Bozeman board fails to recommend approval of annexation and R4 zoning for 5532 Fowler Lane

The Bozeman Community Development Board on March 17 declined to recommend approval of an annexation and zone map amendment that would annex about 10.39 acres at 5532 Fowler Lane and assign an initial R4 (high-density residential) zoning (application 24492).

Planner Zachary Moon, associate planner with the Community Development Department, told the board that staff’s review found the proposed annexation and zoning generally met the mandatory criteria in the Montana Code Annotated and the city’s growth policy, with one criterion marked neutral. Moon entered the staff report and application materials into the record and said public notice was adequate; he said the city had received one written public comment asking that, if annexed, the property receive R3 zoning instead of R4.

The applicant, Rob Pritzborn of Intrinsic Architecture, representing property owner KDG Holdings, described the site as roughly 10.385 acres adjacent to Fowler Lane and Buffalo Run. Pritzborn said the development team intends to provide a 50-foot easement along South Fowler and that existing mature trees on the west end would be evaluated for protection at the site-plan stage. “Whenever this parcel at some future point does develop, it’s a little hard to see on this map, but there is Gabriel Avenue to the north of this property…and Mia Lane to the east. That will be required to continue in some configuration,” Pritzborn said.

Public comment focused on irrigation ditches, stormwater and legacy rights. Kevin Haggerty, who identified himself as secretary of the Middle Creek Ditch Company and a nearby property owner, urged the board to consider ditch-company rights and stormwater impacts. “The ditch company is very concerned about this,” Haggerty said, describing what he said were incomplete agreements and stormwater being routed into ditch facilities. He also said the ditch company had experienced costs and legal expenses tied to nearby construction and asked for clearer process and liability protections.

Board members debated traffic, connectivity to services and the appropriate density. Board member Mark Agee said higher-density zoning should be placed where people can access jobs and services without long car trips. “If everyone that lives in this development is going to be 100% car dependent for the foreseeable future…we’re putting a lot of residential location that is maximally distant from the places where people would actually like to go,” Agee said. Several members noted the property’s bike/walk and transit scores were effectively zero at present and that nearby commercial parcels such as recently-zoned B2M sites had not yet developed.

Board member Jason (last name recorded as Jason in the meeting record) moved to recommend approval, adopting staff findings and recommending approval with contingencies to complete application processing; Ben Lloyd seconded that motion. After discussion, the motion failed on a roll-call vote recorded in the meeting as 2 in favor and 3 opposed. The board then heard an alternative motion to recommend denial, which was made and seconded but later withdrawn after city staff explained that a failure to recommend approval functions as a de facto recommendation of denial to the City Commission.

Next steps: the City Commission will hold a public hearing on April 8 to consider the annexation and zone map amendment. City staff noted that engineering standards were updated in October 2024 and that stormwater design and infrastructure standards have changed; long-range system-level stormwater planning is scheduled for future hearings (stormwater facilities plan public hearing scheduled for April 7). The city will also carry forward the board’s discussion on neighborhood connectivity and potential need for more comprehensive, neighborhood-level planning for the area.

The board’s discussion and the public comment record will be forwarded to the City Commission as part of the April 8 hearing packet.