BOZEMAN — On Wednesday, the Bozeman Public Library Board of Trustees passed a motion to not allow developers to build a parking garage on their already-existing parking lot.
"If someone had come to me with a proposal like this, just thinking of the library as a business, I would have just burst out laughing and tossed them out of the room," said one community member sharing his public comment.
Large crowds showed up at the library for the board meeting to show support for the library and express their distaste for the development proposal.
"I urge the library trustees to deny the developer's current proposal to build a parking garage on the library's parking lot," said another public commenter.
Library Director Susan Gregory says she could feel the emotion of people supporting their local library.
"At the end of the day, it was really encouraging for all of us to see how much people love their public library," says Gregory.
A New York Firm is planning to buy land to the west side of the library on Wallace Street off of Main. They plan to build a hotel, condos, and multi-family homes on the property.
The firm presented at the meeting and asked the library to sign a memorandum of understanding to lease library parking lot spaces to them in order to build a parking garage for the new development. The library would be able to use the new garage.
The board ultimately decided to not allow the parking garage on their property.
"I think it was the right thing to do. I really do," says Gregory, "When we start chipping away at this 14 acres, we're going to lose some very precious green space, and we can't get it back."
