HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-06-26 Public Comment - M. Kaveney - City Commission Mtng. 3_10_26 Consent Item I.1 L Street zoning designation From: Marcia Kavenev
To: Bozeman Public Comment
Cc: Jennifer Madgic; Emma Bode;Joey Morrison;Alison Sweeney; Douglas Fischer
Subject: [EXTERNAL]City Commission Mtng.3/10/26 Consent Item 1.1. L Street zoning designation
Date: Friday,March 6,2026 12:34:19 PM
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Dear City Commission-
I am writing today to ask you to request Consent Item I.1. L Street zoning designation be
removed from the Consent Item list and moved to an action item for further discussion,public
comment, and vote. I am a member of the Bozeman Tree Coalition but am speaking for
myself in this letter.
The original ZMA hearing about the zoning request was controversial and stimulated a lot of
public comment and commission discussion. I believe L Street property warrants a more
indepth review of whether or not the zoning designation of RB is truly in the best interest of
the community given the site specific irregularities of this site including,but not limited, to the
following:
• It lies on the edge of an undeveloped section of town, in the urban wildland interface
and is surrounded entirely by either low density or no density development such as
county suburban/ag land, City parkland, and one or two isolated and undeveloped small
R3 (RB)parcels.
• There is only one access road for all future development on this parcel including
construction vehicles and other service vehicles- L Street/Story Mill. I'm not exactly
clear where L Street ends and Story Mill begins but it is the only road between the
railroad tracks and Bridger Drive with a very narrow bridge adjacent to the L Street
parcel. With only one street for entrances and exits, there is cause for concern with
potential problems such as flooding, fires, or health emergencies.
• Medium density developments will exacerbate the existing problems with traffic at the
railroad crossing on N. Wallace. Transportation studies vary, but a quick google search
revealed a study by the National Dept of Energy estimating approx. 5 one-way trips per
day per household in 2017. Even something more moderate for Bozeman- say 4 one-
ways (2 round trips) a day per household with 100 households puts an extra 400 extra
one-way trips per day- all on L Street/Story Mill.
htps://www.energy,goy/eere/vehicles/articles/fotw-1041-august-6-2018-households-
take-fewer-vehicle-trips-2017
• Higher density zonings make property more valuable and given the infrastructure
requirements at this particular site will likely cause the land to be as densely built as the
code allows for the developer to make a profit- leading to further issues with traffic and
safety issues. (* I believe the City should not make decisions in favor of profit margins
for developers but to look at what is best in the location and type of land on the site-no
matter the desire for additional housing units.)
• This property may be seen as undeveloped by human standards but it is not unused. It is
a valuable habitat for our bird and small mammal neighbors for which we are stewards
as per Bozeman Community Plan 2020. It contains very important native cottonwood
and aspen habitat, hawk and other songbird nesting areas including snags for cavity
nesters such as owls, woodpeckers, and many other songbirds, stream and wildlife
corridor, groundwater and stream recharge area, and is a potential corridor for flood
mitigation. Cottonwoods forests are one of our few native, self-regenerating forests in
the City and they are in decline.)htWs://www.yellowstonearboretUm.orgZI21ains-
cottonwoo
• In the previous public hearing for the L Street ZMA, we learned that some of the land
has underlying contamination that is best left undisturbed. Less density may lead to less
potential airborne pollutants being released.
• A vote against RB/R3 may instead bring a future proposal for RA or even PLI which
would be much more suited to this location given all the reasons listed above.
Thank you for your consideration of my comments. I regret that I am unlikely to be able to
attend the Tuesday, March 1 Oth meeting in person due to a previous commitment but if things
change, I will make every effort to attend in person or remotely.
Sincerely,
Marcia Kaveney
Bozeman Resident