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Home My WebLink About05-19-26 Public Comment - M. Wiseman - HPAB Reommendation Regarding IZO From: Mike Wiseman To: Bozeman City Commission; Bozeman Public Comment Cc: Rebecca Harbaae Subject: [EXTERNAL][SENDER UNVERIFIED]HPAB Reommendation Regarding IZO Date: Tuesday,May 12,2026 3:43:26 PM Attachments: HPAB IZO Letter to Commissioners.odf 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. Honorable Mayor and Commissioners, Attached is a letter from the Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board requesting consideration of an Interim Zoning Ordinance during the NCOD Design Guidelines re-write process. Thank you for your time, Mike Wiseman, Vice Chair Historic Preservation Advisory Board Mike Wiseman I RA, NCARB I architecture118 1 406-404-1777 1 161 W Haley Springs Rd #103, Bozeman, MT 59718 May 12, 2026 To: Bozeman City Commission From: Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board RE: Interim Zoning Ordinance Honorable Commissioners and Mayor, The Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) is writing this letter to formally recommend the Commission give further consideration to adopting an Interim Zoning Ordinance (IZO) while the City completes work on both the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) Design Guidelines updates and the Bozeman Local Landmark program creation and adoption. Both these programs will have an impact on future construction and development projects inside the NCOD and on potential Landmark properties outside the NCOD. IZO is an appropriate tool to consider in the current situation and provides a pause while the NCOD review standards are clarified. Additionally, an IZO recognizes the importance of historic preservation, gives room to address potential unforeseen impacts, and gives support to staff members during the transition. Per the Bozeman Municode Sec. 2.05.850, the HPAB is "charged with ... integrating historic preservation into local, state and federal planning and decision-making processes, and ... protecting historic resources within Bozeman," Further, the HPAB shall "have the powers and duties to ... Make recommendations to the appropriate advisory body or decision-making body concerning any changes or modifications to the zoning regulations and zoning district boundaries." For this reason, we are compelled to recommend consideration of an Interim Zoning Ordinance, and our support for that recommendation follows. Interim Zoning is a standard planning practice that is proactive, intentional, and is generally implemented to avoid situations that may become true emergencies. The 2025 Montana Code Annotated —76-25-307 states: "1) A local government, to protect the public safety, health, and welfare and without following the procedures otherwise required prior to adopting a zoning regulation, may adopt an interim zoning ordinance as an urgency measure to regulate or prohibit uses that may conflict with a zoning proposal that the governing body is considering or studying or intends to study within a reasonable time." Currently, there is a stated scope and schedule to the NCOD re-write process that should fit within the one-year timeframe of an IZO - it is not undefined or arbitrary. An IZO seeks to "regulate or prohibit", meaning there is room to define how it gets implemented and what the parameters of its influence are - it's not an all or nothing approach, but can be fine-tuned for specific scenarios. Implementing an IZO in this instance aligns with the City's stated priority of historic preservation as there is currently a potential threat to public welfare in the rush of projects being submitted prior to implementation of any changes to the NCOD design guidelines. It is "urgent" that these concerns are addressed before we have an actual "emergency". Enacting an IZO policy now would bolster public confidence in a process clouded by mixed messages about how the design guidelines are implemented, how strictly they are adhered to, and whether they are enforceable or not. Enacting an IZO addresses the disconnect between simultaneously rewriting standards to better protect neighborhood character while continuing to approve projects that may contradict those very objectives. City staff, design professionals, and members of the public all agree the NCOD Design Guidelines are in need of updating and rewriting. An IZO serves to avoid short term precedent that may weaken future enforcement, and it removes the potential for pressure or bias that may be mis-applied to a project being reviewed in the interim. The importance of historic preservation is generally agreed upon by Commissioners, City staff, and the public at large—for reasons too numerous to dive into here. An IZO prevents irreversible loss of historic resource by decisions that conflict with pending policy and errs on the side of preservation pending clarity. Part of the intent of the creation of the NCOD was to recognize an area that holds the potential for historically significant resources. Lacking clarity on what those resources are and how to conserve them only reinforces the need for a measured approach, to make sure the community doesn't lose an asset it either didn't know it had or didn't consider threatened prior to changing market conditions. This is especially true with respect to demolition, which will be addressed in both the NCOD Design Guidelines rewrite and the Landmark program. But loss of character, integrity and continuity within the district through dilution and erosion are also threats to be addressed. This is perhaps the most important reason for urgency; while the UDC rewrite addressed the creation of Bozeman's future, the NCOD Design Guideline rewrite addresses the stewardship of Bozeman's past, a finite and threatened commodity. The new Landmark program seeks to make amendments to the Certificate of Appropriateness process, part of the NCOD regulatory enforcement. This has potential ramifications on current UDC language and is slated to be considered by both HPAB and the Community Development Board (CDB). The potential for changes to a second regulatory document in the City's cannon only reinforces the need to consider an IZO. The final changes enacted may go beyond what's currently being considered. Until staff and consultants work their way through these changes and unpack the downstream effects, the full scope of change is unknown and may be greater than anticipated. With the loss of its Historic Preservation Officer, Bozeman currently lacks a credentialed staff member to preside over the COA process, potentially weakening the evaluation of "appropriateness" for projects within the NCOD (at least in the eyes of the public). Combined with design guidelines that are in need of rewrite, other staff members have limited resources for filling that gap in a meaningful and enforceable way. An IZO would relieve staff of having to make potentially charged decisions during this transition period. Implementing an IZO does not have to stop all development within the NCOD. Each use within each zoning district can be evaluated and parameters for inclusion in an IZO can be developed. Much of the development and work within the NCOD is appropriate and has been carefully reviewed by City staff. But projects that include demolition, are seeking deviations, are requesting special uses, or are closest to established historic districts could be flagged for inclusion. While form, use and regulation have all been debated and canonized into the City's Unified Development Code, the pending changes to the NCOD Design Guidelines and Certificate of Appropriateness have not. These are an integral part of a process that is in need of updating, and the goal is not simply to make the new process justify recent deviations from the intent and character of the NCOD. Development and growth should not stop within the NCOD, but it should honor the integrity and importance of the NCOD. From the perspective of historical preservation, one year is negligable compared to the City's 162 year history and its next 100 years of future history. Thank you for your time, Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board Chelsea Holling, Chair Mike Wiseman, Vice Chair Allyson Brekke Ashley Harville Jim Webster Mitchel Korus Danielle Nicholas