The 296-unit question off Fowler
Morning, and happy Labor Day. It's a soggy one, showers and storms rolling through with a high around 68, so today's cookout is officially an indoor sport. Once the grill's covered, here's the docket. A 296-unit apartment plan off Fowler has the neighbors organizing, MSU is passing around the suggestion box, and Belgrade just scored a million bucks to save Big Red. Coffee up.
Bozeman's biggest affordable-housing bet in years is drawing a fight from the neighbors.
The Human Resource Development Council and BlueLine Development want to build Rocky Mountain Flats, 296 income-restricted apartments, on roughly ten acres near Fowler Lane and Stucky Road on the south edge of town. Every unit would be reserved for households earning 30% to 70% of area median income, with rents held down by federal tax credits and the deeds locked affordable for at least 50 years. That is a lot of front doors aimed squarely at the people this valley keeps pricing out.
The neighbors are not sold. Residents near the site point to 243 parking spaces for 296 apartments, more traffic on two-lane Stucky Road, wildlife pushed off open ground, and infrastructure they say was never sized for this. "We're not against affordable housing. We're for affordable housing," resident Tammy Friedlund said, landing on the line most growth fights here start from. The argument is rarely whether to build. It is where, and how dense.
The next public step is a hearing set for Tuesday (Sept. 22) at Bozeman City Hall, after the Montana Board of Housing already signed off on the developers' bid for federal low-income housing tax credits. Whichever side of Stucky you land on, this is the one to watch.
Montana State is redrawing its road map for the next few years, and for once it is asking the town what it thinks.
The university is finishing a new strategic plan, the document that decides which projects get money and attention, and it is holding a community feedback forum Wednesday (Sept. 9) at EngineWorks on Technology Boulevard, 5:30 p.m., free and open to anyone. You walk the room, look at the proposed priorities, and mark the ones you would actually fund.
This is not just a campus errand. MSU's enrollment sets the pace for the valley's rents, its traffic, and a healthy share of its paychecks, so the school's next five years are the town's next five years too. An online survey opens tomorrow (Sept. 8) at the same site for anyone who would rather weigh in from the couch, and the finished plan goes to the Board of Regents on Nov. 19. "The proposed projects reflect the ideas and themes the university heard through a series of listening sessions and completed surveys," said Michael Becker, MSU's vice president for university communications.
Belgrade just landed a rare federal windfall for a hometown landmark. The city won a $1 million EPA grant to study and clean up Big Red, the eight-story grain elevator that has loomed over downtown since Nelson Story built it around 1900. Belgrade was one of just 20 communities nationwide to get the brownfields money, which buys five years to figure out what a 125-year-old, fertilizer-stained icon wants to be when it grows up.
The valley's hockey barn is getting a serious glow-up. Haynes Pavilion is finishing the second phase of an $8 million expansion built to make it a regional hockey hub, with the season set to drop the puck at the end of September. New seating, a restaurant, and a new name are all part of the deal.
Bozeman keeps winning a ribbon it can barely afford to hang up. The city was named the country's No. 1 college town for the third year running, beating out Pullman, Clemson, Laramie, and Gainesville. The rankers cited affordability, which reads as either a compliment or a dark joke depending on when you last signed a lease.
Showers and thunderstorms roll through most of Labor Day with a high near 68 and an 80% chance you get rained on. It clears fast, though. Sunny and 70 Tuesday, sunny and 77 Wednesday. Grill under the eaves today, then go reclaim the patio.
Monday (Sept. 7):
Rain's on the menu, so keep Labor Day under a roof at MAP Brewing's pint night for the Cutting Fences Foundation, listed 4 to 8 p.m. and free to walk in, with a pour going to the veterans-and-horses nonprofit.
Tuesday (Sept. 8): Montana Shakespeare in the Parks brings its free traveling production of "The Merchant of Venice" to town, listed at 5:30 p.m. Bring a blanket and get there early.
Wednesday (Sept. 9): Twenty slides, twenty seconds apiece, and whatever a presenter can do against the clock. Pecha Kucha 51 takes the Ellen at 6:40 p.m. ($9, or $5.50 for students), the fastest-talking night in Bozeman.
Wednesday (Sept. 9): Or nurse a pint to Bozeman Music Night with Jacob Rountree at Bridger Brewing, listed 5:30 to 8 p.m., low-key and easy on the wallet.
The Gallatin is running thin and late-summer low, about 381 cfs at Gallatin Gateway on Sunday afternoon, with the Logan gauge near 392 and the East Gallatin down around 39. Monday's rain might nudge the numbers and cool the water a touch, but this stays a morning game. Check FWP's live restrictions map for hoot-owl afternoon closures before you wade in.
Heads up if your commute or your game-day route runs past MSU. The West Kagy sewer project is still working the south side of campus, swapping in century-old sewer pipe between South Tracy and South 7th, with lane restrictions in the mix and the city aiming to wrap the first phase by November. Give yourself a few extra minutes, especially on a home football Saturday.