HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-11-15 Potter-DevelopmentFrom: Chris Mehl
To: Agenda
Subject: FW: thanks Chris
Date: Monday, January 12, 2015 12:19:54 PM
Checked with Brett and he said fine to forward to commissioners and relevant staff.
Chris Mehl
Bozeman City Commission
cmehl@bozeman.net
406.581.4992
________________________________________
From: Brett Potter [brett@focusarchitects.com]
Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2015 8:45 AM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: thanks Chris
Hi Chris, happy new year! Thanks for the email, it is nice to hear from you. In the spirit of infill
commercial development I would like to take a moment to describe why I believe this could be an
important piece to the "economic and complete streets" puzzle of our town within the next 5-15 years.
In the past I spoke about sprawl but the reality is sprawl has happened, and residential development
will continue to push our infrastructure capacity to the west (some say we are on the verge of a
"residential new development" sewer moratorium). As you and I have agreed on in the past, residential
single family home construction puts the greatest load on our support systems (I would argue justifying
"direct drive impact fees" that are not that different than the cost of punching a $10,000 well in the
county). I do not believe that the solution to some of our greatest problems is solved by endless new
residential product to the west. Ok feel free to stop reading at any time, this is getting a bit long but
you are the first non-jeff candidate to reach out since the election.
In my opinion as a professional with urban planning/development/master plan experience, our greatest
threat to the livability of our town is the exponential increase of commuter traffic in the next 5-15 years
that is directly tied to "County Commercial Sprawl". The hidden layer within this reality is "secondary
and tertiary commuter automobile trips." Our unfortunate predicament as a town is we have lost the
competitive market advantage for new commercial development outside of banking but that sector is
now investing in our satellite communities as we speak. Your response during the campaign to this
statement "we are now permitting in greater numbers than ever before" is valid. It is unarguable that
Bozeman is exploding with new development (and the student housing project located next to campus is
a welcome addition). But now we have an opportunity to "Target Complete Streets Now." I guess that
could be my next campaign slogan. Targeting is something the commission has frowned upon but I
believe it could be an effective tool in regaining a competitive market advantage in the commercial in-
fill development sector.
Negatives: City Attorney over site for legality questions. Process and Documentation timeline to
identify what is missing in each neighborhood.
Positives: Reduction of Commuter Traffic, more money in the city coffers, less residential load on our
last 20,000 water/sewer hookups left with current capacity.
Main idea of Focus (for consideration): New study that identifies "Secondary & Tertiary Commuter Trip
Triggers" during the life cycle of a day/week/month. Study Outcome Goal: Identification of key missing
use types within each demographic that "if constructed" would result in a defined "Complete
Street/Neighborhood Node). Final and most important piece, financial incentive package "Real $$$
Program," to stimulate the investment sector to act now i.e. program shelf life of 5years creating "Sense
of Urgency" to permit with "1: Zero Impact Fees for Target In-fill CATEGORY A NEED, 2: 50%
Reduction of Street Impact Fees for Target In-fill CATEGORY B NEED, 3: Favorable Category for
creative adaptation that can be discussed during Variance or Deviation review at Commission CATEGORY
C NEED (more teeth for the commission's approval process).
Other Items of Consideration: 1. "Direct Drive Impact Fees" or the policy revision allowing impact fee
prioritization to be spent at a 100% level to fix infrastructure issues within a 500' radius of the new
development first. 2. A serious growth policy amendment to multimodal transportation master planning
(key idea, we need bike paths, shelters, bus stops, separate use interconnectivity at macro level (i.e.
business complex to grocery store) with "Branding" i.e. "Yellow Line". This is not bonded for but master
planned into the general fund with a dedication of mills based on future increased income capacity of
new investment opportunities.
Not sure how these ideas will hit you but thought it was a worthwhile discussion to have. Take care.