HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-09-26 Public Comment - T. Witmer - Public Comment — STR Legacy RA Class — April 14 AgendaFrom:Tessa Witmer
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment — STR Legacy RA Class — April 14 Agenda
Date:Thursday, April 9, 2026 11:14:23 AM
Attachments:Public Comment for City Commission_Apr14.docx.pdf
Sam Sagsetter Emails .pdf
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Dear Mayor Morrison and Members of the City Commission,
My name is Tessa Witmer. I am a homeowner at 602 N Willson Avenue and a Type 2 STRpermit holder (STR21-00033) affected by the UDC zoning consolidation that took effect
February 1, 2026.
I will be attending Tuesday's meeting and have submitted my formal public comment for therecord. I am asking the Commission to create a Legacy RA STR class for existing Type 1 and
Type 2 permit holders — identical in structure to the Legacy Type 3 pathway created underOrdinance 2149 in 2023.
The short version: 72 permitted, compliant operators were not notified for two months. Before
the UDC took effect, the city's own planner told me in writing that nothing would change. Thecity's public FAQ made the same promise. We relied on both. A targeted fix exists, the city
has done it before, and 72 families are waiting to find out whether it will do it again.
I have attached my full public comment and the email thread with Community DevelopmentTechnician Sam Sagstetter, which documents the written assurance I received on January 21,
2026, and his subsequent acknowledgment on April 6th that the information he provided wasincorrect.
I am happy to speak with any Commissioner before Tuesday if that would be useful.
Thank you for your time and your service to this community.
Tessa Witmer
602 N Willson Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715tessabwitmer@gmail.com
406.548.2002STR Permit STR21-00033
PUBLIC COMMENT — BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION | April 14, 2026
PUBLIC COMMENT TO THE BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION
Re: Request for Legacy RA STR Class — UDC Zoning Consolidation Impact
Submitted by: Tessa Witmer | Property: 602 N Willson Ave, Bozeman, MT 59715
STR Permit: STR21-00033 (Type 2, active through October 6, 2026) | Date: April 14, 2026
Contact: tessabwitmer@gmail.com | 406.577.6535
My name is Tessa Witmer, and I own a Type 2 short-term rental at 602 N Willson Avenue.
I am here on behalf of myself and at least 71 other Bozeman property owners whose
fully-permitted, fully-compliant short-term rentals were retroactively eliminated when
the new Unified Development Code took effect on February 1, 2026. We were not
notified until April 3rd — two months later.
I am asking the City Commission to create a Legacy RA class: existing Type 1 and Type 2
permit holders whose permits were active when the UDC took effect may continue
renewing their permits indefinitely, provided permits never lapse. No new STRs in RA
going forward. The city created this exact pathway for Type 3 operators in 2023. I am
asking you to follow your own precedent.
A note on scope: The new UDC created four residential zoning districts: RA, RB, RC, and RD.
Under the Allowed Use Table (BMC Sec. 38.300.020), Type 1 and Type 2 STRs are listed as "Use
Not Allowed" in RA — and RA is the only one of the four new districts where STRs are
prohibited. Operators whose properties consolidated into RB, RC, or RD retained their STR
rights. The entire impact of this UDC change falls on RA zone permit holders alone.
I. THE CITY GAVE A WRITTEN ASSURANCE THAT NOTHING WOULD
CHANGE
On January 21, 2026 — eleven days before the UDC took effect — I emailed Sam
Sagstetter, Technician III in Community Development, to ask directly whether my Type 2
STR permit at 602 N Willson would be affected by the UDC update. His response was
unambiguous:
"The UDC does not effect [sic] the short term rental ordinance. If your type
2 rental is allowed in the current zoning, it will remain allowed in the
updated zoning." — Sam Sagstetter, email to Tessa Witmer, January 21,
2026
I relied on that written assurance. I continued operating, continued booking guests, and
continued making business decisions based on the city's own written representation
that my permit was safe. Mr. Sagstetter has since acknowledged in writing that this
information was incorrect, writing on April 6th: "I sincerely apologize for providing you
with conflicting information."
The city cannot give a property owner a written assurance that their use is permitted,
allow them to operate in full reliance on that assurance for months, and then reverse
course without any remedy. This is not an informal conversation — it is the city's official
Page 1 of 5
PUBLIC COMMENT — BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION | April 14, 2026
position, delivered in writing by a city planner acting within the scope of his duties, in
response to a direct and specific question.
II. THE CITY'S OWN PUBLIC FAQ PROMISED NO SUBSTANTIVE
CHANGES
During the UDC adoption process, the city's official FAQ page at
engage.bozeman.net/udc/faqs answered the question "Will Short Term Rental
regulations change if residential zoning districts are changing?" with the following:
"City staff and Commissioners will consider and harmonize the outcome of
the two projects (STRs and UDC) where they overlap. At this point
substantive changes are not expected." — City of Bozeman UDC FAQ,
engage.bozeman.net/udc/faqs (page remains live as of April 2026)
The elimination of Type 1 and Type 2 short-term rental permits across all RA-zoned
properties — affecting 72 of the city's 319 active STR permits, nearly 23% of the entire
permitted market — is, by any reasonable definition, substantive. That harmonization
never happened. The city's own public-facing promise went unmet, and the operators
who relied on it were not warned.
III. THE NOTIFICATION WAS RETROACTIVE BY TWO MONTHS
The UDC took effect on February 1, 2026. The city sent its advisory email to affected
permit holders on April 3, 2026. For sixty-one days, Type 1 and Type 2 operators in RA
zones were operating under a code that had already, unknown to them or to city staff,
eliminated their right to renew.
The city's own planner did not know the code had eliminated these permits. The
community did not know. Operators continued to take reservations, sign agreements
with guests, and conduct their businesses as fully-permitted, law-abiding operators —
because every indication they had received from the city said they were.
The April 3rd notification did not inform permit holders of a future change. It told them,
retroactively, that they had been operating in a gray area for two months — and that the
city had no remedy to offer.
IV. GUESTS ALREADY BOOKED ARE NOW IN LEGAL JEOPARDY
Among the 72 affected permit holders are operators with reservations already
confirmed for future dates — guests who have paid deposits, made travel arrangements,
and planned stays at properties they have no reason to believe are anything other than
fully legal, city-permitted short-term rentals.
At least one affected operator currently has a permit renewal pending and guests
booked in reliance on that renewal being processed. The city's position — that no
administrative path forward exists — leaves these operators and their guests in an
impossible situation that the operators did nothing to create.
The city offered to issue refunds for permits renewed after February 1, 2026 — an implicit
acknowledgment that operators who renewed in good faith during the notification gap
were wronged. A refund of the permit fee does not address months of bookings
accepted, contracts signed, and income streams now at risk.
Page 2 of 5
PUBLIC COMMENT — BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION | April 14, 2026
V. THE CITY HAS DONE THIS BEFORE — TWICE
This is not unprecedented territory. The city has faced this exact situation and chosen to
protect existing operators on two prior occasions:
• Ordinance 2149 (2023): When the city eliminated Type 3 STR permits, it created a
Legacy Type 3 class allowing existing operators to continue renewing their
permits indefinitely, provided their permits never lapsed. No new Type 3s were
permitted. Existing operators were protected.
• Ordinance 1974 (2017): When STR regulations were first established citywide,
Ordinance 1974 included an explicit "Grandfathering" provision — Section 8, titled
exactly that — protecting operators whose properties became non-conforming
uses under the new code. Those who had been operating lawfully before the
change were given a pathway to continue. The Commission has done this before,
more than once. The template already exists.
The request before the Commission today is identical in structure to what was done in
2023. A Legacy RA class. Existing permitted operators, active at the time of the UDC
change, keep their ability to renew. The city's own precedent is the template.
The only difference between what was done for Type 3 operators in 2023 and what is
being asked for here is that it was not done.
VI. THE SCALE OF IMPACT IS SUBSTANTIVE
Based on a cross-reference of all 319 active City of Bozeman STR permits against the
current RA zoning district, 72 permits — approximately 23% of the city's entire permitted
short-term rental market — have been affected by this change.
These are not large commercial operators. They are homeowners and small landlords
operating a single property, many of whom depend on STR income to cover mortgages,
property taxes, childcare, and the costs of living in one of the least affordable rental
markets in Montana. STR income stays in Bozeman — it pays local cleaning crews, local
maintenance workers, local utilities. It does not flow to a corporate balance sheet.
A 23% reduction in the city's permitted STR supply, accomplished inadvertently, without
notice, without a remedy, and contrary to written assurances from city staff, is not a
minor administrative adjustment. It is a substantive disruption to 72 families and the
downstream businesses that depend on them.
VII. THE HOUSING CONTEXT DOES NOT SUPPORT THIS OUTCOME
The previous elimination of Type 3 STRs in 2023 was framed, in part, as a housing
availability measure, taken during a period of low rental vacancy. The market looks very
different in 2026.
Approximately 1,900 multifamily units were added to the Bozeman market between
2024 and mid-2025, pushing the rental vacancy rate to a peak of 18% before settling at
approximately 12% — a level that signals an oversupplied rental market by any standard
measure. On April 3, 2026 — the same day the city sent its advisory email to affected STR
operators — the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported:
Page 3 of 5
PUBLIC COMMENT — BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION | April 14, 2026
"For now, there are plenty of market-rate apartments for renters to choose
from in Bozeman." — Bozeman Daily Chronicle, April 3, 2026
At 12% vacancy across a rental stock that includes those 1,900 new units, hundreds of
apartments sit empty today. Converting 72 STRs to long-term rentals — most of which
would come to market at rates well above affordability thresholds — would not move
that needle. The problem the Chronicle identified on April 3rd is not supply. It is that
available units remain priced out of reach for most working Bozeman residents.
Eliminating Type 1 and 2 STRs does not fix that.
It is also worth noting that the RA zone eliminates not only Type 2 permits, but Type 1
permits as well — meaning a homeowner who lives in their house full-time cannot rent
a spare room to a visitor. No housing unit is freed by that restriction. No long-term
tenant gains a home. It simply removes an income option from owner-occupants while
doing nothing for housing supply or affordability.
This Commission has the opportunity to make a distinction: a policy deliberately
targeting STRs as a housing measure is one conversation. An inadvertent code drafting
outcome that retroactively wipes out 72 permitted operators who received written
assurances to the contrary is a different conversation, and it deserves a different
response.
VIII. THE CITY'S OWN ACCOUNT IS INTERNALLY INCONSISTENT
On April 6, 2026, Mr. Sagstetter wrote that the zoning change "was not a decision
specific to short term rentals, but instead a large scale change with zoning designation
that impacted eligible STR types." Later that same day, in a follow-up response, he wrote
that the city's housing intent from 2023 "was also applied in the 2025 UDC residential
district combination."
These two statements cannot both be true. Either the elimination of STRs in RA was an
unintended side effect of a broad rezoning — in which case the written assurances, the
failed harmonization, and the two-month notification gap make a compelling case for a
remedy — or it was a deliberate housing policy decision — in which case the city owed
affected permit holders advance notice, a transition period, and the same grandfather
protection extended to Type 3 operators in 2023.
Under either account, the outcome for 72 permit holders who operated in good faith on
the city's own representations is the same: no warning, no transition, no remedy. That is
not consistent with how this city has handled these situations before, and it is not
consistent with the public record the city created during the UDC adoption process.
IX. WHAT I AM ASKING FOR
I am asking the City Commission to direct staff to prepare an ordinance amendment
creating a Legacy RA STR class with the following parameters:
• Any Type 1 or Type 2 STR permit that was active and in good standing as of
February 1, 2026 is eligible for the Legacy class.
• Legacy class permit holders may renew their permits on the standard renewal
schedule, indefinitely, provided permits never lapse.
• No new Type 1 or Type 2 STR permits will be issued in RA zones going forward.
Page 4 of 5
PUBLIC COMMENT — BOZEMAN CITY COMMISSION | April 14, 2026
• Legacy permits are non-transferable — they do not convey with a sale of the
property.
This is a narrow, targeted remedy that protects operators who acted in good faith on the
city's written representations, without opening RA zones to new STR development. It is
fair, it is precedented, and it is the right thing to do.
I recognize that the Commission operates under the code as written and that a
legislative fix takes time. I am simultaneously exploring an Administrative Interpretation
Appeal under BMC 38.220.150, which I intend to file before the April 30th deadline, with
the goal of preserving my options while the Commission considers this matter.
I am asking you, however, to act. Not because of what the code says today, but because
of what the city told us it would say — and because the right precedent already exists.
Seventy-two permitted, compliant, good-faith operators are waiting to hear whether this
Commission will follow it.
Respectfully submitted,
Tessa Burnett Witmer
602 N Willson Avenue, Bozeman, MT 59715
STR Permit STR21-00033
tessabwitmer@gmail.com | 406.577.6535
Attachments: Sam Sagstetter email thread, January 21 – April 6, 2026
Page 5 of 5
Sam Sagstetter
Technician III Community Development
City of Bozeman | 20 East Olive St. | Bozeman, MT 59715
P: 406.582.2964 | E: sam.sagstetter@bozemanmt.gov | W: www.bozeman.net/planning
Apr 6, 2026, 4:41 PM
RE: [EXTERNAL]Clarification on Grandfathering Provisions for
Existing Type 2 STR Permits Under New UDC
From: Bozeman STR <str@bozemanmt.gov>
To: Tessa Witmer <tessa@bozemanguesthouse.com>
Cc: Sten Witmer <sten.witmer@gmail.com>
From: Tessa Witmer <tessa@bozemanguesthouse.com>
Sent: Monday, April 6, 2026 2:46 PM
To: Bozeman STR <str@bozemanmt.gov>
Cc: Sten Witmer <sten.witmer@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL]Clarification on Grandfathering Provisions for Existing Type 2 STR Permits
Under New UDC
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you
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did not
Sam Sagstetter
Technician III Community Development
City of Bozeman | 20 East Olive St. | Bozeman, MT 59715
P: 406.582.2964 | E: sam.sagstetter@bozemanmt.gov | W: www.bozeman.net/planning
CUSTOMER SERVICE HOURS
From: Tessa Witmer <tessa@bozemanguesthouse.com>
Sent: Friday, April 3, 2026 12:22 PM
To: Bozeman STR <str@bozemanmt.gov>
Subject: Fwd: RE: [EXTERNAL]Clarification on Grandfathering Provisions for Existing Type 2 STR
Permits Under New UDC
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless
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From:
Date:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Sam Sagstetter
Technician III Community Development
City of Bozeman | 20 East Olive St. | Bozeman, MT 59715
P: 406.582.2964 | E: ssagstetter@bozeman.net | W: www.bozeman.net/planning
CUSTOMER SERVICE HOURS
From: Tessa Witmer <tessa@bozemanguesthouse.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 21, 2026 4:09 PM
To: Sam Sagstetter <ssagstetter@BOZEMAN.NET>
Cc: Sten Witmer <sten@upshotarch.com>
Subject: [EXTERNAL]Clarification on Grandfathering Provisions for Existing Type 2 STR
Permits Under New UDC
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.
My Current Situation:
My Questions:
Grandfathering Status:
Ongoing Compliance:
Permit Renewal:
Tessa Burnett Witmer
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From:Sam Sagstetter
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:FW: Code Update for Type 2 STRs
Date:Thursday, April 9, 2026 12:26:42 PM
From: Bozeman STR
Sent: Friday, April 3, 2026 11:06 AM
Subject: Code Update for Type 2 STRs
Dear STR hosts,
The City of Bozeman updated its entire Unified Development Code (UDC) in December
2025. Part of that code update was a combination of residential zoning districts. One
notable change is the RS, R1, and R2 districts became the new RA district. In
combining these districts, the use allowances for R1 were utilized for most land uses in
the new RA district. As a result, only Type 1 STRs are allowed in the new RA district and
thus, Type 2 STRs operating in RA may no longer be permitted under the new UDC. The
new UDC took effect on February 1, 2026. Please double check your zoning.
If your Type 2 STR application or renewal for an RA property came in before February 1,
2026, staff will review your application under the old code and (assuming you're
otherwise in compliance with that code) you can be approved to operate for one year,
but you will not be approved for your next renewal. If your STR application or renewal
came in after February 1, 2026, we will have to deny your permit for zoning non-
compliance and you will need to cease operating.
We apologize for the impact to STR hosts affected by this zoning change. As you are
aware, local government regulations change often depending on policy decisions by
elected officials, and City staff have no control over those decisions. Please note,
Short-Term Rental permits are annual permits only valid for one year at a time, per
BMC 38.320.060(i). BMC 38.320.060(j) further specifies that "Renewals must comply
with the requirements of this Code which are in place at the time of renewal." Housing
remains an important priority for the Bozeman City Commission, and their intent with
the 2023 STR ordinance #2149 was to limit certain STRs in the city to lessen impacts to
housing supply. This intent was also applied in the 2025 UDC residential district
combination as noted above. It's possible Commission may choose to revisit this issue
at some point in the future. You are always welcome to share your perspective with
them via comments@bozemanmt.gov.
This email is an advisory for Type 2 hosts who may be operating in an RA zoning district.
It is not a decision. As staff continue to review applications and renewals, we will
follow up with you to let you know the effect of this UDC change on your STR. If there
are options for you to continue short-term rental of your property, such as by
converting to a Type 1 STR, planning staff will be ready to advise you. Should you have
questions at this time, please reply to this email and we will connect you with a
planner.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
Bozeman Community Development Department
STR@bozemanmt.gov | 406-582-2260
www.bozeman.net/departments/community-development/planning/short-term-
rentals