Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board Work Session on Demolition Code – September 16, 2026

The Bozeman Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) met on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. in the City Commission Room for a work session focused on draft amendments to the Unified Development Code (UDC) consolidating demolition regulations. The discussion continued work from the Local Landmark Project Phase One Report and a July work session with the City Commission. No meeting minutes were available. The board took no formal action.

Discussion Items

• Staff (Aaron and a second staff member) presented a draft that would consolidate existing UDC Sections H through K, which cover demolition of historic and non-historic structures, into a single section addressing applicability and procedures for all types of proposed demolition.
• Staff noted that the July City Commission work session expressed interest in applying demolition regulations outside the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District (NCOD), but not design standards. The board reiterated its desire to consider structures 50 years old or older anywhere in the city, which makes the inventory form important for evaluating those properties.
• Inside the NCOD, a Certificate of Appropriateness (COA) is required for demolition, and a COA application must include a proposal for subsequent development, addressing the city's past concern about removing historic structures without certainty of what will replace them.
• The existing one-year demolition stay can currently be terminated at any point when the applicant submits documentation that alternatives were considered. The draft retains this concept but intentionally uses flexible language rather than prescribing a specific document type, letting the applicant submit what they believe is sufficient and allowing staff to use judgment.
• A board member criticized that open-ended documentation approach, saying, "not telling people what to provide, but letting them provide it... that's horrible on the end user side." Another member responded that "code's not always the place for instructions."
• A board member asked whether the survey/inventory form includes historic data such as who lived in the house; staff confirmed the form is in-depth and includes those stories.
• Staffing and budget: A board member suggested converting a consultant budget line into a second staff position. Staff responded that the current preservation planner position is already more than full-time, the department's office space is completely full, and fee revenue is not enough to support current operations, so the city general fund already supplements the department. Staff also noted that the city has two wetland consultants on contract who serve as peer reviewers for the city.
• A board member offered to lead historic tours, noting, "Crystal has me doing four different historic tours," and invited city staff to join one.
• A board member observed that people in their neighborhood "are not trying to get into historic preservation" but care about neighborhood character, adding, "I think we're on the same side of the fence there."
• Bylaws: A board member reported that bylaws passed at the last agenda item, and the earlier consensus was to wait until Historic Preservation Month, which is May.

Key Outcomes

• No formal motion or vote was taken; the meeting was a discussion-only work session.
• Staff will continue refining the draft demolition section, revisit the flexibility of documentation requirements, and later combine the demolition standards with draft COA standards, deviations, and HPAB role language into an ordinance format.
• Per state law, any UDC amendment requires a public hearing before the Community Development Board (planning commission), which makes a recommendation to the City Commission. The City Commission must hold a public hearing for provisional adoption and then a final adoption meeting at least two weeks later. HPAB will also provide its own recommendation to the City Commission at a future meeting.
• The board's next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, 2026. (The agenda states the board generally meets the third Wednesday of the month; the October meeting was moved to a Tuesday.)