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Home My WebLink About04-01-26 Public Comment - J. Webster - FW_ Interim Zoning Proposal—please submit to BOD mtgFrom:Emily Cope To:Bozeman Public Comment Subject:[EXTERNAL]FW: Interim Zoning Proposal—please submit to BOD mtg Date:Tuesday, March 24, 2026 10:53:11 AM Attachments:image002.png 20260324104648.pdf CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. For Downtown BID public comment. Emily Cope Economic Development Director Downtown Bozeman Partnership 222 East Main Street #302 | Bozeman MT 59715 406-586-4008 | www.downtownbozeman.org The Downtown Business Improvement District and Downtown Urban Renewal District are City of Bozeman entities administered by the Downtown Bozeman Partnership. City of Bozeman emails are subject to the Right to Know provisions of Montana’s Constitution (Art. II, Sect. 9) and may be considered a “public record” pursuant to Title 2, Chpt. 6, Montana Code Annotated. As such, this email, its sender and receiver, and the contents may be available for public disclosure and will be retained pursuant to the City’s record retention policies. Emails that contain confidential information such as information related to individual privacy may be protected from disclosure under law. From: Ileana Indreland <ileana@delaneynco.com> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2026 10:52 AM To: Emily Cope <Emily@downtownbozeman.org> Subject: RE: Interim Zoning Proposal—please submit to BOD mtg Hi Emily, I have attached the column from David. Thanks, Ileana Indreland Broker, Owner Phone: 406-586-3132 Mobile: 406-580-1973 Email: ileana@delaneynco.com Delaney & Company 101 E Main Street Suite D Bozeman, MT 59715 From: Emily Cope <Emily@downtownbozeman.org> Sent: Tuesday, March 24, 2026 10:38 AM To: David Loseff <dploseff@gmail.com>; Ileana Indreland <ileana@delaneynco.com>; Mike Delaney <mike@delaneynco.com>; Ellie Staley <ellie@downtownbozeman.org> Cc: Jim Webster <jwebster587@gmail.com> Subject: RE: Interim Zoning Proposal—please submit to BOD mtg Hi David, I do not see an attached column. Thanks, Emily Cope Economic Development Director Downtown Bozeman Partnership 222 East Main Street #302 | Bozeman MT 59715 406-586-4008 | www.downtownbozeman.org The Downtown Business Improvement District and Downtown Urban Renewal District are City of Bozeman entities administered by the Downtown Bozeman Partnership. City of Bozeman emails are subject to the Right to Know provisions of Montana’s Constitution (Art. II, Sect. 9) and may be considered a “public record” pursuant to Title 2, Chpt. 6, Montana Code Annotated. As such, this email, its sender and receiver, and the contents may be available for public disclosure and will be retained pursuant to the City’s record retention policies. Emails that contain confidential information such as information related to individual privacy may be protected from disclosure under law. From: David Loseff <dploseff@gmail.com> Sent: Monday, March 23, 2026 12:35 PM To: Ileana Indreland (Ileana@delaneynco.com) <Ileana@delaneynco.com>; Mike Delaney <mike@delaneynco.com>; Emily Cope <Emily@downtownbozeman.org>; Ellie Staley <ellie@downtownbozeman.org> Cc: Jim Webster <jwebster587@gmail.com> Subject: Interim Zoning Proposal—please submit to BOD mtg Ileana, please see the attached Bozeman Coalition column written by Jim Webster on the NCOD rules and a proposal to have the City Commission put in place an Interim Zoning Restrction on new commercial structures over 30,000 sf in NCOD district while guidelines on height limits, setbacks etc get sorted out, I am overseas with limited cell access (actually in Marakkech). Can you please submit Jim’s article to BID public comment on my behalf. Thanks David Loseff Better Bozeman Coalition About Initiatives Partners Resources Blog @ Mar 20 The Case for Interim Zoning by Jim Webster Many Bozeman residents have been asking that the building height allowed in the B-3 zoning district downtown be reverted to 70 feet from the 90 feet granted in the Unified Development Code (UDC) update that went into effect February l. Several public comments have been submitted, along with a petition that contains over 300 signatures in support of the return to 70 feet (you can add your name here). Some argue the return to 70 feet is to protect the viewshed of our several surrounding mountain ranges for the enjoyment of all downtown. Others argue for the preservation of the character of our historic downtown, which itself will be harmed by taller buildings built in a halo around it. While still others beg us not to give away the extra development potential without extracting some public good, like cash-in-lieu of affordable housing, or talk about parking issues and the potential for increased congestion, as the streets are not getting any bigger. All of these are valid arguments from my perspective. To understand the source of residents' opposition to taller buildings downtown, and to entertain ways to address this broad concern, the realization has hit me: What many may be opposed to is not necessarily tall buildings themselves (though that is a possibility) but poor design incompatible with our historic downtown character. conducted all around the world, that inform us about what most people find beautiful or preferable. Spoiler alert: people prefer traditional architecture above modernist architecture ... by a huge margin! In 1991, the City of Bozeman created the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) The Bendon Adams (BA) report, submitted to the city in 2019, (the link to that re1:2ort is here and makes for outstanding reading) lays the groundwork for the Lakota Group consultants that are coming to Bozeman in April to update the NCOD guidelines in partnership with the city's Community Development Department. BA did much engagement with our community and the hope is that Lakota will as well. Several of us have leaned hard on the city to support the Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) and the community to have a stake in the process. Public Comments over the next 2-4 weeks will go a long way to help reinforce this initiative. Thus, due in large part to public participation asking for the Design Guidelines for the NCOD to be enforced to a greater degree, the city has hired these consultants to update these design guidelines. The city is also currently engaged with consultants to create a Local Landmark Program and rework Historic Preservation standards generally to cover the entire city, not just the NCOD. This section of code was not addressed over the last several years as part of the Development Code update, but it has been carved out separately and the work is ongoing. -A MATTER OF SOME URGENCY- While this work is ongoing, it is prudent to consider enacting an interim zoning ordinance to prevent "uses that may conflict with a zoning proposal that the governing body is considering or studying." Its goal would be to prevent more soviet-style "boxy" structures from sneaking in before we have design guidelines updated. Interim Zoning is allowed to us by the most recent edition of Montana Code Annotated title 76, chapter 25, item 307. 76-25-307. Interim zoning ordinances. (1) A local government, to protect the public safety, health, and welfare and without following the procedures otherwise required prior to adopting a zoning regulation, may adopt an interim zoning ordinance as an urgencY-measure to regulate or prohibit uses that may conflict with a zoning proposal that the governing body is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time. ( emphasis added) The public participation during the �1:2date to the NCOD Design Guidelines will inform the conversation on height in our historic downtown. Public input may mean we revert Community Development and Deputy Director of Community Development to carry this out, and while they are well-intentioned, to my knowledge, they don't have that extra background in historic preservation planning. I believe this constitutes a matter of some urgency, that justifies the use of interim zoning to pause demolitions and applications for new large developments within the NCOD, until a new HPO is hired AND these important land use regulations are completed. The pause would not affect any projects already in the pipeline. -BUT WHAT ABOUT THE HOUSING CRISIS?- Many people say we shouldn't put any restraints on growth because we have a housing crisis. Therefore, we can't possibly temporarily pause development (through the use of an interim zoning ordinance) while we rewrite the design guidelines for the Conservation District. These same people tell us design regulations just make things more expensive. In reality, we do not have a housing supply crisis, we have a housing affordability crisis, as explained by McClure and Schwartz. The latest Bozeman Economic & Market Uf2date ref2ort states that we have a huge surplus of multifamily housing! In fact, the average multifamily market-wide vacancy rate went up from 12.6% in 2024 to 18.7% in 2025. The vacancy rate for the approximately 1,900 units built in 2024 and 2025 was 44.2% (pp 41-42). The high vacancy rate in new construction alone is enough to refute arguments that restraining growth at this time will result in insufficient housing supply. We have plenty of supply! As for making projects more expensive, the fa�ade of a building is not a large determinant of cost. Depending on the style of construction (wood framing vs. steel) and the overall scale of the building, fa�ade materials might account for 2-5% of the project cost. A much larger influence on project cost is the other 3 L's. The 4 L's include Land, Labor, Lumber, and Lending, with lumber being materials including fa�ade treatments. The other 3 L's are not affected by the design of the building. In this reality, Another factor that suggests interim zoning is a responsible action to take is that it will result in a reduction in staff workload. -PUBLIC SUPPORT FOR A PAUSE-