Civic Issues
Topics getting the most attention in Bozeman public meetings, ranked by how frequently they are discussed.
50 issues
Draft FFY 2027-2031 Transportation Improvement Program
The five-year TIP directs about $170.9 million in federal, state and local funding to road, bridge and transit projects across the MPO area, including Belgrade Main Street and Bozeman's Kagy reconstruction. Comments are due October 20 and adoption is required by December 26.
Long Range Transportation Plan fiscally constrained project list
The valley's first long-range transportation plan sets goals, policies and investment priorities for roads, safety, sidewalks, bike routes and transit through 2050 across Bozeman, Belgrade, Four Corners and parts of Gallatin County. It was shaped by community surveys, workshops and input from over 900 candidate projects. The committee's recommendation starts a 30-day public review before the final adoption vote.
Cattail Creek Corridor Park and Anchor Route Master Plan
A 3.25-mile connected parks-and-trails corridor from Cattail Lake to Bozeman Ponds serving 12,000+ residents within a quarter mile. Neighbors in Harvest Creek worried about turf removal, tall native grasses, weeds, fire risk and buffers; staff promised surgical changes, mowing protocols, and neighborhood workshops before final construction drawings. First-phase work funded with roughly $500,000 in cash-in-lieu park funds.
Pedestrian Safety Near the Pool
A boy on a bike was hit by a car near the pool and taken by ambulance; a rep flagged surging traffic near 300+ new units on north Church and asked again for traffic calming.
Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program 2026 results
The city has formalized its citizen-initiated traffic calming program. Applications are open through March 6 for temporary and seasonal treatments on local streets, with screening based on crashes, speeds, volumes, and proximity to schools and parks. Arterials and collectors like Highland, Grand and South Third aren't eligible yet, but staff are working on that.
Bozeman-Belgrade regional coordination
The warming center line drops to about $345,700 a year — but that's because Gallatin County and Belgrade are now chipping in, so total regional funding is actually up and shelter days are expanding. Nonprofit leaders from Haven and Family Promise thanked the commission.
Bear activity and wildlife management
Deputy Mayor Fischer flagged bears raiding trash across Bozeman neighborhoods and wants a solution before next fall, including possibly a county-wide requirement covering private haulers.
First Long-Range Transportation Plan
The region's first Long-Range Transportation Plan — two years in the making — sets goals, a ranked project list, and policies like complete streets. It goes to a November 5 recommendation vote, then 30 days of public review before December 16 adoption.
Police Equipment Contract
Bozeman’s City Commission approved a $2.4 million contract for new police cameras and evidence systems. The idea is to improve transparency on patrol, and it’s being paid for with local tax dollars.
Passenger Rail Feasibility Proposal
A resident pitched a single rail/tram line connecting Belgrade, the airport, downtown Bozeman, and 19th Avenue, arguing it would connect business districts and reduce car dependence. He asked the committee to consider a feasibility study.
Maximum Building Height in B-3 Downtown Zoning District
The City Commission recently kept the 90-foot downtown height limit intact after robust discussion, with unresolved questions about zone-edge transitions and stepbacks. Staff will return to the Commission with ground-level experience standards.
Bozeman Sports Park Phase 2 Change Order
The city accepted $1.43 million from School District 7 for the turf sports field across from Gallatin High — a partnership giving the school first use and the community off-hours access, plus neighborhood parking relief.
Northwest Bozeman Area Plan
A draft plan for 3,000 acres northwest of the city will guide future land uses, roads, trails, and natural resource protection as land annexes into Bozeman over decades. The public hearing before the board is November 16, and neighbors are already raising concerns about parks, wildlife, wetlands, and traffic.
Police and Fire Radio Replacement
The city is buying new Motorola radios because the current police and fire fleet can no longer receive software updates — a quiet but important public-safety upgrade.
Story Mill and East Gallatin Landfill Monitoring
The city signed on to help the state redo the river's pollution limits after a 2025 state law changed how water quality standards work. The city's wastewater plant will do most of the technical work, with $300k budgeted.
Regional behavioral health partnership
Bozeman and Belgrade leaders agree behavioral health is an unfunded state mandate straining police, fire, and the hospital. They discussed a joint agreement, a possible crisis stabilization facility (the former Skate Palace), mobile crisis response success, and eventually asking the state or voters for funding.
2026 Annual Staff Ethics Training
The city is revamping its annual ethics training after feedback from trainers, directors, and managers. The new format uses mixed large/small group discussion, one interactive ethics scenario, a quiz, and a word cloud of employee values, with training starting the week of November 9.
Board of Ethics Code Review
The Board has spent two years, off and on, reviewing the city's ethics code. Members concluded the current policy is sound and only a technology/AI update may be needed, which is on hold until a city staff committee led by Assistant City Manager John Henderson finishes its work.
New City Civic Academy
The city launched a seven-session Civic Academy (applications due September 30, 30 participants) and shared annual report themes: neighborhoods want dedicated staff, better technology for communication, and more financial support from the city for gatherings.
Financial Disclosure Forms Move Online
The clerk's office is converting financial disclosure filings to a permanent web-form link through DocuSign, making it easier to onboard new required filers and track who has completed the annual requirement.
Storm damage cleanup and operations facility improvements
Parks crews are still clearing storm-damaged trees downtown and westward, and long-overdue upgrades are moving ahead at the 1975-era operations facilities on Tamarack and North Rouse.
2026 Park Land Trust Community Grant Cycle
About $200,000 in cash-in-lieu parkland money will fund community park projects in the 2026-27 grant cycle. The board wants tighter criteria focused on lasting investments rather than one-year operations, and a report-back requirement for grantees.
Writing PRAT Plan goals into the development code
The city is updating its Unified Development Code so new developments deliver better parks - trails instead of just sidewalk-edged grass, credit for protecting wetlands and trees, and possible changes to the density cap and 17-acres-per-1,000-residents standard. Expect public engagement, expert panels, and a recommendation to the city commission over roughly ten months.
Northwest Bozeman Area Plan
A 3,000-acre long-range vision plan for the northwest growth area, tied to the proposed Gooch Hill sewer lift station. Residents nearby worry about high-density housing, wildlife, pollution, and the Gooch Hill Road jog behind their homes. A public draft comes in October; adoption is targeted for December.
Water Adequacy Ordinance
A housekeeping ordinance moved water adequacy requirements (developers must offset their new water demand) from the zoning chapter into the utilities chapter — no substantive change, but it consolidates utility rules in one place for developers.
Cash In Lieu of Water Rights Fee Increase
The city is considering more than doubling the fee developers pay when they don't bring water rights with their projects — from $6,000 to about $13,050 per acre-foot. That adds roughly $3,000 to a new single-family home's cost and funds future water supply for growth.
Trail System Planning
Bozeman has approved a plan to add trails on the west side, linking parks and open space so residents can get around more easily on foot or bike. It’s a quality-of-life and connectivity win, though construction details and costs still need to play out.
Bozeman Creek vision plan
A 30-year vision to keep Bozeman Creek from flooding downtown, with up to a billion dollars in property at risk in a 100-year-plus event. The plan pairs Mill Ditch floodwater diversion with new creekside parks at Rouse Avenue, City Hall, and Bogert Park, and it heads to the City Commission on December 15.
Potential $40 million MDT federal funding gap
MDT may have to return roughly $40 million in federal redistribution funds because the state lacks matching dollars — about $4.5 million at a 13% match rate. Chair Chad Mozol floated the idea of local governments providing match to keep the money here.
Urban Renewal and Technology District budgets
The URD is proposing a study area expansion east along Olive toward Bozeman Creek, tied to potential projects including the federal building parking site and Bozeman Creek improvements. A resolution could go to the Commission by end of August.
State impact fee rules for residential development
Committee members asked how MDT will implement new administrative rules (implementing Senate Bill 533) on systems impact fees for residential development — whether the state will proactively start the process or wait for individual projects to trigger it. MDT staff will research and report back.
Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District Reorganization
The draft would relocate NCOD regulations to other parts of the Unified Development Code and update its language. NCOD rules affect what homeowners and developers can do in Bozeman's conservation districts.
Local Landmark Program development
The city is rewriting its historic preservation rules — covering demolition of older buildings, the Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District, and Certificates of Alteration. Property owners in older neighborhoods could see changed requirements for altering or tearing down structures 50 years or older.
Update of NCOD Design Standards
The update to the historic district's design guidelines is paused after the city lost its historic preservation planner and consultant. Staff plan to re-hire a consultant this fall and a new planner is being recruited.
Future of the NCOD and historic preservation program
The new Landmark Program would cover historic preservation outside the NCOD, but there's uncertainty about whether it will eventually replace the NCOD — Commissioner Sweeney will explain it at NENA's April 13 meeting.
Landmark historic preservation program update
Resident Roger Blank slammed the commission for rejecting an interim preservation code while 70-plus demolition permits stack up for older downtown homes, urging them to pass a preservation code before 'there's nothing left to preserve.'
Affordable housing ballot ask for 2027
The city commission is weighing a November 2027 ballot ask focused on housing, with possible additions like a West Side library, mental health crisis response and a fourth fire station. The board may be asked for input as ballot language takes shape in early 2027.
Amended city charter on November 3 ballot
Bozeman voters will decide in November whether to adopt an amended city charter with three sub-options (commission size, ward elections, and ward voting method). The Study Commission has now approved all the materials it will use to educate the public — flyers, brochures, digital ads, talking points and an updated website — before that vote.
MDT I-90 and Kagy intersection project
The New Hyalite View Neighborhood Association was set to share information about Montana Department of Transportation meetings on the I-90/Kagy interchange, a project that affects traffic around a busy south-side intersection.
Kagy Boulevard/Sourdough Road intersection design
MDT is holding open houses on the Kagy/Sourdough intersection and the long highway corridor from Bear Canyon to Three Forks; a rep offered to attend and summarize for neighborhoods.
Potential November 2027 housing bond ballot measure
The city commission is weighing a November 2027 ballot ask focused on housing, with possible additions like a West Side library, mental health crisis response and a fourth fire station. The board may be asked for input as ballot language takes shape in early 2027.
Community Ballot Issues Work Session
The Commission will hold an October 6 work session on possible ballot measures for November 2027 — ideas include a fourth fire station, an affordable housing levy, a west-side library, EMS, and mental health response. Fischer wants neighborhood input on what services are worth asking voters to fund.
Proposed West Side library branch
The Library Foundation announced it's buying a west side parcel and plans to build a $25–30 million branch library entirely with private donations, then gift it to the city — asking only for an operating levy, likely in 2029.
Year-Round Traffic Enforcement Grant
Bozeman PD landed a $134,745 state grant to hire a dedicated traffic enforcement officer for a year — a step up from the old overtime-only grants, aimed squarely at dangerous driving.
Gallatin High School Parking Management District
Neighbors east of Gallatin High School have spent two years pushing for a residential parking permit district after students overwhelmed their streets — blocking driveways, endangering kids, and creating near-misses at crosswalks. The board voted 4-0 to send the request to the City Commission, which makes the final call.
Integrated Water Resource Plan
The water plan advisory group has ranked its alternatives — beaver dam analogs and nature-based storage made tier one — and will hand the Commission a recommendation in November.
Riverside Lift Station and Force Main change order
Riverside-area property owners are now on the hook for their share of $1.66 million in wastewater improvements, paid in semiannual installments over up to 20 years at 3% interest.
Wetland and Watercourse Code Submittal Requirements Amendment
The city's new wetland rules require two outside-agency determinations that those agencies can no longer provide, which could leave development applications with no path to approval. Staff propose removing those two requirements while keeping local protections intact. The change heads to the Community Development Board and City Commission.
Community Housing Work Session
The city will host a housing work session on August 4 to lay out a holistic picture of Bozeman's housing work — city programs, the Regional Housing Coalition, and partners like HRDC, Family Promise, and Haven doing emergency and transitional housing.
Cancellation of December 21 meeting
The board's December 21 meeting had nothing on the docket and often conflicts with holiday plans, so it was canceled 7-0. Regular meetings continue on the first and third Mondays.