Bozeman historic board hears wide-ranging UDC update, public raises concerns about NCOD boundary and transition standards

Tom Rogers, a planner with the Bozeman Community Development Department, briefed the Historic Preservation Board on the city’s multi-year rewrite of the Unified Development Code (UDC), saying the update responds both to the city’s revised growth policy and state law changes and will proceed in phases of public outreach and revision.

"I'm Tom Rogers from the Community Development Department. I've been tasked to, meet with you, provide an update for some ongoing efforts that we are doing to revise, and update our Unified Development Code or UDC," Rogers told the board, describing outreach that began with a 2023 draft and has entered a supplementary engagement phase.

Board members and public commenters used the session to press staff on two recurring concerns: (1) whether the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD) boundary shown in the public draft map is actually being moved and (2) how new zone-edge transition rules will moderate abrupt scale differences where higher-density commercial or multi-unit zones meet long-established single-family neighborhoods.

Why it matters: the UDC is the local ordinance that implements the city’s growth policy and sets what can be built where, including maximum heights, setbacks and transition rules. Changes to the UDC and the zoning map can directly affect property rights, neighborhood character and redevelopment pressure in older…