BOZEMAN - As Bozeman continues to grow, development seems to keep sprouting up and some neighbors on the north side of downtown have worries about a new development which could cause its neighborhood to lose some of its character.
“Looking at what is happening with the north-central development plan, the Ives development and just keeping an eye on things that are happening,” says Bozeman resident Suzanne Held.
The concern Held and her neighbors have is that the proposed Ives development is the project clashing with the neighborhood around it.
“It doesn't seem that the designers and the developers of this building really took into consideration the neighborhood,” says Held.
The worry is about the area's zoning, right on Villard in between Willson and Grand, where three different zoning districts meet. The neighborhoods sit in zones R-3 and R-4 which allow for medium and high-density housing to be built, but right now most of the area is single-family housing. Where the proposed apartment complex is zoned that is B-3 which is what most of downtown along Main Street is zoned and this zone encourages high volume.
“ It doesn't really fit in with the community plan and what the community plan talks about kind of being a city of neighborhoods,” says Held.
They feel like this development will be a clash of neighborhoods without any transition in between.
“What people love most about Bozeman is the small-town feel,” says Held.
And even as Bozeman continues to grow the neighbors say they welcome it but wish more thought is put into development.
“We know the city is growing, and we are not saying 'stop development, no development,'” says Held.
“We know that development is coming we know that we are growing we know that there is a lot of advantages that come with our growing as well but we want the growth to be compatible with what we already have here,” says Held
The public comment period for this project ends on Dec. 3rd after that a final decision will come from the Community Development Director on whether this project goes forward.
