Here’s What We’re Working On
A Neighborhood Friendly Unified Development Code
The changes proposed by the City of Bozeman to the Unified Development Code (UDC) would allow substantially increased infill throughout Bozeman, making our neighborhoods vulnerable to speculative redevelopment, gentrification, and displacement. Get the background here. We believe that Bozeman’s residents need to be informed of the proposed changes and be directly involved in planning how we manage growth neighborhood-by-neighborhood. Email your Commissioners asking them to plan our city with proper community engagement! At the BBC we have developed UDC recommendations that would help preserve the character of Bozeman’s existing neighborhoods, and our urban forest, while allowing for new affordable housing to be built.
Historic Preservation
We believe that our central and historic neighborhoods are a signature element of who we are as a community. They are architecturally and economically diverse, providing homes for renters and owners of all ages and tenure in Bozeman. We believe that these neighborhoods benefit everyone by providing a tangible link to our diverse past, a sense of place, and an economic draw for local businesses. The City has hired Community Planning Collaborative out of Jacksonville FL to consult on updates to our Historic Preservation Policy, and the creation of a Local Landmark Program. Rather than discard the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) as some previous consultant reports suggest, we want to increase the protection that it provides to our central and historic neighborhoods, in order to preserve existing affordable housing, neighborhood character, our urban forest, the stories from our past, and the small town feel we love. We want to go even further with a Local Landmark program to protect places all across the city that are not eligible for the National Register, but important to our own local history. Email your commissioners!
Affordable Housing
At the BBC we know there is no silver bullet to solving the housing affordability crisis, but we recognize that simply increasing supply will not bring down prices. The state legislature has taken away many of the tools used effectively elsewhere. But there are still a few open to us.
Read the affordable housing chapter of our Neighborhood Friendly UDC report,
View professor Condon’s presentation given to Bozeman residents in June of 2024.
Visit our Blog for several posts addressing this issue
There are also many more resources and success stories that we should be emulating listed on our resources page.
Natural Resource Sustainability
Water will be our limiting factor here in Bozeman. We must manage our growth with this in mind. Learn about our current problematic Cash-in-Lieu policies here.
Our urban forest provides ever increasingly important ecosystem services in the face of unpredictable climate change, and it’s constantly under threat from redevelopment pressures in the pursuit of the densification of our city. Read this article from our coalition partners, the Bozeman Tree Coalition.
The City of Bozeman’s goal of 100% clean electricity by 2030 is admirable, but the 20 Megawatt capacity contribution by privately owned grid-tied solar installations could be jeopardized by increased building height allowances in the proposed UDC update. Currently solar panels are not protected from shading from redevelopment. Email the City Commissioners at comments@bozeman.net asking them to pass a solar access ordinance protecting this privately funded public resource in the new UDC. Learn more in our report.
A Deconstruction ordinance could help us prevent housing ending up in the landfill. With 95 demolitions in the last 5 years, not only are we losing existing affordable housing at an unsustainable rate, we are putting potentially useful building materials in the Logan Landfill where they decay adding to our carbon emissions rather than sequestering carbon. Read the City’s 2022 greenhouse gas emissions report for specifics. Email your City Commission asking them to stop letting developers put housing in the landfill! comments@bozeman.net