HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-09-15 Potter Affordable Housing Public CommentFrom: Chris Mehl
To: Agenda
Subject: FW: inclusionary housing
Date: Monday, February 09, 2015 8:39:31 AM
Chris Mehl
Bozeman City Commission
cmehl@bozeman.net
406.581.4992
________________________________________
From: Brett Potter [brett@focusarchitects.com]
Sent: Monday, February 09, 2015 8:25 AM
To: Chris Mehl
Subject: inclusionary housing
To the Bozeman City Commission,
The unintended consequence of Inclusionary housing is urban sprawl. I am not writing this today to be
critical of your efforts to find a solution to one of Bozeman’s greatest problems but instead to offer
another solution for consideration. As a member of the Bozeman City Planning Board and a design
professional with 15 years of experience working on residential and commercial projects in the Gallatin
Valley, I believe that our entire valley is now the place that people are looking to buy a home, not just
Bozeman. The past year in Bozeman has seen explosive growth to the west and south of high density
and middle density residential housing and this has been equally shared by the county. Our town is
now a place of great physical distance that can only be navigated by the automobile. As leaders of the
community we must take a hard look at what past policies and new policies are promoting this type of
growth. I argue the answer to affordable housing is inextricably linked to the cost of doing business in
Bozeman. This cost includes physical distance, job opportunity, and the price point of housing that can
be solved in one stroke of the pen.
Let our town define and then incentivize what we want and where we want it. We need commercial
infill out west, we need residential infill at the core, we need affordable housing out by story mill.
Figure out a way to equally incentivize all sectors at once and you will provide housing, jobs, shorter
commuter trips, and create an urban fabric that is multi-modal and affordable.
Sincerely,
Brett R. Potter, AIA LEED AP
Bozeman City Planning Board
Brett Potter, AIA, LEED AP
F O C U S
A R C H I T E C T S
312 Accola Drive
Bozeman, Montana 59715
(T) 406/579-8450
www.focusarchitects.com<http://www.focusarchitects.com/>
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