HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-15-16 Public Comment - B. & K. Klundt - Golden Gate i
January 13, 2016
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Honorable Mayor& City Commissioners:
RE: Loyal Gardens subdivision proposed R-4 development—Golden Gate Condos
Please help us as neighbors, community members and citizens of Bozeman. We understand that
a condominium complex consisting of 5 buildings three stories high is planned for 3 acres at the
front of our subdivision between Golden Gate Avenue and Huffine.
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My husband and I purchased our home in Loyal Gardens on 2/14/14. We moved here from
Great Falls, MT and after the initial sticker shock of home prices we swallowed hard and found a
place close to Bozeman but still a home that was at the high end of our budget (double our
mortgage from Great Falls). We determined that we could responsibly take on the financial
aspect of this home if we completed the landscaping. We have worked very hard to do that over
the last two years to improve our equity position in our home. We FEAR the value of our
neighborhood and home will be adversely impacted by a condo complex that is proposing high I'
density to the extreme relative to our neighborhood practicality.
Our move to Bozeman was for the same reasons that others are moving here -the beauty and
outdoor opportunities. In our search for a home we were pleased at the architecture and the
apparent care that went into developing neighborhoods with open space and a mix of family
development. f'
• We chose Loyal Gardens for the single family neighborhood and all the families we
witnessed using the parks and walking the neighborhood.
• We chose Loyal Gardens because we liked the look of the homes and our review of the
covenants detailed the architecture, rules and expectations that everyone in the
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neighborhood would be held to. We expected that this would be carried through to any
multi-family housing so that our neighborhood would continue to be enhanced and that
the character of it would remain family oriented—or similar to what exists.
• We currently have some ADU units which blend nicely and two duplex units that appear
as if they were single family homes in the neighborhood.
• We are not opposed to high density design and development but would implore you to
review the design of the proposed three story units that are planned for our neighborhood.
• Our neighborhood is unique in that it is somewhat detached from connecting trails
(although we can cross Huffine now) of the city so we heavily rely on and use our park-
space, trails and open space daily as do our neighbors. Parking, travel and walking in our
neighborhood is impacted by the narrow street design and the bulb out corners. I'm
extremely concerned that the proposed condos will affect our health and safety should the
traffic from the one inlet/outlet of the proposed condos increase traffic in and around our
neighborhood from 160-300 potential vehicles. Are there traffic studies to review the
impact on neighborhoods and the safety of current residents as well as pedestrian safety
when original zoning may NOT have considered traffic within a subdivision? If there are
I think our neighborhood would be a great candidate for this prior to any approval of the
condos.
• Snow removal and storm water retention/drainage also seems worth reviewing. Our
current storm water retention ponds were extremely high with rains this last year and with
our high ground water table I don't understand (as a non-engineer) how the 1.3 acres of
parking lot space for this condo complex is going to not adversely impact our
neighborhood's ability to prevent flooding in or around the homes near the proposed
condos.
No one in our neighborhood (and I've been to every HOA meeting since moving to the
neighborhood)was aware of this proposed development until Saturday, January 9, 2016 when a
fellow neighbor learned of this from the city notice and notified others. The Loyal Gardens
Design Review Board that apparently approved the design of this condominium complex
consists of ONE MEMBER—DeWin Madill. Detain is the original developer of Loyal Gardens
and as such would seem to have a high SELF INTEREST as well as a CONFLICT of
INTEREST in approving the design of the condominium proposal on land that he planned to sell
to Jesse Chase. During our HOA meeting in December of 2015 Dewin was asked if he knew of
any plans for the 3 acres near Huffine and he indicated that he didn't although it sounds like he
had approved a design request already.
I apologize for the long winded letter but hope you understand that our neighborhood is
extremely worried about the impact of such a highly dense proposal. We understand the need for
affordable housing in Bozeman. We would much rather see multi-family housing that is a
maximum of two stories and would blend with the single family housing that currently exists in
our neighborhood.
Please help us preserve the traffic and pedestrian safety of our family oriented neighborhood, the
safety of our storm water retention areas, the aesthetics of our neighborhood as well as the view
of the Bridger Range not to mention the taxable value of our homes.
Thank you, l
Bill &Karman Klundt '
4896 Vine Street
Bozeman, MT 59718