Building our Future Together - Development Code Update

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.

Survey results are IN! Please see the links below for all responses in graph format and Excel. The Excel sheet also contains individual written responses to the questions asked about other ideas for reaching people (tab named 'Open Response (comms)'), other ideas for gathering input (titled 'Open Response (eng)'), and other times people can meet (titled 'Open Response (meet)').

The engagement plan is still being formed and we hope to share more information on that soon. For now, thank you for participating and giving so many great ideas on how to reach people. This has been truly helpful in generating new ideas and understanding what options work for people.

Survey Results PDF

Survey Results Excel

The next step of this project is to gather additional feedback from residents on the draft code. Before we develop the plan on how we'll gather input and start doing outreach, we want to know from you - what are YOUR preferences for communication channels and engagement techniques? Please help us shape how we implement this next communication and engagement effort and fill out the survey! It will remain open through the holidays and close on January 14th. Paper copies will be available for anyone to pick up and return to:

• City Hall on the front desk across from the Finance Office at 121 N. Rouse Ave.
• Community Development front counter on the second floor of the Alfred Stiff Professional Building at 20 E. Olive St.

Now that you all have heard the news about the UDC hearing process being delayed, what’s next? While much of this is still to be determined, we can say a few things with certainty:

• This isn’t a restart of the project. We have received lots of great feedback so far from the community to develop the draft code. We will continue to work with this draft and want to hear additional feedback on it from those who may not have had a chance to engage. We will use all of this information in editing the working draft and hope to present an updated draft ahead of the new hearing process. That means you won’t see revisions/an updated draft until after engagement occurs.
• We want your thoughts on how to design our engagement process. In November, we will launch a survey to collect your preferences for how we gather your input and communicate with you. We’ll list a number of achievable options and whichever techniques float to the top will be implemented, so please be sure to weigh in if this is of interest to you!
• Engagement won’t occur until the new year. Before the holidays, we will use results from the engagement and communication preferences survey to create an engagement plan. We want to make sure people have adequate notice and opportunities to participate, so we won’t start any activities until after the first of the year.
  
  

Thanks for your patience as we develop the next steps. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and hope we can design a process that our community feels good about. And as always, reach out if you have any questions or concerns!

The Oct. 30 Community Development Board meeting is CANCELLED! We are no longer having a meeting on this day and will have NO further public hearings on the UDC until after the first of the year.

If you’ve been following this issue closely, you may recall that Commission made an announcement on 10/16 pausing their hearings of the UDC. This pause did not impact the Community Development Board as they were in the middle of their hearing process and there was a desire to begin discussing some of what they’d heard from staff and in public comment.

However, after hearing concerns from the public about the Community Development Board continuing with the public hearing, we decided to pause and postpone this meeting as well. We’ll look to restart the discussion in the new year, and then finish this process after further engagement has occurred.

Stay tuned for more information on our engagement plans. We'll be in touch soon!

Many residents have spoken up about wanting more time to give feedback on the Unified Development Code (UDC) draft and proposed zoning map, and we want to let you know that we hear you. On Monday, 10/16, Mayor Andrus announced at a press conference that she and the Commission have decided to hit pause on the timeline. Here's what you need to know:

• We're now looking at a public review timeline that stretches into early 2024 to ensure everyone has their say.
• We'll provide an update in the coming months about additional public input opportunities.
• The City Commission will not consider this topic until next year.
• Community Development Board however will have a special meeting on October 30^th to consider the public comment already provided, discuss concerns and alternatives, and identify areas where they would like more information.

The development code update is an important part of addressing issues in our community, like housing and growth. We hope all can join us in helping to improve our code and our community. Read more in the press release here: bit.ly/udcpress

Curious about the outreach we’ve done on this effort so far? Check out our Engagement Report and list of events, meetings, and community spaces where we've gone to gather input from folks. We know that many people are getting engaged for the first time as this project moves into the public review process. We encourage you to dive in and learn more about the what, why, and how behind this effort.

There’s still plenty of opportunity to make your voice heard. Check out the key dates section on the right side of this page for upcoming meetings and as always, submit your public comment to agenda@bozeman.net where it will be reviewed by Community Development Board members, City Commissioners, and the staff and consultants on the project team.