I'm worried.

My wife and I have lived in Bozeman for 43 years. Our children were born and raised here. Our daughter elected to stay here, have children and is a community member of great value. Our son can’t afford to come home. I hope that our home can be passed on to our children, that our dream won’t be wrecked by adjacent towers blocking sun and views. R2 zoning has protected our dream.

Newcomers stream into Bozeman, continuing to drive property values and taxes skyward, inadvertently driving working class residents out, eroding the very fabric and soul of Bozeman. Established residents, those who have invested their lives in their homes, friends, families and community are in shock at the proposed zoning changes. I am traumatized, angry, at times shaking mad over the proposed changes and how my home in Bozeman could be radically threatened. I’ve noted that the firm hired to study and promote these zoning changes isn’t local. They aren’t invested here, so they don’t care about the unintended consequences the changes will likely bring. By my observation, I truly wonder if the UDC board or the current city commission cares either.

The UDC board meeting I attended tonight at City Hall allowed many city residents to speak passionately about the zoning proposal and their real fears that their neighborhoods will be ruined for naught. For well-moneyed people to build gigantic homes or speculative rental towers next door to them. Not needed workforce housing, or a step towards achieving the American dream of home ownership. The proposed zoning doesn’t help that at all. Throughout, the UDC board remained cold, aloof, and often condescending. This whole effort is effectively a top-down approach, presented at the 11^th hour to the public.

I share all their worries. The sunlight-blocking vertical scale of what would be allowed to be built is obscene. All over town, our peace and joy of living here would be shattered. The impacts on our mental well-being would be profound. Bozeman would become a mean, nasty city. I see the proposed zoning changes as a declaration of war on us, and I’m mad about it! My wife and I scrimped and saved, bought a substandard cottage, raised a family and did some remodeling. We achieved our version of the American dream. Now it’s going to be put into jeopardy!

Nothing about the zoning changes assures increased workforce housing. Everything about the zoning changes enables rapid erosion of neighborhood quality by promoting developer speculation. I can’t see the upside to this. There certainly isn’t any for us or our children.

I have suggestions:

Retain R2 zoning most everywhere. R2 allows both duplexes and ADUs. Find legal and economic incentives for homeowners to build ADUs, and to convert old failing homes into duplexes or duplex condos. This type of infill can be done subtlety without ruining neighborhoods. Density will eventually increase manyfold.

Cautiously determine if some R1 zoned areas can be gracefully converted to R2.

Reign in the maximum height requirements. Three stories are not appropriate everywhere, especially not in neighborhoods of smaller scale homes where the tall house would steal one neighbors view and the other’s sunlight.

Consider that almost everyone still drives cars, so be sure to require off street parking. Parking space requirements can always be revisited in the future, at an appropriate time when residents walk, busses and taxis are common, and passenger rail service is restored.

Allowing Greek houses in all zoning areas isn’t appropriate. Young people don’t always behave ideally. They cause disruptions at all hours. I’ve spent many sleepless nights on the phone with police, knocking on doors, pleading with drunken youth to “turn it down” or go home. My wife and I endured years of sleep being hijacked by parties. At times our work and attitudes suffered, and we weren’t always the best parents. Greek houses have their place, but not in my neighborhood, not in most neighborhoods!

Allow manufactured homes and trailer parks. Incentivize developers to create pocket neighborhoods of manufactured homes within larger developments. Don’t hide them away but put them next to community parks and trails. Create lower development requirements for development of these neighborhoods. If any type of housing can be labeled affordable, it’s this category. Allow manufactured homes in old core neighborhoods, too.

Bridger View development is a joke. How to make affordable homes barely affordable, that’s what it is. It was simply an ego exercise for architects. People need starter homes, like the small tract homes built after WWll, only up to modern codes. Boring neighborhood, but affordable! Do you even understand?? Bridger View was an opportunity, but the hand was poorly played.

At the meeting, many people spoke about slowing down the process. I agree. It seems many things haven’t been considered. The new state requirements are many, and adoption of only five are required to be compliant. The proposed zoning changes are too radical, too disruptive, don’t address workforce housing or provide a path towards low-cost home ownership. The whole zoning proposal manages to miss the target, creating larger problems and fostering perhaps the greatest distrust of city government that Bozeman has ever had. More citizen participation is needed on the board. Some of the loudest and most passionate speakers would make thoughtful board members. There would be discomfort, but I bet the outcome would be less controversial and more effective.