for unaffordable apartment buildings feels like a gut punch in the same way it felt
when we all watched the destruction of the White House East Wing over a week ago in order to make room
for a ostentatious ballroom. What could possibly be so important to construct within our historic districts
that you believe the UDC needs to adversely affect the historic integrity of our NCOD and historic districts?
What ostentatious and unaffordable building absolutely needs to be constructed within our historic districts
and how in the world does this benefit the community? If someone says this is the "supply" we need to
bring down housing prices, I would counter that after decades of waiting, we have yet to see how this has
helped anyone but investors and developers. According to University of Kansas Economics Professor
McClure's presentation, most of what Bozeman has built during the past decades is unaffordable housing for
people who do not work/live here. There is no such thing as "trickle down housing" in the current real estate
investment model.
Additionally, please explain why the Community Development Board, an unelected entity, has the right to
weigh in so heavily with their personal preferences.
UDC COMMENTS:
A. Please not upzone the church and 3 small homes on East Curtiss to B-3. Look at the mistake of the
Henry across from the George Harrison house at N. Tracy and Villard. Please do not repeat this
mistake! Currently, the UDC draft calls for expanding B-3 zoning to be next to a 1879 house built by
Samuel Lewis, who settled in Bozeman in 1868, joining a small but growing population of African
Americans who came to Montana after the Civil War. When we say that we want to protect
Bozeman's sense of place and history, this is what we are talking about. Do not compromise this
historic district and neighborhood. The increase in development potential from R-2 (R-A) to B-3 is
too much. Leave these homes and church at R-A.
B. Keep both Centennial Park and the Bon Ton zoned R-A, as shown in the current proposed UDC
draft. The fact that this is in danger at the 11th hour is unacceptable.
C. Since the draft UDC was first released in 2023 residents have consistently and overwhelmingly
opposed increasing density through upzoning. There are other options for adding housing, and the
proposed draft implements several. There is no need to resort to traditional upzoning.
D. Keep the following unit caps in the final UDC you adopt.
1. Keep R-A at 2 units while allowing for the Existing Building Alternative. DO NOT
UPZONE TO 4 UNITS BY-RIGHT!
2. Keep R-B at 8 units, which is perfectly adequate to build missing middle housing! The 3
story 12-plex that one architect is angling for can easily be built in R-C. DO NOT UPZONE
TO 12 UNITS!
3. Keep R-C at 24 units. If you remove unit caps in this zoning district there is no real
difference 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
cannot handle increased demand of on-street parking, it will only lead to dysfunction. DO
NOT REMOVE UNIT CAPS IN R-C!
E. Our growth policy calls for a gradual and predictable increase in density. Further upzoning beyond
the draft UDC unit caps is not acceptable because it isn't gradual or predictable.
F. The current City Code DIVISION 38.340. OVERLAY DISTRICT STANDARDS (note "standards")
that give the city officials a lot of teeth to protect the NCOD.
Sec. 38.340.050. Standards for certificates of appropriateness.
A. All work performed in completion of an approved certificate of appropriateness must be in
conformance with the most recent edition of the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the
Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring
and Reconstructing Historic Buildings, published by U.S. Department of the Interior,
National Park Service, Cultural Resource Stewardship and Partnerships, Heritage
Preservation Services, Washington, D.C.
MITIGATIONS
Mitigations! That’s what we’re really talking about on every Bozeman project, isn’t it? We have had and
can continue to have infill in sensitive areas such as historic districts. They just need to be compatible.
There is nothing in the Secretary of the Interior's Standards that says a developer or architect needs to "make
their mark" with their own style in our historic districts. Mitigation measures are the key to halting the
current polarizing “zero-sum” arguments when it comes to how Bozeman will grow. Mitigation
measures include historic architectural compatibility as our commitment to each other that development
won’t destroy our historic buildings, historic and prehistoric sites, and historic districts that tell the history
of this area. And, mitigation measures are part of a commitment that new developments will lay lightly on
our natural landscape.
The secret formula for forming real mitigations is to have:
Good information to identify what is important so we can design around it.
Good expertise, such as biologists and ecologists, HPAB, and historic preservation professionals, as
well as engineers, and planners
And the including the public, who offers unique and useful insight into the constraints and
opportunities that exist the area.
Respectfully,
Zehra Osman
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