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Gallatin board approves reduced parking ratio for 460 Southwater redevelopment
Summary
The Gallatin board approved Resolution 2026-004, granting a modified parking variance that sets a 1.2 parking-spaces-per-upper-unit requirement for a mixed-use redevelopment at 460 Southwater Avenue, after staff recommended denial and the applicant and board negotiated site adjustments and bike-parking credits.
The Gallatin board voted to grant a modified parking variance for a mixed-use redevelopment at 460 Southwater Avenue, approving Resolution 2026-004 with conditions that change the applicant's request from a 0.96 to a 1.2 parking-spaces-per-upper-unit ratio.
City planner Jim Carpenter told the board staff recommended denial, saying, “we do not believe that this meets the full 10 standards for variance,” and explaining that the code requires 1.5 spaces per upper-story unit, which on this project equated to about 45 stalls for roughly 30 upper-story apartments. Carpenter also summarized the site's rezoning history, noting the parcel had been rezoned in 2024 by ordinance 202405-25 and that the building is a long-standing former Church of Christ that is currently vacant.
The developer and project team described a 42-unit mixed-use building with ground-floor commercial space that they said responds to Plan Gallatin goals for walkability and downtown housing. Architect Brandon Bell said the full project would provide about 48 total parking spaces across all apartments and garages, yielding roughly “1.14 cars per apartment unit on the project,” and argued that the building type and downtown context supported a reduced upper-story parking requirement.
Board members and staff spent the meeting exploring technical options to close the gap between the applicant's plan and the ordinance: removing two landscape islands in the surface lot (which would require planning commission approval), reconfiguring stall alignment, limited compact-space allowances, and use of bicycle-parking substitutions. Under Gallatin's bike-parking policy a secure bicycle locker counts as one car space and five rack spaces count as one car space; the board discussed using up to the code-allowed substitution to approach a middle ground.
After extended questioning and negotiation with the applicant, a board member moved to amend and grant the variance to require a 1.2 ratio for upper-story residential units and to make additional on-site changes and bicycle-parking provisions conditions of approval. The motion was seconded and carried by voice vote. The board did not take additional action on a second agenda item, which was deferred by the applicant.
The board's approval binds the applicant to amended site-plan conditions (including additional surface stalls and bicycle parking) that must be reflected in subsequent planning commission/site-plan review as required by staff comments. The city will record the approved variance as Resolution 2026-004 with the stated conditions; implementation of parking reconfiguration or landscape exceptions will require further technical approvals at the planning-commission level.
Next steps: the applicant will submit a site plan incorporating the board's conditions for planning commission review and any necessary engineering approvals for parking reconfiguration.
