HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-21-25 Public Comment - J. Pytka - Clarifications regarding Bon Ton Historic District Rezoning ProposalFrom:Jonathan Pytka
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Clarifications regarding Bon Ton Historic District Rezoning Proposal
Date:Friday, November 21, 2025 8:47:32 AM
Attachments:Downtown B3-RA Zone-Zone Boundary.pdf
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Mayor, Deputy Mayor, and Commissioners of the City of Bozeman,
As one of the neighbors who worked on the Bon Ton Historic District Rezoning Proposal, I am sending this
email as a follow-up to the November 18th Commission Meeting. I have reviewed this email with Jim
Webster (my Bon Ton neighbor and the original petitioner).
First and foremost, I encourage you to re-review the Proposal itself, which can be found in the public
record here. The Proposal contains a wealth of information and background evidence that may help to
answer any remaining questions that you may have.
Boundaries of the Bon Ton R-A Proposal. On page 3 and again on page 13 of the proposal, we describe the
boundaries of our proposal as follows: “We respectfully ask that the properties located in the currently
zoned R-4 area between West Olive and West Story, including the East side of South 4th Avenue and the
East side of South Grand Ave and a single parcel on South Wilson Avenue be zoned R-A in the Unified
Development Code update.”
The Map on Page 6 of our proposal was included to illustrate the boundaries of “R-4” (the zoning district
currently in effect today) within the Bon Ton and to visualize which property owners within that zone were
supportive of the proposal. The boundaries of “R-4” do not exactly match up with the proposal, which does
not include the parcels EAST of South Willson.
Outreach Activities. Please keep in mind that our outreach activities were limited by the time and
resources that we had. This was a true grass-roots, boots-on-the-ground neighborhood effort. A group of
volunteers (none of us paid, done entirely in our spare time between work, family, and community
commitments) literally walked up and down the streets of the neighborhood, knocking on doors.
ZMA (Zone Map Amendment) Checklist. The Bon Ton effort was based upon the anticipation that either
directly or indirectly we might be expected to replicate some form of “application” conforming to the
requirements of the ZMA Review Criteria. That is why our proposal was largely structured around the
eleven (“a” through “k”) criteria required for the project narrative. If you have not had a chance to read our
proposal in its entirety, please do, as you will hopefully find that it addresses the ZMA questions in a robust
way with comments, facts, and citations.
ZMA Question #5A: Growth Policy. Commissioner Bode asked whether the Bon Ton R-A Proposal conforms
to the Growth Policy. Starting at the bottom of Page 7 of our proposal, we present our findings on the topic
and reach a positive determination.
ZMA Criteria. As summarized on page 13, we found ten of the eleven ZMA criteria to be positive and one to
be neutral. City Staff has clarified that when reviewing ZMA applications, there is no expectation that an
application will perfectly meet all of the items, but rather that applications are reviewed and evaluated
based on the totality of how well a request matches up with the ZMA criteria overall. We would think that
ten out of eleven is “Substantial Compliance.”
Outreach to Renters. We agree with Deputy Mayor Morrison that, in a perfect world and had we had
unlimited time and resources, it would have been a more well-rounded initiative had the Bon Ton neighbors
been able to solicit feedback from the renters within the zone. To this I just want to provide the additional
perspective the Bon Ton neighbors were compelled to structure our outreach in such a way as to prepare
for a full-blown ZMA process, which requires one property owner (“the representative of the group”) to
submit a Notarized ZMA Application and for the other property owners to certify and sign an Additional
Signatures Form (“I hereby certify that I am the owner of record of the subject property(ies) described on
this application and that I consent to the filing of the action requested herein.”). To our credit, we did also
obtain support from community members outside of the R-4 area, and we presented three petitions with
their signatures on page 13.
Outreach to LLCs. It would also have been ideal had the Bon Ton neighbors been able to contact more of
the “corporate” (LLC) owners of properties within the R-4 zone. But again, please keep in mind the door-
knocking nature of this neighborhood initiative. It is very hard to knock on the door of a PO Box and/or a
mailing address located in a different city or even in an entirely different state. We did, however, manage to
send multiple rounds of certified letters to as many of the off-site owners, including LLCs, as possible – time
and budget permitting.
Electronic Database. To track the progress of our outreach activities, we created a Google Sheets database.
The first step in creating that database was to identify all parcels within the “R-4” zone. Using Montana
Cadastral, we identified 62 total parcels and then populated the database with information such as property
addresses, mailing addresses, and owner names. As we went door-to-door and talked to owners and
obtained their support, we captured that information in the database. Some owners were willing to provide
their email addresses and/or phone numbers. Others, for privacy/confidentiality reasons or otherwise,
chose not to provide additional contact information. However, rest assured that every single owner we
represented in our proposal as a “Yes” had conveyed to us that they were not just generallysupportive – but
supportive to the extent that they would be willing to SIGN THEIR NAME onto a legal document in the case
that a full-blown ZMA application would end up being required. If there is a need to corroborate each and
every one of the 33 “yeses” from the Bon Ton Proposal, we are happy to facilitate that verification process,
subject to owner confidentiality commitments.
Artemus Apartments (located at 302 S Willson) was not included in our proposal. Therefore, we did not
attempt to contact that property owner and instead focused on property owners within the proposed area.
Evergreen Apartments (owned by “MJC KOCH LLC” and located at 217 W Koch St) has been identified as an
example of high-density housing that already exists in this area. If the Bon Ton R-A Proposal passes, the
Evergreen simply becomes a non-conforming structure and is grandfathered – which doesn’t seem as big a
deal as some are making it out to be. Also, those familiar with the Evergreen are aware that it is not a
“massive” building but rather a very contextual, human-scale structure that incorporates historical features
(such as a large main courtyard out front) and blends into the streetscape and fabric of the neighborhood. It
is unlikely that a new “R-C” structure would be built with this same architectural “restraint” and
neighborhood compatibility, today.
Other Multi-family Buildings. We believe that the handful of other multi-family buildings in the area are
compatible and contextual – as they are simply internally subdivided historic structures that a casual
passerby would probably not even recognize as apartment buildings given how seamlessly these blend into
the neighborhood fabric and the streetscape. The “non-conforming” / “grandfathered” paradigm seems
quite appropriate and workable for these multi-family historic buildings, and this formed the basis for our
suggestion of “R-A and a Half,” which later became what City Staff has drafted as “Modified R-A” (homes 35
years and older can subdivide up to 4 units and increase their footprint by 25%). The density-maintenance
provisions in the UDC, which Commissioner Madgic has now confirmed on multiple occasions, should
further alleviate concerns about avoiding loss of any housing over time.
Tally of Support. The Bon Ton Proposal states that 59% of property owners within the boundaries of the
proposal supported this zoning change. That is based on the 33 “yeses” that we obtained through our door-
to-door outreach. As a denominator for that calculation, we used 56 – which is the total number of parcels
within the “R-4” zone … minus the six parcels along and to the East of S Willson (62 – 6 = 56). 33 divided by
56 equals 59 percent.
Correction. In reproducing these calculations now, it appears that there was a slight calculation error based
on the fact that in the final version of the proposal we included 219 S Willson after obtaining the support of
that owner. The wording of the proposal correctly describes 219 S Willson as being included. However,
including that parcel brings the total number of included parcels to 57 – in other words, all “R-4” parcels
except for the five parcels EAST of S Willson. The calculation moves slightly as follows: 33 divided by 57
equals 58 percent. I do not believe that this is a material error, because we still obtained greater than the
51% property owner support threshold required by the ZMA process.
Zone-Zone Transitions. We have heard concerns expressed that the Bon Ton R-A Proposal would create a
“hard” transition between R-A and B-3 zoning along West Olive St. To that I offer the following thoughts to
alleviate these concerns:
On the B-3 side of that transition is the Emerson, the Emerson Lawn, and the Church. I don’t think
that any of those institutions are going anywhere any time soon. And I cannot imagine a better, more
gentle interface between those two differing zoning districts than a wide-open public space, an
historic and human-scale public arts and culture building, and a place of worship. In fact, these uses
and the historic nature of the B-3 buildings in that area, seem to be quite compatible and
complementary.
Geometrically speaking, eliminating the high-density “rectangle” (some have called it a finger or a
peninsula) from within the Bon Ton neighborhood actually reduces the overall amount of zone-zone
transition. If the Bon Ton Proposal is rejected (or even watered down to R-B) there will be zone-
zone transition along the West side of the rectangle (S 4th Ave), along the South side of the rectangle
(W Story St), and along the East side of the rectangle (alley between S Grand and S Willson
properties) – in addition to along the North side of the rectangle (W Olive St). If the Bon Ton R-A
Proposal is accepted, however, there will remain only a few short blocks of zone-zone transition (W
Olive St). Anyone who is concerned about zone-zone transitions should be supportive of the Bon
Ton Proposal due to the fact that it considerably reduces the overall length of different zones
bordering on one another and the friction that could result from that.
If we step back, zoom out, and view the zone-zone transition between B-3 and the Bon Ton
Proposal’s R-A along W Olive St in a wider context (please see attached map), we see that this exact
same zone-zone transition boundary spans from S 4th Ave on the West side all the way over to S
Wallace Ave. So for anyone to single out the zone-zone transition on the north side of the Bon Ton
Proposal’s R-A zone (yellow) as a “problem” while simultaneously ignoring the rest of that very
extensive boundary (pink) seems unfair, arbitrary, capricious, and illogical.
Final Thoughts. The UDC process has been an arduous journey for all involved, including the Bon Ton and
Centennial Park neighbors – who sacrificed countless hours of their lives for their neighborhoods and for
the greater good of the City of Bozeman. What’s more, the official documents, including the Proposals
themselves along with the verbal and written comments submitted into the public record, only scratch the
surface of the full extent of the efforts that were brought to bear by the neighbors to make these Proposals
a reality. It is impossible to fully account for and acknowledge everyone who took part in these Proposals, in
big ways and in small ways. But I think it is safe to say that if the Proposals prevail (with “R-A” as explicitly
requested, not watered down as R-B or R-XYZ or anything else) history will remember these efforts, and this
“moment” will be looked back on as a time when Bozeman as a community stepped up, displayed courage
and conviction, and achieved something remarkable.
Thank you,
Jonathan Pytka (412 South Grand Ave)
Portion of B3-RA transition on N side of Bon Ton Proposal
B3-RA transition occurs along the entire S side of Downtown B3
B3
RA