NCOD Design Guidelines Update

Wow, what a week! If you have been following along, you know that the city's consultant team for the Design Guidelines Update Project, the Lakota Group, was in Bozeman last week touring the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) and listening to a variety of voices and perspectives. We want to extend a big thank you to everyone who took time out of their week to attend an event. Whether it was the open house, a walking tour, the neighborhood focus group, or a stakeholder listening session, your participation is a meaningful investment in this project and our city. Thank you!

We wrapped up our intensive community engagement with a long conversation with the Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) on Wednesday evening. At the meeting, the Lakota Group team shared their first impressions and reflected on what they heard throughout the engagement sessions before gathering input from board members. You can watch a recording of the HPAB meeting to hear their discussion.

The team is now hard at work transcribing comments and compiling notes. We look forward to sharing an update with you in the coming weeks. In the meantime, if you missed the events last week, presentation slides from the Community Open House are available in the documents on this page and you may always submit written comments to share your thoughts. Simply send an email to comments@bozeman.net and mention the NCOD Design Guidelines Project. Staff will make sure all feedback is passed along to the Lakota Group team.

We are also continuing to collaborate with the consultant team for the related Local Landmark Project to ensure both efforts are aligned moving forward. There is significant overlap between the two projects and if you're interested in historic preservation, we hope you'll stay engaged in both as they move forward this year.

As we seek to engage, educate, and hear from the community about efforts to update the design guidelines that apply to the more than 4,000 properties within the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD), we're excited to announce two opportunities to explore Bozeman's downtown neighborhoods with the project team.

The public is invited to join us for these unique opportunities to tour parts of the NCOD, learning about historic structures and the City's design review process as we stroll. The NCOD is too large to walk in its entirety, so the two tours will focus on different subsets of the area that each contain a variety of sites of interest. We hope you will consider participating, whether you have experiences in the area to share or just want to listen and learn. These are sure to be filled with interesting commentary to consider!

Northeast Neighborhood Tour - Tuesday, April 14, at 3-5pm

Representatives of the Northeast Neighborhood Association will guide the group around sites in their neighborhood. City staff will be on hand and the Lakota Group team will also be present to lend their expertise to the discussion.

We will meet at the southeast corner of Centennial Park and walk south along N Tracy Ave toward Main Street, viewing historic homes and newer development along the way before looping back north along N Willson Ave.

South Central Neighborhood Tour - Wednesday, April 15, at 9-11am

This tour will explore the South Central Neighborhood. The City's Planning Manager will highlight historic structures and structures that went through the design review process and discuss how the design guidelines affected the building design.

We will meet outside Ghost Town Coffee Roasters at 110 E Olive St and discuss the Black Olive Building before walking south along S Black Ave and S Tracy Ave.

Please dress for two hours of walking in whatever weather comes our way.

Not able to join? The project team is exploring additional future opportunities and accessible engagement strategies, including self-guided or virtual neighborhood tours. We're interested in hearing your ideas and suggestions as well.

Have thoughts on development, historic preservation, or community character in Bozeman’s historic downtown and surrounding neighborhoods? We’re updating the way the City regulates building design in the area, also called the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District or NCOD.

Join us for a Community Open House to share your experiences, ideas, and priorities for the future of the NCOD. Stop by the Bozeman Event Space (14 S. Tracy Ave.) on Monday, April 13 between 6pm-8pm to participate in interactive activities, including mapping exercises and discussion boards focused on what’s working well, and what could be improved.

Gathering input from the public is a large component of the NCOD Design Guidelines update and requires a community engagement plan to be adopted by the City Commission. The Historic Preservation Advisory Board provided input at their February 18 meeting and recommended approval to the CIty Commission. The City Commission adopted the Community Engagement Plan on March 10, 2026.

Public feedback and community input are key to the project's success and will be incorporated throughout the process. You can view the full Community Engagement Plan here.