HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-04-26 Public Comment - A. Kjellstom - Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development From: Axel Kjellstrom
To: Bozeman Public Comment
Cc: contact(nbharvestcreekmt.org
Subject: [EXTERNAL]Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development
Date: Monday,May 4,2026 4:09:47 PM
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I live at 1213 New Holland Drive and have been in this neighborhood for more than ten years.I go to City
Commission meetings.I read the staff reports.And what I see in the Fowler Housing Development proposal is a
project that was designed for a different city,on a different piece of land,and pushed forward without nearly enough
honest engagement with the people who will live next to it.
The math alone should stop this.The parcel is 150 feet wide.After setbacks and road right-of-way,there are roughly
30 feet left for actual structures.The City's response was to shrink the setbacks to 20 feet and run a single-lane
alleyway along existing backyards.That alleyway dead-ends,which means ladder trucks can't reach most of the
proposed units in an emergency.This isn't a density question at that point—it's a basic feasibility question.
Eighty-four units at 18 units per acre,priced between$450,000 and$650,000,is not affordable housing.That price
range doesn't meet any standard definition of affordability,and the proposal lists no grants,no nonprofit
partnerships,no connection to HRDC or Trust Montana.Meanwhile, 160 acres of R-3 development is already
underway at Baxter and Cottonwood.The city isn't short on high-density zoning.It's short on honest planning.
Traffic exits on Farmall and Caterpillar Streets—residential streets that were never designed to carry 168 cars a
day.Nothing connects to Fowler Avenue itself,the arterial road that runs directly alongside the parcel.Overflow
parking will land in Harvest Creek,and the covenants here can't be enforced against non-residents.
The City Commission agreed in January 2026 to a consensus-based engagement process with the Harvest Creek
HOA.Phase 2 starts in mid-May.Pushing forward on zoning before that process produces anything real makes the
commitment worthless.I'm asking the Commission to honor it,scale the density back to something that fits this site,
and keep all vehicle access on Fowler Avenue where it belongs.
Axel Kjellstrom
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