HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-16-16 Antonopulos_Mitchell, 304 W Cleveland, Public CommentDear Planner Brekke and Bozeman City Commissioners:
We write to you in strong opposition to CUP Application No 16134 regarding a short-term
rental Vacation Home at 304 Cleveland by Mr. Ian Woods. The staff report dated 5-5-16
mentions in several places that no public comments had been received as of 5/5, but we point out that we only became aware of the CUP on ~5/2 and had little time to comment by 5/5.
We are homeowners at 1020 S. 3rd Ave, diagonally across 3rd Avenue from 304 Cleveland’s
back yard. We purchased our house in this quiet residential neighborhood because we want a
family home separate from commercial activities such as a hotel. In the past, it seems Mr.
Woods has rented out his house primarily to long-term renters who have been part of our residential community.
However, on occasion, he has had short-term (<1 week) groups, including a group of 10+ who
were up repeatedly until midnight-2 am, sitting by an outside fire and enjoying the summer
evenings. Due to the smoke from the fire and the noisy conversation, we had to shut our
bedroom windows and those of our 10 year-old son (both bedrooms face 304 Cleveland). Although this was irritating at the time, we lived through it with the recognition this was infrequent. With the proposed CUP, this suddenly becomes much less attractive with the thought
of a short-term VRBO, an aggressive property management company which wants to rent out the
house frequently, and the distinct possibility we may have to go over to the property every 3-4
nights with the newest set of visitors to negotiate at 10 pm over noise and smoke (or call the Bozeman Police Department to intercede on our behalf). This is a residential neighborhood, and we do not agree to live next to a hotel simply because Mr. Woods would like to have a luxury
rental home with higher income than long-term renters.
We point out that with long-term renters, or a Bed & Breakfast style rental (i.e. manager lives
on site), it is possible to negotiate over noise, smoke, parking, pets, etc. However, when someone rents a high-end VRBO for 3-7 nights, they reasonably expect to stay up late, enjoy a
party most nights, and generally will not be invested in responding to neighborhood concerns.
Thus, they become a good source of income for the owner, but significantly detract from the
property values of their neighbors, and have no interest in long-term issues affecting the
neighborhood or the City of Bozeman. Finally, as we are acutely aware from working with students at MSU (both of us are on staff), the rental vacancy rate for long-term, stable rentals is a
major problem for Bozeman and short-term rentals such as that proposed by Mr. Woods further
decrease available housing.
In summary, we do not feel that a small hotel without an on-site manager fits in any way the
R1 designation of our neighborhood. We believe approving this CUP will be immediately detrimental to us as neighbors and fellow property-owners, and long-term will be detrimental to
our neighborhood and the City of Bozeman. We strongly urge the Commissioners to vote
against this CUP.
Sincerely yours,
Beth Antonopulos & Sam Mitchell
1020 S 3rd Ave, Bozeman MT, 59715