HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-13-26 Public Comment - K. Meeker - Public comment_ Cattail Creek Corridor and Anchor Route 2026 Park Master PlanFrom:Kelly Meeker
To:Bozeman Public Comment
Cc:Tyler Johnson; contact@harvestcreekmt.org
Subject:[EXTERNAL]Public comment: Cattail Creek Corridor and Anchor Route 2026 Park Master Plan
Date:Sunday, September 13, 2026 10:13:26 PM
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To the attention of the Bozeman Commission:
My husband Tyler Johnson & I are residents of the Harvest Creek neighborhood, where we'veowned a home since 2015. We are runners, cyclists, and dog owners who are in our linear park
every single day (at least once a day, if not twice). We're writing to share community feedbackregarding the proposed park master plan.
My husband and I are very supportive of the transition to natural grasses and reduced mowing,
and the improved habitat for pollinators and wildlife that will result. However, the change to a10 foot wide, paved trail corridor is completely inappropriate for our neighborhood park. This
is not a commuter corridor with hundreds of bikers getting downtown - it's a neighborhoodresource where people stop and chat, allow their dogs to meet, and kids play. Creating a faster
paced, wider corridor here is out of sync with how our community uses this park space and isnot necessary to support increased park use.
At this time, neighbors are running, walking, and riding in this space at a consistent but very
reasonable spacing. There is no requirement to widen and pave the trail for our community'scurrent or growing usage. Furthermore, the current trail surface and width is adequate for
wheelchair user use, meeting Class 4 trail standards. Finally, the majority of users of this parktrail are dog walkers/runners, and creating more blacktop is not helpful for dogs in the
summertime. We avoid blacktop/paved surfaces in the summertime to avoid burning our dog'spaws - and converting our neighborhood parks to blacktop trails will make them literally
unusable for us in summer.
We are completely opposed to widening/hardening our linear park's trail surface, andextremely frustrated that our neighborhood has not been consulted in this discussion. Creating
a park master plan without engaging relevant institutions (such as HOAs, homeowners, andcommunity groups) is completely outside of best practices for neighorhood and park planning,
and creates grave concern for me about how our community is consulting its neighborhoods increating shared public spaces that meet our needs. We did not learn about this change from the
city or the parks & recreation department - we learned about it from our HOA. Best practicehere is door-knocking, flyering mailboxes, or postering in parks to let people know you're
considering changes. Please improve your public involvement practices — and listen to thefolks who use this park system every day.
Kelly Meeker & Tyler Johnson
2741 Allison CourtBozeman, Montana
907-947-0323