HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-12-26 Public Comment - D. Carty - HPAB Meeting, April 15_ Action Item G.2 Interim Zoning OrdinanceFrom:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Alison Sweeney; Erin George; Rebecca Harbage
Subject:[EXTERNAL]HPAB Meeting, April 15: Action Item G.2: Interim Zoning Ordinance
Date:Sunday, April 12, 2026 5:53:14 PM
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(Please distribute this public comment to all members of the Historic Preservation Advisory
Board in advance of their April 15 meeting. Thank you.)
Sunday, April 12, 2026; 5:55 p.m.
Dear Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) members,
(1) I am writing to ask the HPAB to recommend to the City Commission that theCommission adopt an Interim Zoning Ordinance (IZO) within the Neighborhood
Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) until the NCOD Design Guidelines update has beencompleted and until the City of Bozeman (City) has hired a new Historic Preservation
Officer (i.e., both conditions must be met). Also, as part of an IZO within the NCOD, I askthe HPAB to recommend to the City Commission that the Commission pause demolitions of
large buildings within the NCOD and pause new development applications for largebuildings (i.e., => 20,000 sq ft) within the NCOD.
(2) My reasons for making these requests are as follows:
(a) Under the Montana Land Use Planning Act, Section MCA 76-25-307, a local
government may adopt an IZO as “an urgency measure to regulate or prohibit uses thatmay conflict with a zoning proposal that the governing body is considering."
(i) For the City, the "zoning proposal" at issue is the update of the City's NCOD Design
Guidelines (UDC Sec. 38.240.020)—a process that could take at least 1 year to complete.Hence, an IZO lasting for at least 1 year is needed to prevent inappropriate and non-
contextual residential and commercial development projects from irreparably andirreversibly damaging the historical character and sense of place of Bozeman's
neighborhoods within the NCOD and to protect Bozeman's historic districts within theNCOD.
(b) Recently, a total of 428 Bozeman residents from both within and outside the City's
NCOD participated in a survey administered by the City's Inter-Neighborhood Council. Thepurpose of this survey was to gauge public interest in enacting an IZO within the NCOD. As
part of that survey, residents were asked to respond to the following three questions:
(i) "Would you support a one year pause on demolitions of large buildings within the NCODwhile the Design Guidelines are rewritten and adopted?" Of the 361 residents who
responded to this question, 83% (300) answered YES.
(ii) "Would you support a one year pause on new development applications for largebuildings while the NCOD Design Guidelines are rewritten and adopted?" Of the 361
residents who responded to this question, 83% (299) answered YES.
(iii) "What do you consider a large building?" Of the 361 residents who responded to this
question, 68% (247) answered > 20,000 sq ft, and 18% (66) answered > 30,000 sq ft.
(3) To reiterate and conclude, I ask the HPAB to recommend to the City Commission that
the Commission adopt an IZO within the NCOD until the NCOD Design Guidelines updatehas been completed and until the City has hired a new Historic Preservation Officer (i.e.,
both conditions must be met). Also, as part of an IZO within the NCOD, I ask the HPAB torecommend to the City Commission that the Commission pause demolitions of large
buildings within the NCOD and pause new development applications for large buildings(i.e., => 20,000 sq ft) within the NCOD.
Thank you for considering these requests.
Sincerely,
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
cc: City Commissioner Alison Sweeney, Community Development Director Erin George,
and Deputy Director of Community Development Rebecca Harbage