The Urban Parks and Forestry Board heard a detailed presentation on the Bozeman Creek Vision Plan at its September 24 meeting, a comprehensive strategy to address flooding while creating public amenities along the creek corridor.
Assistant City Manager John Henderson unveiled the plan, developed in partnership with the community group See Bozeman Creek. The project aims to increase the creek's flood-carrying capacity from its current 200 cubic feet per second to 1,250 CFS—enough to handle a rain-on-snow event that modeling suggests could result in up to $1 billion in property damage if unaddressed. Henderson noted the city has known about flood risk "as long as the city has existed" but has taken little action until now.
The plan proposes three major park development projects. At City Hall, staff would remove the existing parking lot, daylight a section of creek, and create a naturalized urban park. Along Rouse Street between Main and Olive, the concept calls for abandoning part of the street and moving the creek into public right-of-way to create what Henderson described as "an incredible space" for public interaction with the creek. At Bogert Park—a 20 to 30-year project—the plan would relocate the pavilion and concentrate active recreation on the eastern side, opening the western side for creek restoration and passive recreation.
Central to the flood mitigation strategy is rerouting water through Mill Ditch, which would be expanded to carry 750 CFS, while Bozeman Creek improvements would handle 500 CFS. Notably, the plan avoids requiring work on three downtown buildings that contain creek tunnels, instead routing floodwater around them—a solution Henderson called creative but born of necessity, given the engineering challenges and the city's limited history with eminent domain.
Policy and Implementation
Henderson outlined numerous policy recommendations including heritage tree programs, revised setback requirements for riparian areas, cash-in-lieu parkland funding reforms, and expanded public access provisions. He emphasized that all proposed projects sit on public land; no private property acquisition is planned.
Board members raised questions about financing, downstream impacts on businesses, and the phasing timeline. Henderson indicated the city has allocated $150,000 in seed funding for fiscal year 2027 to develop a 10-year implementation plan, with significant construction funding likely to come from state and federal grants. See Bozeman Creek is exploring nonprofit status to help raise additional funds and pursue grant opportunities.
Urban Forest Management Plan Work Session
The board then reviewed the Urban Forest Management Plan, now in Phase 3 of its development. Parks Director Mitch Overton reported that the consultant team has integrated themes from four public engagement sessions and internal staff input. Key revisions include more detailed staffing and equipment cost analyses to support budget requests, expanded heritage tree program guidance drawing from other municipalities, and stronger language protecting mature trees—particularly private trees in development contexts.
Overton said the consultant team is making the 100-plus page document more readable by adding key outcomes summaries to each section and moving critical language from appendices into the main text. The consultants are also exploring municipal examples from outside Montana to show how other communities protect trees during development, though Overton acknowledged some tools used elsewhere may not be available under Montana law.
Board member Matthew Kortan asked whether the plan would include an urban ecologist position, which appeared frequently in public comments. Overton said there is merit in such a role to review developments and add capacity during the permitting process, though the exact position title remains to be determined.
Parking board approvals are targeted for February 25, 2026, with the final draft due to the City Commission by November 12. The consultants are incorporating all public comment received; Overton said the team has read every submission and found none to be "out of left field."
Administrative Updates
Staff announced the community grant program will receive $210,000 for fiscal year 2027, with applications opening in mid-October and staff Q&A scheduled for November 12. The board will review the program's voting structure at the October meeting to allow new members input on the evaluation process.
The board also learned that wayfinding signage has been finalized and installation will begin this fall. The board will need to reschedule November and December meetings, as they currently fall on Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve, respectively.
Minutes from the August 27 meeting passed 3-0, with board members Paige Lisowski and Joe Cartwright abstaining.