HomeMy WebLinkAboutDevelopment Approval Follow-through1
Commission Memorandum
REPORT TO: Honorable Mayor and City Commission
FROM: Courtney Kramer, Assistant Planner for Historic Preservation
Andrew C. Epple, Planning Director
Chris Kukulski, City Manager
SUBJECT: Development Approval Follow-through
MEETING DATE: Monday, October 26, 2009
AGENDA ITEM TYPE: Action Item
RECOMMENDATION: That the Commission consider providing direction to staff on how to
ensure follow-through of approved projects. Specifically, Staff asks the Commissioners to
consider the following: 1. Should the City of Bozeman develop a policy or mechanism to help ensure that proposed
development projects are completed? 2. If yes, to which development applications should such a policy apply?
a. Throughout Bozeman for projects for a defined value or type?
b. In the Neighborhood Conservation and Entryway Corridor Overlay Districts?
c. To any property listed on, or eligible for listing on, the National Register of Historic Places?
d. Any proposed development application which requests an encroachment into the
public right-of-way?
BACKGROUND:
Bozeman is not immune to the effects of the current economic recession, and a number of
incomplete development projects serve as a very real reminder of the slowdown in Bozeman’s
growth. Although the majority of these projects adversely affect only the owner or developer, a
number of developments mar Bozeman’s more public face.
Review of these projects reveals various stages of project completion, as well as an assortment of
reasons the projects have stalled and an unending spectrum of how the development might
eventually be fulfilled. It is impossible to retroactively change the situation, but we do have the
opportunity to prevent incomplete projects that affect our cultural resources or entryway corridors. Staff has brainstormed ideas and talked with other communities in order to research
tools used to prevent unfinished developments. Some ideas might include:
1. Requiring a developer to bond the construction project.
2. Certification from a lending institution that the project will be fully financed?
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3. As a condition of approval, the Commission could require specific maintenance until the
full development is executed. This might also require an improvements agreement for
property maintenance and security to abate any life-safety issues.
It would be unfair to fail to acknowledge that owners, developers and applicants fully intend to complete a project. And in most cases, projects are completed. We are, however, faced
with the current reality that many projects approved in the last two to three years will likely
remain uncompleted for the foreseeable future.
Examples: Most obvious in the community’s mind are the projects which impinge upon downtown. The
owners of the Rialto Theatre, a building which “contributes” to Bozeman’s Main Street Historic
District, submitted Preliminary Site Plan with Certificate of Appropriateness application to the
Department of Planning and Community Development in June of 2007, proposing a third and fourth floor addition above the building. After the Bozeman City Commission denied the project in July of 2007, the applicant submitted a revised Preliminary Site Plan COA application on
November 4, 2007, which the Planning director signed approval of on December 31, 2007. The
applicants applied for Final Site Plan on June 4, 2008, and given a 90 day extension on
September 18, 2008 in order to complete the FSP application. Final FSP approval was granted on January 14, 2009. When the project was given preliminary approval the property owner and applicant applied for and received a permit from the Building Department (and with the Planning
Department signing off) for limited demolition, including marquee removal. No further
construction has taken place, and the property is now for sale.
The owners of the Bozeman Armory submitted a Preliminary Site Plan with COA application proposing full demolition of the 1941 building, on the National Register of Historic Places, on
December 11, 2007. The Commission reviewed and approved the project February 25, 2009,
granting approval of demolition on conditions that included documentation of the building. The
applicants were granted six-month extensions of the Preliminary Site Plan approval twice, to August 16, 2009, and on the condition they secure the building. The applicant failed to request a third extension in August of 2009 which would have required the City Commission’s approval,
thus losing all entitlement for the project. No demolition of the building or its interiors began, as
the applicants did not fulfill the condition to document the building properly. Currently the
building is boarded up to secure for public safety and prevent deterioration of historic features, and no further development proposals have come forward.
Projects on the periphery of Bozeman’s downtown have also been approved by the Commission
with the hope that these developments could help revitalize parts of Bozeman’s historic core.
While they may not be so readily visible, the incomplete projects negatively affect the perception of these neighborhoods.
A Preliminary Site Plan COA with Deviations application for redevelopment of the Bozeman
Brewery was submitted on June 19, 2008 and reviewed and approved by the City Commission
on August 23, 2007. The applicants applied for and received FSP approval on May 5, 2008. The
applicants fulfilled the condition of approval to fully document the building, and thus received a permit to begin limited and investigative demolition in the fall of 2007. The applicant found that
they needed to demolish the vast majority of the building on the site. Currently, the east wall of
the historic 1893 Lehrkind Brewery remains standing with the help of bracing. The North
Wallace Avenue sidewalk in front of this block of the building has been closed through an
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Encroachment Permit since demolition began. The Final Site Plan approval has been extended on
June 1, 2009 to May 5, 2010, but no further construction has taken place at this time.
The Story Mill Preliminary Planned Urban Development and Preliminary Plat application was submitted on July 3, 2007, and approved by the City Commission on December 3, 2007. Two extensions to the preliminary PUD have been granted, and the project entitlements will expire on
December 3, 2009. Further extensions are at the discretion of the City Commission, if the
applicant requests an extension prior to the preliminary approval timing out.
Uncompleted major commercial projects affect Bozeman’s general population, while stymied residential projects negatively impact Bozeman’s residential neighborhoods, especially existing
National Register of Historic Places Historic Districts.
An application to lift the existing house at 405 South Tracy Avenue, which “contributed” to the South Tracy and South Black Avenue Historic District, on the National Register of Historic Places, and install a new foundation, replace and rehabilitative the house, was submitted on
November 26, 2007, and approved by the Planning Director on December 6, 2007. The house-
moving company removed the roof, and then tried to lift and move the remaining structure, and
the structure collapsed. No further construction has taken place. Currently, the file shows and agreement between the contractor and the City Planning Department indicating that the project will be completed as initially approved, and any further alterations are subject to COA
amendment.
A residential demolition on South Grand Avenue raised the ire of the neighborhood and the Commission. A previous owner gutted the interior and removed most of the interior structural supports, and then removed the rear roof in the fall of 2006. The Department of Planning and
Community Development issued a “Stop Work” order as an effort to prevent further damage to
the building, which “contributed” to the Bon Ton Historic District, on the National Register, and
the building sat open and exposed through the winter. The owner then sold the property, and the Commission approved total demolition of the structure as requested by the new owner in August of 2008. The new owner worked with staff and the neighborhood to design an appropriate infill
structure, but the property is now for sale as a vacant lot.
Although an application was never submitted, and a project never approved for the property, the disrepair of Bozeman’s Northern Pacific Rail Road passenger Depot has caused concern amongst the Northeast Neighborhood Association, as well as the Northeast Urban Renewal Board and the
Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board. Over the past two and a half years the
Department of Planning has fielded half a dozen phone calls from realtors and investors who
expressed interest in adaptive reuse of the property. Unfortunately, these interested parties have been unable to contact the right person at Montana RailLink to advocate for the building, and the property continues to languish. Recently, the Montana State Department of Transportation
surveyed existing passenger depots in the state to see if they could again function for passenger
services should passenger rail service be reinstated across southern Montana. Their report
identifies Bozeman’s NPRR as “in very poor condition and would likely need to be demolished
and rebuilt to support new passenger rail service.” (This report does not analyze the Northeast Neighborhood’s appropriateness as a location for such a service, but rather the structural
integrity of the building in a drive-by survey. Perhaps Mandeville Farm might be the ideal place
for such a passenger depot in the future?).
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Incomplete projects are not only in Bozeman’s historic core. On North 7th Avenue the Hultman
Hotel/ la Quinta Preliminary Site Plan with COA and Deviations was originally submitted on
July 22, 2007. The project received Final Site Plan Approval and obtained Building Permits and
commenced construction. The owners ran into financial difficulties and halted work on the project, which has been in a state of partial construction for the last two years. Recently, the property has been obtained by La Quninta, who is completing the projects with modifications to
the final site plan that were submitted on March 9, 2008.
FISCAL EFFECTS: No specific policy is proposed at this time. Staff time would be used to develop the policy if the Commission wishes to move forward.
ALTERNATIVES: As suggested by the City Commission.
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