Bozeman board backs Phase 1 of landmark plan, asks design guidelines moved into Phase 2

The Community Development Board of the City of Bozeman on April 21 recommended the City Commission approve the Bozeman Landmark Project Phase I report (application 22388), sending the report forward with an amendment that advances a design-guidelines update into Phase 2 and moves proposed neighborhood conservation overlay district (NCOD) boundary changes into future recommendations.

The board’s vote followed a presentation by Adrienne Burke of Community Planning Collaborative and staff discussion of Phase 1 findings, which examine potential updates to chapter 38.3.40 of the Unified Development Code (UDC), the certificate of appropriateness (COA) process, demolition review, NCOD boundaries and the creation of a local landmark program. "This is the end of Phase 1," Burke said in the presentation, explaining the report summarizes research and public engagement and lays out topics to be addressed in Phase 2.

The amendment — proposed during the board’s deliberations and adopted before the final recommendation — reflected the Historic Preservation Advisory Board’s (HPAB) advice that the city should: 1) include a comprehensive design-guidelines overhaul in Phase 2 so the guidelines and code updates proceed concurrently, and 2) postpone any NCOD boundary map changes until code and guideline updates are more fully developed. Aaron George, staff, told the board the recommended NCOD boundary adjustments shown in the report are illustrative and that an actual boundary change would require a future zone map amendment process.

Board members and staff emphasized the difference between policy recommendations in the Phase I report and the legal changes that will come later. "It’s not an ordinance," Aaron George said, describing the report as guidance that would inform Phase 2 code drafting and later legislative actions. Burke and staff repeatedly said Phase 2 will produce draft code language for the UDC and that any formal changes to NCOD boundaries or regulations would follow separate public hearings and a zone map amendment process.

Key Phase 2 priorities identified in the report include: clarifying COA application standards and exemptions; updating deviation definitions and criteria to align with state law; tightening and clarifying demolition review (including documentation requirements and the operation of the existing two‑year demolition stay); creating a local landmark nomination and designation program with local criteria and appeal processes; and preparing a local, streamlined inventory form to reduce cost compared with Montana’s detailed state inventory forms.

Consultant Burke and staff also summarized several "future recommendations" that would require additional funding or separate projects: a full overhaul of the NCOD design guidelines (to be done by a preservation‑experienced architect), expanded historic resource surveys and inventories across the city, creation of heritage‑tree recognition, and identifying incentive and funding tools (including promotion of historic tax incentives and potential use of urban renewal funds). The report notes a typical state inventory form can cost roughly $1,000 per property and that surveying large numbers of properties would require significant funding.

Public commenters and board discussion emphasized balancing preservation with housing and development goals. Several neighborhood representatives urged strong protections for contributing structures and supported advancing design guidelines promptly; others cautioned about costs and tradeoffs, and one board member noted concerns about neighborhood demographic change and housing affordability. The board’s final roll call was 5–1 in favor of recommending the report as amended (ayes: Henry Happel, Ben Lloyd, Jason Villeneuve, Chris Egge, Jen Matcic; no: Mark Agee).

Next steps in the report timeline: staff expects to present the Phase I report (as recommended by the board) to the City Commission on May 13, start Phase 2 code drafting and public engagement in early June, and aim to complete Phase 2 by the end of the year. Any subsequent NCOD boundary changes would proceed through separate zone map amendment hearings and legal requirements.