Building our Future Together - Development Code Update

Toolkits are live! Engagement continues with toolkits to support community organized in-person discussions. Each toolkit provides instructions, some basic background information on the topic, and some questions to help kick off a conversation. You are welcome to participate in as many different topics as you choose to. You may let us know that you're hosting an event by completing this registration form. This will help us follow up with reminders and make sure we're gathering your input, but it is not required.

Select the hyperlink for each topic to download the toolkit.

What are the topic areas of the toolkits?

• Neighborhoods: character, preservation, and compatibility
• Housing: affordability, supply, variety and choice
• Growth: zoning, density, buildings (height & transitions)
• Transportation: traffic, parking, ped & bike infrastructure,
• Environment: open space, natural areas, parks, wetlands, urban forest, water, sustainability

When your chat is over, be sure as the host or notetaker to complete the Post-Chat Survey to submit the results of your conversations. Please submit by April 30, 2025 so your input can be reviewed in preparation for City Commission consideration and direction at our meetings in May and June. Please contact Emily Kiely directly if you have any trouble downloading the toolkits or submitting your feedback.

Once all input is collected, analyzed, and considered, the next steps will involve discussions with the City’s advisory boards and City Commission to determine the scope of potential revisions to the draft UDC. Following necessary time to write those revisions, city staff will release an updated draft for public review and comment. This will be followed by the formal hearing process, likely in the fall, for ultimate decision by the City Commission.

We are half way through the UDC workshops for this second part of UDC engagement. We've already hit 200 attendees and we're looking forward to interacting with even more of you in the upcoming sessions!

If you missed the online workshops, the staff presentations are available to watch. Check out the Transportation and Environment recording and slides from Feb 24 and Growth, Housing, and Neighborhoods recording and slides from March 4.

We hope to see you tonight at Chief Joseph Middle School (4255 Kimberwicke St.) at 6 p.m. in the Gym to discuss Housing and Neighborhoods.

Mark your calendar for next week, too!

• Growth & Neighborhoods: March 10: 6 to 8 p.m. at Sacajawea Middle School, 3525 S 3rd Ave
• All topics (Transportation, Environment, Growth, Housing, Neighborhoods): March 12: 6 to 8 p.m. at Willson School, 404 W Main St. *Note that due to discussing all topics during this meeting, topics will be condensed and not as large of a deep dive.

We are working to complete the host your own UDC chat and survey. When these are available, we will post on this project page. Thank you to everyone who has spread the news, brought a friend, and attended a workshop. We're thrilled to have so many engaged community members!

Engagement continues with four in-person workshops held in various parts of the city, two online workshops, a toolkit for residents to host their own chat about the UDC, and an online survey. The purpose of this next part of the engagement process is to deep dive into the key topics that were identified during part 1 of engagement. The dates, times, and topics each workshop will cover are below.

• Transportation & Environment: Feb. 24: 12 to 2 p.m. online with registration to attend at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/uPwp9O1KQWGAdMguAl2Y1Q.
• Transportation & Environment: Feb. 26: 6 to 8 p.m. at Gallatin County Fairgrounds, 901 N Black Ave.
• Growth, Housing, & Neighborhoods: March 3: 12 to 2 p.m. online with registration to attend at https://zoom.us/meeting/register/s8ahgU-iRVK8or7x658DFQ
• Housing & Neighborhoods: March 5: 6 to 8 p.m. at Chief Joseph Middle School, 4255 Kimberwicke St.
• Growth & Neighborhoods: March 10: 6 to 8 p.m. at Sacajawea Middle School, 3525 S 3rd Ave
• All topics (Transportation, Environment, Growth, Housing, Neighborhoods): March 12: 6 to 8 p.m. at Willson School, 404 W Main St. *Note that due to discussing all topics during this meeting, topics will be condensed and not as large of a deep dive.

If you’re unable to attend these in-person events, there will still be opportunity to share input on the key topic areas. Be sure to stay subscribed to this page to be notified when the UDC chat toolkits become available and the online survey launches. Attendees will also have time to share input on topics outside of these towards the end of each event.

Once all input is collected, analyzed, and considered, the next steps will involve discussions with the City’s advisory boards and City Commission to determine the scope of potential revisions to the draft UDC. Following necessary time to write those revisions, city staff will release an updated draft for public review and comment. This will be followed by the formal hearing process, likely in the fall, for ultimate decision by the City Commission.

What is included in the topic areas?

• Neighborhoods: character, preservation, and compatibility
• Housing: affordability, supply, variety and choice
• Growth: zoning, density, buildings (height & transitions)
• Transportation & Environment: traffic, parking, ped & bike infrastructure, open space, natural areas, parks, wetlands, urban forest, water, sustainability

We have just about wrapped up all of part one of the Supplemental Public Engagement phase. Since December, we have launched a survey and hosted five in-person open houses, one webinar, five neighborhood meetings, two meetings with interested groups and one more to come!

We’ve been busy analyzing the data collected to identify your top concerns and priorities for part 2 of engagement. The survey results, including graphs and an excel sheet, are in the Engagement Reports folder on this page, so take some time to review if you’re interested. The open house/webinar input is also available.

We presented our findings to City Commission February 3 (link to meeting recording) and gathered direction from them on how to group topics together for the workshops coming up later this month. The main topics areas will focus on Growth and Neighborhoods, Housing and Neighborhoods, and Transportation and Environment, and we will have four in-person meetings and two virtual workshops.

The final details for the workshops will be posted early next week, so watch out for more communications from us!

We are so grateful for the time and effort spent attending our open houses and providing thoughtful feedback to staff and Commissioners. Spread over six open houses, we had over 310 attendees from all over Bozeman. It's clear how much people care about the future of Bozeman.

To review the materials from the open houses, please check out the display boards and slides, available under Presentation and Participation Materials section located on right (if you're viewing on your phone, keep scrolling to the bottom). If you weren't able to catch any of the open houses, feel free to watch the recording and flip through the slides from the virtual open house. We are also still collecting feedback by the Areas of Interest survey until January 8.

As a reminder, this phase of engagement was to hear from you and identify the topics that are most important to you that we can explore deeper in Phase 2. The Community Development team is working hard to transcribe the feedback received. At this time, the responses received on Housing Alternatives are available to be reviewed. You can expect a transparent report on the housing alternatives and top priorities in the coming weeks.

Again, thank you for taking the time to work with us in guiding future UDC conversations!

In addition to the open houses coming up in December, we now have an Areas of Interest survey open as a way to engage with as many voices as possible. The intent of the survey is to learn which topics are most important to our residents, which will then inform our more topic-focused discussions in the springtime.

Thanks for staying with us throughout this process and we look forward to kicking off in-person engagement on December 2!

In conjunction with the release of an updated draft and text, six public open houses are scheduled to advance the next step in public input and review of the draft code. Locations are spread throughout the community to make attending more convenient. The content and opportunities for input will be consistent at each open house. Scheduled dates and locations are:

12/2, 12-2 PM | MSU SUB Ballroom B Room 233/235, 751 W Grant St, Bozeman *Please note room change!

12/4, 6-8 PM | Gallatin High School, 4455 Annie St, Bozeman

12/5, 6-8 PM | Hope Lutheran Church, 2152 W Graf St, Bozeman

12/9, noon | Online; register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b1dkModnTCqJT3mis0r-aQ#/registration

12/11, 6-8 PM | Gallatin County Fairgrounds, 901 N Black Ave, Bozeman

12/12, 6-8 PM | Sacajawea Middle School, 3525 S 3rd Ave, Bozeman

For those who require accommodations for disabilities, please contact the ADA Coordinator David Arnado, Facilities Superintendent, at (406) 582-3232 (voice), 582-2301 (TDD).

In October 2023, the Commission gave residents more time to share their thoughts and learn about the Unified Development Code (UDC) update. The feedback from the community helped shape a revised plan for engagement and the project’s timeline. The Commission is set to keep working on the UDC, with the schedule below showing the steps they’ll take to offer more chances for public input this fall and winter, and to create a final draft for possible approval next year.

There are state-required deadlines and rules that the city has to follow. The city will meet these standards through two projects. The "GP Transition" project will focus on updating the long-term land use plan to comply with new state rules and will start in late winter 2024. The UDC project covers standards for new development and the process for changing regulations. This project started in July 2022 but was paused late last year and will restart in October 2024 with more chances for the public to get involved.

Several state-required rules have raised concerns based on the feedback we’ve received. You can review the current UDC draft on Engage Bozeman. Public input will guide revisions before the code is finalized. Our goal is to blend state-required updates with the goals of our Community Plan in one project. Many elements of the UDC exist today with no change proposed. However, there are several standards that are of particular concern, and we look forward to working with as many members of the community as possible to complete the project. As shown on the graphic, the city must complete transition of the growth policy and adoption of state law compliant regulations (in the UDC) by May 17, 2026.

UDC Draft Schedule

Fall 2024 - Winter 2024: Engagement

Winter 2024 - Spring 2025: Drafting and Final Draft

Summer 2025: Hearings & Adoption

Fall 2025 - Winter 2025: Implementation

Winter 2025 - Spring 2026: Legislation Follow-up

MLUPA (382) May 17, 2026 Deadline

Thank you for your continued engagement on this project and to those who attended last week’s commission meeting. We have received lots of public comment on how you want to engage with this project, and we are updating the Community Engagement Plan to reflect those insights and what we heard from the Commission. Some things that we heard were to expand our partners list and to create an engagement toolkit that community members can use to lead conversations around this project.

You can review the draft engagement plan, posted in the Code Documents section. The plan will be presented to City Commission for adoption on Tuesday, October 1. Join us at City Hall at 5:00 p.m. or email your comments to comments@bozeman.net.

We’re now ready for a restart! Thanks for your patience throughout this time. The City will be discussing timing, the future scope of this project, and what the next engagement effort might look like at the Sept. 17 Commission meeting, held at 5 p.m. at City Hall. The meeting will not involve a public hearing or substantive code discussion and is intended only as the first step in “part two” of this project. All are encouraged to come out and have your voice heard on how the UDC moves forward.

The public can expect numerous opportunities to participate in a variety of ways over the coming months. We’ll provide an update on what the upcoming engagement looks like once we have more guidance from the work session.

Thanks to all who have given input on this project – we hope you continue to do so and help us engage with other members of the public as well. This project is made better with each person who gets involved.