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Bozeman will continue with smart growth, officials say

Bozeman officials have fully embraced "smart growth" principles that will shape the way the city grows for the next few decades, a panel of development interests told a senior citizens’ group Friday.

By NICK GEVOCK Chronicle Staff Writer

http://bozemandailychronicle.com/articles/2004/01/10/news/03growthbzbigs.txt

Commissioners will reject subdivisions with cookie-cutter rows of houses, Bozeman Planning Director Andy Epple told 50 members of Wonderlust.

But they’re also not interested in housing projects that lack parks and businesses, and therefore force residents to drive for amenities, he said.

"Every major development that comes in now is going to have to have a central area — some kind of commercial core or a park," Epple said.

Epple was part of a panel that included Bozeman City Commissioner Steve Kirchhoff and architect Lowell Springer. They spoke to Wonderlust, senior citizens organization that holds regular educational forums, as it did Friday at the Pilgrim Congregational Church, as well as monthly meetings to discuss contemporary local, national and international issues.

"The idea is to get senior citizens together, and maybe eventually form a political group," said Dick Young, organizer of Wonderlust, which has more than 200 members. "We pick controversial subjects."

Kirchhoff told the group that rapid growth without controls was the reason he entered politics in 1999.

And although some people criticize smart growth as excessive, in truth it’s about making a community nicer so people have more freedom, he said.

"Smart growth is about choice," he said. "If you don’t want to get into your car, you don’t have to."

Sidewalks, trees and safe routes to schools — all of which are found in Bozeman’s oldest neighborhoods — are just some of the elements that make up a well-designed neighborhood, Kirchhoff said.

Springer said although he sometimes finds city regulations cumbersome, he basically agrees with smart growth concepts.

Good planning can save a lot of headaches later, such as the fight last year over plans to build a grocery store at Kagy Boulevard and South Third Avenue, the architect said.

Any subdivision coming before the commission now would be required to designate land for groceries, and that’s a good thing, Springer said.

"That wouldn’t have been such a traumatic process," he said. "That would have been planned there."

When someone asked whether Bozeman was still too small to justify smart-growth principles, Epple replied that planning is meant for the future.

For example, property at the intersection of Kagy and South 19th Avenue is zoned commercial so the area can have a grocery store as homes are built nearby. But businesses will only go up there when the market demands it.

Epple said developers are slowly realizing that they also benefit from well-planned growth, but it takes time to change people.

"Standard, post-World War II subdivisions and strip malls have made people a lot money," Epple said. "It’s hard to get some people to break out of that."

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