Thank you for asking about how City of Bozeman (City) residents can advocate for environmentally responsible development. Our experience with the City has been that general template letters and petitions tend to be less effective than the "weight" of many residents acting individually with a common goal. With that in mind, we offer the following suggestions: First—and most important—is for residents to elect environmentally-minded City Commissioners when opportunities arise. This fall, for example, residents can elect a new Mayor—one who favors environmentally responsible development. Second, regardless of who the City Commissioners are, it is important for residents to learn to navigate the City's website, through which all public meetings (City Commission and Citizen Advisory Boards) and development projects can be tracked. Third, written public comment can be emailed to the City at agenda@bozeman.net or to individual City Commissioners via the City's primary website. Fourth, oral public comment can be made in person or remotely at each public meeting. Fifth, and last, the City administers the Engage Bozeman website, through which residents can offer written public comment on special City projects. Using any or all of these methods, we hope you will join us in advocating for stronger environmental City development codes and ordinances and better enforcement of these codes and ordinances by City staff and Commissioners.

Why give out any antlerless 'B'licenses for mule deer? Especially in region 7 if they're 48% below long term average shouldn't every single doe be protected? I know a reduction from 11,000 in 2020 to 1,000 in 2023 sounds virtuous but shouldn't it be 0?

Thanks for alerting hunters that online changes need to be located and replace published hard copy publications.

Hello! Do you not offer the Apple-Pumpkin Croissants which is pictured in the October,2023 issue?

31 red and white stripes????

Can you add Bozeman’s choice mail and shipping store? ☺️

Wow! What an informing post about the events happening in Bozeman! I will definitely be bringing my kids to some of these events! Thank you Mr. Montalbano :)

Please add a bridal shop category next year

Take great, great care in the harvest. The way it has spread all over the world suggests sloppy humans have been the method to spread it. Some states require rubber mats for harvest, and double bags. Knives are not washable, only surgical sterilizing.

You do not have the authority to determine what may or may not be sensitive lands! This is an example of extreme overreach on your part.

Why not leave those cheerful, colorful garlands up longer? What’s the rush?

I have a copy of a Bozeman Women's Club cookbook from 1925-1926. Somehow it ended up with my great grandmother (mostly Utah) and grandmother (Jerome and Twin Falls Idaho) before it was passed to me. Great to see this backstory.

coole

So glad we fled the implosion of Bozeman before it happened. Will always remember the beautiful, friendly, hometown feel. The new architecture is cereal box crap disguised as progressive. The new elite are WEF/DAVOS groupies. Will miss you, Bozeman. RIP.

Could you share the local contractor that you mentioned?

I think that this article begins from a viewpoint that is mid-stream. In other words, it does not give the upstream context/background/history.

At the risk of oversimplifying, something like 50 years ago it was determined ("planned') how the then small town of Bozeman should grow. Around Downtown, the diamond-shaped B-3 zone was created to be the tallest and densest core. Around the B-3, to serve as transitions, were created some slightly-less-intense zones (usually R-4 and R-3). The idea was that the structures build around the turn of the century would reach the end of their useful lives and be replaced with more intense structures (like 4-plex buildings). This way, the tallest core would transition to the shorter, least-intense zones such as R-2 and R-1.

But to a large degree, these transition areas did not materialize; instead, people just maintained and even improved the turn-of-the-century structures.

So, there is nothing against any of these quaint blocks per se. But, the question remains: How will Bozeman grow from a small town to a small City? And to the extent that the already-existing part of town, adjacent to the taller/denser Downtown can also "grow up" (but to a smaller degree than in B-3), then that is a way to grow as opposed to the City expanding *further* into the adjacent farm fields.

We're talking at the margins and incrementally. We know the City will expand outward. So we're not saying to "eliminate" outward growth, but rather to "reduce" it. Over time, the City planning documents have realized that many "mini-Downtowns" (termed "nodes" in the growth policy (called the Community Plan)) need to exist in different parts of the City so that "everyone" in the City has access to walkable/bikeable offerings to satisfy their daily and weekly needs.

Related: it does take a fairly high number of residents in a fairly compact area to provide the necessary customer base to support these neighborhood-scale businesses.

Anyway, nobody is "trying to destroy" neighborhoods. But more people are moving to Bozeman (what I call "the influx") than there has been housing for. The City's planning documents intended for some of that needed new housing to be via infill developments. And often that requires replacing smaller, old structures with taller new structures.

And, of course, something brand new and nice in a highly desired part of town will be expensive. But these housing unit absorb some of the demand from people with a lot of money, thus preventing these folks from out-competing folks at the next lower price tier. And so on and so forth, up and down the many price tiers of the dynamic housing market -- both for sale and for rent.

None of this is easy. If there were silver bullets, we would already be using them. The City is also constrained by the U.S. economic and political system, as well as policy adopted by the State of MT Legislature.

So, anyway, the City is trying to do the best it can, with limited tools, to deal with the influx in a way that balances many factors (e.g., reducing outward growth, affordability, sustainability, financial responsibility (new infrastructure is incredibly expensive to build), etc.) .

The city actually has incredibly powerful and effective tools. Zoning, development codes, historic preservation regulations (including what allows for tear down within the NCOD), and the authority to require impact fees, and countless other tools. There just needs to be the political will to use them.

No amount of density will prevent sprawl until we declare an urban growth boundary and zone the county to protect agriculture. So that argument has no legs at all. These powers are not entirely within the authority of the city, but they can work with the county, which is happening more and more now.

In a desirable place like Bozeman, we'll never be able to build our way back to affordability. We need to protect the naturally affordable homes we currently have (older and smaller). This will also make sure we don't lose the tangible link with the past. Bozeman has an amazing history of diverse cultures (a vibrant African American community) and their homes are at significant risk of tear down because of the points made in this article.

We need the political will to use the tools we have to prevent tear down and the displacement of economically vulnerable populations.

Black & Main

Love this article. I can relate I love list.

Allison,
You stated this all quite well in the article and your reply to the January 5 comment. Your photos clearly support your arguments, which rightly include the sustainability/reuse/recycle issue. Another aspect of the latter is that the valley's water supply cannot sustain this growth. Thank you and the Better Bozeman Coalition for rising to this challenge.