HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-28-26 Public Comment - D. Carty - City Commission, 4-28-26_ Agenda I.1 - Commission Priorities Work SessionFrom:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]City Commission, 4-28-26: Agenda I.1 - Commission Priorities Work Session
Date:Monday, April 27, 2026 4:18:48 PM
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Monday, April 27, 2026; 4:20 p.m.
My suggestions for the City Commission's four equally important and interrelated 2026 -2027 priorities are as follows:
(1) Protect Bozeman’s heritage, neighborhoods, and natural environment.
(a) By May 31: (i) Adopt an Interim Zoning Ordinance under MCA 75-26-307 until the
NCOD update and Landmark Programs have been completed and until the City hires a full-time Historic Preservation Officer; (ii) Revise the UDC such that maximum building height in
all B-3 districts is reduced to 60 feet to match the maximum building height in B3-C; and (iii)Revise the UDC such that neighborhood-friendly setbacks and step-backs (e.g., after the
third story) are required where B-3 is across the street from any and all residential zoningdistricts.
(b) The Urban Forest Management Plan (UFMP) should have a Vision Statement that
reads as follows: The vision of the UFMP is to protect and enhance the ecological function
of Bozeman's urban forest and the nonconsumptive beneficial ecosystem services that
Bozeman's urban forest provides to the community as a whole.
(c) The Integrated Water Resources Plan (IWRP) should focus on protecting andenhancing the health, ecological function, and beneficial ecosystem services provided to
the Bozeman community by the East Gallatin River watershed (including its aquifer).
(d) The Bozeman Creek Vision Plan (BCVP) should have the long-term vision of restoring
Bozeman Creek to a state that is scientifically sound from a fluvial
geomorphological perspective. [Fluvial geomorphology is the study of how running water
shapes the Earth's surface, focusing on the interactions between water flow, sediment
transport, and channel boundary materials.] Focusing on fluvial geomorphology will reduce
the potential for flooding in the downtown core—and thus will save millions of taxpayer
dollars in the long term.
(e) The City should hire a staff ecologist who is independent of the Community
Development and Economic Development departments.
(2) Engage meaningfully with the community.
(a) That the City may be moving toward public engagement efforts that include surveysampling methodologies that are statistically valid is a good idea. That said, this process
should be completely transparent and include the calculation of error bounds (margins oferror) for all point estimates.
(b) Rewrite Resolution 5323 to make all advisory boards equal, eliminate the one-body-
one-voice provision, and require dissenting opinions to be forwarded to the Commission in
writing. Board members should not be able to serve for more than 4 years total. No board
member should be allowed to accept a PSA from the City while sitting on a board or for 1year after sitting on a board. Conflict-of-interest standards should be updated such that no
one should be allowed to sit on a board who stands to gain financially from that board'sdecisions.
(c) Recognize that the Inter-Neighborhood Council (INC) is a partner board—not an
advisory board—and that the INC's role is to advocate for neighborhoods on within-neighborhood issues and on city-wide issues.
(3) Bridge the affordability gap.
(a) Adopt a public housing authority that is based on a mixed-income model.
(b) Do not allow reduced setbacks, relaxed landscaping requirements, and/or reduced open
space requirements in exchange for affordability because doing so will worsen the alreadyadverse socio-economic and environmental effects associated with building clustered (the
polite word) affordable housing projects.
(c) Direct the Economic Development Department to focus more on increasing wages forlocal-sector jobs. Doing that will help the people who work here to also live here.
(4) Keep Bozeman a safe and welcoming place for all.
(a) Be honest about the fact that risk cannot be reduced to zero.
(b) More enforcement is needed for dogs illegally off-leash.
(c) More traffic enforcement is needed in school zones and park zones and in downtown.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715
From:Daniel Carty
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]City Commission, 4-28-26: Agenda I.1 - Commission Priorities Work Session
Date:Tuesday, April 28, 2026 6:47:42 AM
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.
Tuesday, April 28, 2026; 6:50 a.m.
My additional suggestion for the City Commission's 2026 -2027 priority listed as:
(1) Engage meaningfully with the community:
At a minimum, the City should provide the public with complete (i.e., word-for-word), digital-and-searchable transcripts of every public meeting held in the City Commission room. Such
transcripts (e.g., in pdf format) would be in addition to the meeting videos the City alreadyprovides—meeting videos that we know from time-to-time are incomplete or lost altogether.
Daniel Carty
213 N. 3rd Ave
Bozeman, MT 59715