BOZEMAN, Mont. – Members of the Bozeman Planning Board don’t want to be just be a rubber stamp, approving subdivision after subdivision without much pushback, several members said.
During a discussion Monday night about the board’s goals for 2021, several members said they want to take a more active role in the city’s planning. Board chair Henry Happel said they should be looking at the bigger picture for development applications.
“What we get from community development focuses on the nuts and bolts … within the four square corners of that development,” Happel said. “Instead of the trees I think we need to look at the forest, and the forest is more along the lines of, well how does this subdivision fit in with what’s going on around it.”
Happel asked if city staff could give the planning board more information on what issues they work out with developers before an application comes before the board, something director of community development Marty Matsen said they would note.
Board members also said they want to take a more proactive role in the city’s planning.
Commissioner Jennifer Madgic, who was appointed to the commission in early October and had been a member of the planning board previously, said the board should communicate what they are looking for in subdivisions or development applications, rather than just deciding on the applications after they are complete.
The board did have a lot of say in drafting the Bozeman growth policy, which the city commission passed in November.
The growth policy, Madgic said, set a “higher bar,” giving them the opportunity to be more particular about their decisions.
“What could be helpful is to really be clear about what we would like to see and have that trickle down so developments are coming to us in a manner we would like to see them and staff is able to articulate that to developers prior to it coming to us,” Madgic said. “That can help save time, grief, and back and forth.”
Other board members said they would like to see the board take a role in addressing Bozeman’s bike and pedestrian network, housing integration and revising the unified development code, which many have said is overly complex.
Several members also said they want to do more to educate themselves on planning matters. Happel said they should strive to be a “trusted source” on planning matters.
“We’re going to know when we’re really successful as a planning board when the city commission comes to us and asks us for our advice on one or another planning matter, which would not otherwise come before us,” Happel said
