BOZEMAN — On Tuesday night, Bozeman City Commission approved the Buffalo Run annexation and zoning designation, but it didn’t go without strong pushback.
“Lots of hard decisions we have to make. This is one of the hardest,” said Commissioner I-Ho Pomeroy late on Tuesday evening.
The Bozeman City Commission voted 4-1 in favor of annexing the roughly 20 acres of land off of Fowler Lane and designating it as R-4 Residential High Density District zoning.
The Zoning Commission met late last month, and heard from many residents of the nearby Meadow Creek subdivision who said they were concerned specifically about the high-density zoning designation and what that could mean for the neighboring homes.
On Tuesday night, many of those concerns were brought up again, and over 22 people opposed to the proposal commented on the agenda item that kept the meeting running until past midnight.
“Meadow Creek HOA and its residents are pro-accountability to the City Growth Plan,” said David Parker, resident and Vice President of the Meadow Creek HOA.
“A high density, and R-4 designation for Buffalo Run quite simply doesn’t abide by the city’s collective goals as expressed in that growth plan which is more than just simply high density.”
Many Meadow Creek residents pushed for a medium density zoning designation at R-3, but commissioners didn’t budge.
“We have a responsibility to do everything in our power to make sure that diverse housing options exist for people,” said Commissioner Christopher Coburn.
“We’re talking about community that can be diverse where people have options to live, and I think that this application has a really good shot at accomplishing that.”
Commissioner Jennifer Madgic was the only dissenting vote.
“I’m not saying that this area isn’t eventually appropriate for annexation and development and potentially high density development, I just don’t think it’s appropriate at this time,” said Madgic.
