HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-02-25 Public Comment - J. Webster - Final UDC Hearing Dec 2nd, 2025From:Jim Webster
To:Terry Cunningham; Joey Morrison; Douglas Fischer; Jennifer Madgic; Emma Bode; Chuck Winn; Erin George;Chris Saunders; Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Final UDC Hearing Dec 2nd, 2025
Date:Tuesday, December 2, 2025 1:10:58 AM
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To All,
Well here we are and less than 24 hours to go before the final UDC Public Hearing. I’msorry that I can’t be there for the final commission meeting on it and I know that you all will
put your best foot forward for it, as you have in the past. Again, thank you for your efforts, asmany hours on your part have brought us here.
A “thank you,” to City Staff one last time for putting forth a great draft of the UDC onSeptember 19th, as far as the two separate neighborhood zoning proposals were concerned.
We appreciate that and it seemed that a reasonable approach was penned for finalconsideration by the commission. We hope that there will be a final productive discussion that
can bring forth a decision that the two neighborhoods can embrace. One item worthy of note it seems, is an exhibit of a door hanger left behind this morning,
12/1, in the Bon Ton neighborhood. While there is nothing wrong with an effort to gatherinformation (and I feel I have a good relationship with the organization that sponsored this
effort), the information should be accurate and include all pertinent details re the item inquestion (in this case, the potential rezoning of the Bon Ton). A representative of the
organization engaged in a conversation with my wife, Valerie, so I know of this situationdirectly.
What I object to here most of all, (please see the below exhibit), is the selective omission inwriting, of the “modified” clause of the RA option that speaks to homes that are 35 years and
older, being allowed to be subdivided up to 4 dwelling units and allowing for up to a 25%increase in a compatible form to accommodate necessary modifications such as entrances.
Most homes in the Bon Ton are over 35 years old, thus qualifying for this modification andthe door hanger simply mentioned the most restrictive form of RA, without a full disclosure of
what the draft version of RA right now actually includes. Thus, the “gentle infill” option thatso many have spoken of in positive terms, was left out of this exhibit.
While I don’t expect this to change any opinions, the point of bringing this up is toillustrate that information widely distributed to the public in writing such as this, should strive
to be accurate. At the time of dissemination, this information on the “up-to-date” draft of theRA zoning code, was known to the public-at-large and thus to the distributor of the
information. Moving on to other UDC-related items, I support the objectives that the residents of the
Midtown neighborhood have asked you to consider. They have endured so much in thisprocess and their concerns are valid. Please consider how you handle this neighborhood going
forward, as they are extremely important to the fabric of Bozeman. Lastly, the potential upzoning to B3 of a modest-sized area of the north end of the South
Black/South Tracy neighborhood, makes little sense. There are some historic homes in themix here and why would the city want to push such a zoning designation into that area? It
seemed that the Black Olive project was enough, wasn’t it? This objective, I just don’tunderstand and the HPAB was recently contacted to weigh in on this initiative, but our next
meeting is not until December 17th and thus no comments have come back from the Boardyet.
Again, thank you for your consideration on all these items and of course, many more in thegreater UDC document. As we used to say in the Navy, “May you have fair winds and
following seas,” as you deliberate on your decisions. Thank you.
Respectfully,Jim Webster
Bon Ton NeighborhoodBozeman, MT
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Begin forwarded message:
From: Jim Webster <jwebster587@gmail.com>Date: December 1, 2025 at 10:20:56 PM PSTTo: "J. Webster" <jwebster587@gmail.com>Subject: Information Left In The Bon Ton Today
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