Bozeman commission delays decision on Guthrie apartment appeal after hours of testimony

The Bozeman City Commission on April 1 voted to continue consideration of an appeal of the Guthrie development — a proposed four‑story, 91‑unit apartment building at Fifth and Villard — and set deliberations to resume April 15. The continuation followed more than five hours of staff presentations, questions from commissioners, and public comment on whether the project complies with code adopted to protect neighborhood character.

The appeal challenges the director of community development’s March decision that conditionally approved the Guthrie’s site plan, certificate of appropriateness and demolition permit. The project proposes 91 residential units, of which half would be rent‑restricted under the city’s affordable‑housing rules; the developer reduced an earlier proposal from 111 units and five stories to a 4‑story design during the administrative review. Community Development Director Aaron George told the commission staff recommends upholding the director’s conditional approval because, in staff’s view, the application meets the city’s compulsory code standards.

Why it matters: The case pits the city’s Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) design guidelines and related certificate‑of‑appropriateness criteria — which residents say protect the scale and character of downtown neighborhoods — against the R5 zoning and the city’s affordable‑housing incentives, which allow higher density in parts of the Midtown renewal area. Appellants say the Guthrie’s mass and scale overwhelm surrounding one‑ and two‑story homes and the project did not satisfy NCOD requirements. The applicant says it revised…