HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-04-26 Public Comment - D. McAllister - Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing DevelopmentFrom:Dan Mc
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:contact@harvestcreekmt.org
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development
Date:Monday, May 4, 2026 11:44:15 AM
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I live at 3203 Caterpillar Street, and I want to be direct with the City about what the proposed Fowler Housing
Development looks like from where I sit. My street is one of two residential roads the City's own plans identify asaccess points for a development with up to 84 units and an estimated 168 vehicles. Caterpillar Street was never builtto carry that kind of daily load, and neither was Farmall. There is no planned access from Fowler Avenue itself, thearterial road that runs right along the development's western edge. That design decision is hard to understand andharder to accept.
The parking math doesn't work either. A ratio of 1.67 vehicles per unit assumes people will use garages for carsrather than storage. That's not how it works in practice. The overflow will land on Caterpillar and New Holland, andonce it does, there's no easy fix.
The parcel is only 150 feet wide. After setbacks and road right-of-way, the buildable footprint shrinks to roughly 30feet. Stacking 4- and 5-story buildings on that footprint, right against the backyards of 18 homeowners, is not adesign that fits the site. The City's 2017 purchase agreement committed to preserving existing trees, open spaces,and the irrigation ditch. High-density construction at this scale doesn't leave room for any of that.
I also have to raise the question of cost. Units priced between $450,000 and $650,000 are not affordable housing byany reasonable definition. If the justification for fast-tracking this proposal is housing affordability, that argumentfalls apart at those price points. Meanwhile, the new infrastructure required to support this density will cost realmoney, and that tax burden lands on the existing residents of this neighborhood.
The City Commission agreed in January 2026 to a consensus-based engagement process with the Harvest CreekHOA. That process is just getting started. Please let it run before locking in zoning decisions that can't be undone.
Dan McAllisterSent from my iPad