Bozeman should not encourage people that don’t work here to live on our streets for 30 days. It is causing safety issues regarding drugs, crime, and human waste.

As the next mayor of Bozeman, I will seek to reduce the amount of time that urban campers can stay parked in Bozeman from 30 days to 10 days. This is necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of our residents and businesses.

The idea that someone works in this city and has to live in their car because they cannot afford to pay rent is unacceptable to me. We need to take care of these people, but also enforce a 10 day urban camping ordinance to discourage non-residents from taking advantage of our town.

The next Bozeman City Commission should make findings that Bozeman is facing a water and affordable housing crisis and place a moratorium on approving new luxury developments to protect the health, safety, and welfare of residents. The U.S. Supreme Court has previously upheld an 18 month moratorium on development. “[T]he consensus in the planning community appears to be that moratoria, or ‘interim development controls’ as they are often called, are an essential tool of successful development.” Sierra Tahoe Sierra Pres. Council v. Tahoe Reg’l Planning Agency, 535 U.S. 302, 337-38 (2002). City and State law also allow moratoriums. Montana Code Ann. 2-4-303; Bozeman city code 2.02.140(C).

Placing a pause on approving any new luxury housing is the most realistic thing we can do if we’re serious about addressing water shortages and the housing crisis.

The City of Bozeman has said we will have water shortages in the next ten years. Water conservation is a step in the right direction but does not confront the primary offender: unchecked and rampant development. By prioritizing how we allocate our water resources, the city can ensure our water rights' are protected.

The city can adopt a strategic water reserve for drought periods,

enforce xeri-scaping in new development to reduce potable water used for irrigation,

and eliminate cash payments from developers in lieu of wet water for their proposed developments.

A water allocation policy, which would separate the city’s available water rights by priority, would ensure the supply for existing housing remains intact while limiting that for new development. This sort of policy would provide direct incentives for developers to create more water-efficient structures, i.e. affordable housing. The city has an interest in seeking alternative sources of water but not if those sources will go towards feeding the growth machine at the expense of Bozeman taxpayers.

The status quo is not sustainable. As the cost of living increases, more and more people are being pushed out of Bozeman. Exacerbating the cost of living problem is the cost of purchasing a new home. Young professionals and families cannot afford to live in the town where they work. While there is no silver bullet, the solutions are in the hands of the local government: increasing access to housing, providing public housing, taking advantage of tax increment financing and low-income housing tax credits, and implementing deed restrictions that limit speculation. Owner-occupiers should be able to freely expand a single-family home and build ADU’s with limited intervention to increase housing supply. By addressing ghost housing directly, we can increase occupancy rates to reduce demand.

Bozeman is unique in its natural wetlands and native Cottonwood trees. By revising the development code we can protect wildlife and mature, heritage trees while retaining open, green spaces, access to the mountains, and creating wildlife crossings to reduce car accidents. People come here because of the mountains and the access to the outdoors. Protecting these natural resources is essential for preserving our quality of life going forward. The construction and development industry has wreaked havoc on our natural resources and our environment. The solution to this crisis involves controlling and managing development to prevent a never ending environmental and ecological disaster.

The push for infill and urban development has perpetuated unregulated development, density, and sprawl. By pursuing regulations on development and embracing a Bozeman-focused approach to city planning, we can mitigate the harmful impacts of unchecked development on our quality of life. City planning should prioritize overwhelming public interests over individual developer interests which promote real estate speculation. If we enact a moratorium, we will be able to reassess what we currently have, our land, our existing structures, etc, and address the water crisis head on before it is too late.

I am opposed to the recently proposed development code changes. I value the character of single family homes and the history of our neighborhoods. Knocking down historic houses to build condos takes away from our quality of life. Just because the city adopts a new code does not mean there will be more affordable housing. It means they will be building more luxury condos in town AND out of town. It is only going to exacerbate the problem.

Public transportation is an important way for Bozeman to reduce tailpipe emissions. I’ll work to ensure the City of Bozeman partners more closely with the Human Resources Development Council to increase the range and frequency of where buses travel. If we’re going to tackle climate change, public transportation should be readily available to everyone. The network of bus lines should encourage ridership and incentive wealth creation by moving efficiently and consistently to important places in the community.