The Community Development Board and Economic Vitality Board each reviewed major components of the Bozeman Creek Vision Plan during the week of October 5, 2026, a generational project designed to mitigate documented flooding risks while creating public gathering spaces and improving ecological function along the creek corridor.
Assistant City Manager John Henderson presented engineering analysis showing that current creek infrastructure can handle only 100 cubic feet per second, while a 100-plus-year flood event—accounting for rain-on-snow scenarios—would generate approximately 1,250 CFS. Potential flood damages in such an event could exceed $1 billion across residential, commercial, and public infrastructure. The proposed solution relies on diverting roughly 750 CFS through Mill Ditch and modifying the main creek channel between Olive and Lammi streets, improvements that Henderson said could achieve zero flooding up to 1,250 CFS if fully implemented. The plan represents roughly nine months of public engagement and is scheduled for City Commission consideration in December following a November 9 open house.
Three flagship projects anchor the proposal, all using publicly owned property. The first involves abandoning Rouse Avenue between Olive and Main to allow the creek to bifurcate through Soroptimist Park, creating a significant public space. The second would daylight creek water at City Hall, replacing the existing parking lot with a civic gathering space suitable for events. The third would expand previous work at Bogert Park by relocating the Anderson Pavilion and Fred Wilson Bandshell to free the western portion of the parcel for enhanced creek function. Community Development Board members raised concerns about implementation sequencing, setback standards for downtown development, FEMA funding mechanisms, and design details across these projects. The Economic Vitality Board focused on policy recommendations including tiered setback systems, enhanced landscaping codes, and water quality monitoring, while also questioning property acquisition strategies and governance structures for partnership with See Bozeman Creek, a grassroots organization that has pursued this work for approximately six years. Henderson indicated the city would pursue a formal memorandum of understanding with See Bozeman Creek and identified federal FEMA grants as the likely primary funding source, supplemented by philanthropy, Downtown Urban Renewal District funds, and enterprise bonds, while explicitly ruling out general-purpose tax dollars. Preliminary cost estimates have not yet been developed; the City Commission has approved $150,000 for further study in the current fiscal year, with implementation planning to begin in January 2027.