UNDER (de)CONSTRUCTION: Demolition Code Revisions

The Historic Preservation Advisory Board (HPAB) is actively reviewing the City's code language related to demolition of structures within the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District, or NCOD. Contained in Section 38.240.020 of the Bozeman Municipal Code, this section was not substantively revised during the recent update to the Unified Development Code. Instead, revisions were identified as part of the Local Landmark Project in the Phase 1 recommendations and HPAB prioritized work on the demolition code earlier this year.

At their meeting on June 17, HPAB received a presentation from the project team, heard public comment, and had a lengthy discussion of potential improvements to the existing code language. You can watch a recording of the meeting online or review the presentation slides to learn more. Key discussion points included:

• Whether the City should require out-of-date historic inventory forms to be updated prior to demolition and, if so, who should be responsible for securing a qualified consultant to do the inventory work.
• If the City keeps the option to impose a two-year stay on demolition of a historic structure, what should be required or documented at the end of the stay.
• Whether the "viable economic life remaining" test should be simplified or remain as written.
• Ways to prevent, penalize, or disincentivize "demolition by neglect," whereby a structure is allowed to become unsafe or degraded to such an extent that the cost to repair or rehabilitate it far exceeds the cost of demolition and replacement.
• How the City should consider proposed demolition of non-contributing or "intrusive" structures in the context of the larger neighborhood or district.
• Whether there are incentives the City could consider to encourage repair/reuse/preservation over demolition.
• Whether the penalties for illegal demolition are appropriate.
• Other considerations including deconstruction, trees on private property, and the role of HPAB in reviewing demolition applications.

Members of HPAB will be sharing their feedback with the project team over the next month and we will revisit the topic at the board's August 19 meeting. Interested in joining the conversation? You can review the existing demolition code sections in the .pdf linked on the project's Engage page. We invite input from the public in writing in advance of the August meeting to help inform draft code revisions. Please email them to comments@bozemanmt.gov to ensure they are distributed to the project team and members of HPAB.