HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-29-26 Public Comment - G. Poole - “Findings of Fact” regarding Appeal #25769From:Geoffrey Poole
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Subject:[EXTERNAL]“Findings of Fact” regarding Appeal #25769
Date:Tuesday, April 28, 2026 12:42:31 PM
Attachments:FindingsOfFactLetter.pdf
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Please see the attached .pdf for comments to the CityCommission regarding the consent agenda for tonight's meeting.
April 28, 2026
To the City Commission:
Summary: We write to ask that you remove the approval of the “Findings of Fact”
regarding Appeal #25769 from your Consent Agenda and continue approval until your
next meeting. Our request would allow you consider discrepancies between the
proposed Finding of Fact and requirements of the October 25, 2025 BMC and the
Development Guidelines of the Sundance Springs PUD.
________________
Staff have presented for your approval a set of Findings of Fact regarding Appeal
#25769. Most claims in the “Findings of Fact” are correct when considered individually.
However, taken together, they represent only a subset of the requirements of the
Sundance Springs PUD and BMC in place on October 25, 2025.
We believe that the interests of the Commission as a body and the City of Bozeman as
a community are best served when the accuracy and completeness of any “Findings of
Fact” are carefully considered by the Commission in light of all evidence in the record.
The Findings of Fact in the Consent Agenda omit several requirements of the October
25, 2025 BMC and the Sundance Springs Phased PUD Development Guidelines:
PUD Development Guidelines:
1.The Introduction to the PUD’s Development Guidelines states that any
reference to the Bozeman Zoning Code contained in the Development
Guidelines is a reference to the 1992 Zoning Code. (Appendix A)
2.Paragraph 1 of Article 8.2 of the PUD’s Development Guidelines requires
that the 1992 Zoning Code be applied to all development under the PUD.
(Appendix B)
3.Paragraph 2 of Article 8.2 of the PUD’s Development Guidelines requires
that the “most recently adopted edition of any applicable regulation” be
applied “In addition to” the 1992 Zoning Code. (Appendix B)
4.Article 8.3 requires application of the 1992 Zoning Code setbacks and
further forbids parking lot encroachment into those setbacks. (Appendix C)
Requirements of the October 25, 2025 BMC:
5.The requirements of the PUD, the 1992 Zoning Code, and the October 25,
2025 B-1 Standard sometimes conflict. The October 25, 2025 BMC
requires that the most restrictive requirement of any applicable standard
must be applied. (Appendix D)
6.BMC 38.440.20 requires compliance with all terms of the PUD’s
Development Guidelines (Appendix E).
7.According to the definitions of frontages contained within BMC
38.510.020.F, Commercial Lot #2 has one street frontage, one trail
frontage, and internal frontages. (Appendix F).
As shown in the Appendices, the requirements are neither vague nor abstract.
Requirements omitted from the Findings of Fact are spelled out in the plain language of
the October 25, 2025 BMC and in the PUD’s Development Guidelines.
These omissions raise the following question to you as Commissioners:
“Why are some requirements included in the Findings of Fact while other
requirements are omitted?”
In light of the discrepancies, we ask that you remove approval of the Findings of Fact from
your consent agenda and continue that item to the next meeting. This would allow you
each, as independent jurists, to take some time to review the omitted provisions we have
called out.
Such a decision would ensure that the Findings of Fact memorialized by this Commission
represent a complete survey of the development requirements under the October 25,
2025 BMC and the Sundance Springs PUD’s Development Guidelines.
As you know, the Commission is the final arbiter of building standards in the City. When
reviewing the Findings of Fact, we ask that that you take the time needed to ensure that
all requirements of the BMC in effect on January 25, 2025 and of the PUD’s Development
Guidelines are accurately portrayed in the Findings of Fact.
Thank you for your kind attention to our concerns about the Findings of Fact on the
consent agenda.
Geoffrey Poole
Tim Swanson
Nancy Swanson
Bozeman, MT
Appendix A: Introduction to the PUD’s Development Guidelines
Appendix B: Section 8.2 of the PUD’s Development Guidelines contained in the
Covenants.
NOTE: As defined in the Introduction to the Covenants (Appendix A), references to the
Bozeman Zoning Code in the text below are references to the 1992 Zoning Code, which
was in place at the time the Covenants were executed.
Appendix C: Section 8.3 of the PUD’s Development Guidelines contained in the
Covenants.
NOTE: As defined in the Introduction to the Covenants (Appendix A), references to the
Bozeman Zoning Code in the text below are references to the 1992 Zoning Code, which
was in place at the time the Covenants were executed.
Appendix D: BMC 38.100.050 (October 25, 2025)
Appendix E: BMC 38.440.020 (October 25, 2025)
Appendix F: BMC 38.510.020.F.1 (October 25, 2025)
BMC 38.510.020.F.1 identifies three types of block frontages: steet, trail, and internal
(including parking lots).
In 2024, the Commission ruled that: 1) the buidling site has a trail frontage, and 2)
Building #2 was not in compliance with BMC 38.510.020.F.1 because the building
doesn’t address the trail frontage.
The fact that Building #2 did not address the trail frontage was a basis for overturning
the prior site plan in 2024.