How Will Bozeman Grow Up?

The Bozeman City Commission is wrestling with growth. What a surprise. Commissioner Jeff Krauss is wondering what Bozeman will be when it grows up.

That’s been going on since I moved here 25 years ago and it’s evident that nothing much has changed.

You’d think after 25 years some simple questions would have been addressed.

Build up or out? Build in which direction? How many schools will be needed by 2050?

Bozeman is one the fastest growing, — if not the fastest, growing cities in the US. You’d think we had some kind of fail-safe plan in place.

It seems we can’t even get a Law and Justice building done without years of plans and votes.

Do I even need to bring up the city jail and how many metamorphoses that went through?

I have to confess, I’m not sure any plan the commission comes up with will do the trick. Life is what happens while you’re making plans according to John Lennon.

If I’ve learned anything about Bozeman in my 25 years, it’s that Bozeman does pretty much what it wants regardless of any outside influence.

In my early years in Bozeman there was a huge anti-growth movement. Nosebleed level impact fees, building regulations, and sign codes, were all thrown at Bozeman to stop growth — all to no avail.

Housing prices be damned the masses kept coming.

Bozeman can’t be contained in some city planning petri dish as a town gone bad experiment. It will eventually take over your entire laboratory.

Your thesis is flawed before it’s even written. The city commission is trying to break the unbreakable bronc to use a western metaphor.

Open the gate — but you’re not going to last the 8 seconds.

Plan all you want ladies and gentlemen but I’m afraid Bozeman has other ideas. And its ideas don’t include you — or your plans.

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