Bozeman commission rejects boutique hotel deviation that would encroach on Bozeman Creek setback

Mayor Terry Cunningham and the Bozeman City Commission on May 20 rejected a request to approve a six-story boutique hotel and a deviation to encroach into the 35-foot watercourse setback for Bozeman Creek on a vacant lot at 240 E. Mendenhall Street.

City staff presented the project as a 71-room, roughly 65,000-square-foot hotel on a 0.41-acre parcel with no on-site parking, an off-site parking agreement proposed, and an outdoor patio, awning and supporting utilities planned within the creek setback. Brian Krueger, development review manager for the Department of Community Development, told the commission the building footprint itself would remain outside the 35-foot setback but the applicant sought permission for hardscaping, a patio, utilities and a 4-foot awning inside that setback.

The staff report noted the site sits in the neighborhood conservation overlay district and that, because the requested encroachment exceeded director-level thresholds, the commission was the review authority. Krueger said the application included a concurrent floodplain permitting process and that staff had concluded the deviation criteria were met, subject to conditions including that the patio be a public use area and that archaeological monitoring be performed if historically significant materials are encountered.

Applicant…