HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-26 Public Comment - S. Grantham - Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development From: Shannon
To: Bozeman Public Comment
Cc: contact(d)harvestcreekmt.ora
Subject: [EXTERNAL]Public Comment on Fowler Avenue Housing Development
Date: Tuesday,May 5,2026 6:56:17 AM
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I'm writing about the proposed Fowler Housing Development on the city-owned parcel
between Oak Street and Annie Street, and I want to be direct about what concerns me most:
the infrastructure in this part of Bozeman is not built for what's being proposed.
I live on Catamount Street and work right next to where this development is planned. Under
the current plan, 168 cars from up to 84 units would enter and exit through Farmall and
Caterpillar Streets, which are residential roads. There is no access planned from Fowler
Avenue itself, the arterial road that runs right next to the site. That makes no sense.
Catamount, Farmall, and New Holland were designed to move neighborhood traffic, not to
absorb the equivalent of a small apartment complex with a parking ratio that virtually
guarantees overflow into Harvest Creek streets. The city's own parking assumption of 1.67
vehicles per unit is optimistic in a city with no meaningful transit alternative to car ownership.
Beyond traffic, I want to know what the water, sewer, and stormwater capacity analysis shows
for adding 84 units to this area. I haven't seen that study. I've seen no evidence it was done. I'm
formally requesting that a comprehensive environmental and traffic impact study be
completed and made public before any zoning or development vote proceeds.
The $450,000 to $650,000 price range being discussed for these units isn't affordable
housing. The average household income in Bozeman is around $85,000 a year. At that
income, a reasonable monthly mortgage payment is roughly $2,000. That math doesn't
produce a $600,000 condo purchase.What this city actually needs is more moderately
priced HOMES. Not properties for millionaires who don't live here to purchase. But
HOMES aimed at allowing actual residents who make actual Bozeman wages (low
relative to housing cost) to be able to get into home buying in homes that will actually
resell. There are plenty of townhouses and condos that sit on the market for months and
months. I know because I live in the huuuge swathe of them just north of where you are
planning this crazy development. The condos and townhomes sit forever so they are not
a good investment for Bozmanites looking to get into property vs throwing all their
money away in crazy high rent prices every months. This development does nothing to
help the real problems.
The City Commission agreed in January 2026 to a consensus-based engagement process with
the Harvest Creek HOA. That process is just getting started. Let it run. Don't lock in zoning
decisions that will predetermine the outcome before the neighbors have had a real seat at the
table.
Shannon Grantham
Sent from my iPhone