HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-26 Public Comment - D. Watson - Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing DevelopmentFrom:Dominique
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:contact@harvestcreekmt.org; Maura Riley
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development
Date:Tuesday, May 5, 2026 8:28:29 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.
I bought my home on Hunters Way 5 years ago. I've watched this neighborhood change, andI've raised kids here who bike and walk these streets every day. The proposed Fowler Housing
Development is the kind of change that keeps me up at night, not because I'm against housing,but because the specific plan being described doesn't fit this site and doesn't fit this
neighborhood.
The parcel runs from Oak Street to Annie Street along Fowler Avenue. It's 150 feet wide.Once you account for setbacks and road right-of-way, you're left with roughly 30 feet of
buildable width. The City is talking about 84 units and 4-to-5-story buildings on that sliver ofland. That math doesn't work, and the fact that the proposal shrinks setbacks to 20 feet and
runs a dead-end alley along existing backyards doesn't fix it. It just moves the problem closerto people's homes.
Eighteen homeowners in Harvest Creek have backyards that directly border this parcel.
There's no road buffer between them and whatever gets built, which is different from everyother R-3 to R-1 transition I'm aware of in Bozeman. Fifty percent of the surface parking and
the alleyway would run right along those property lines. I walk past those yards. People havegardens there, kids play there. A six-foot fence is not a meaningful answer.
The traffic plan is also a real problem. All vehicle access is routed through Farmall and
Caterpillar Streets, which are residential roads. Speeding on through streets is already aconcern in this neighborhood. Adding 168 cars from a high-density development, with no
access from Fowler Avenue itself, will make it worse.
The City Commission committed in January 2026 to a consensus-based process with theHarvest Creek HOA. That process is just getting started. Please let it run before locking in
zoning that affects 18 adjacent households.
Dominique Watson