City of Bozeman Hosts WARD Q&A

City educates voters on housing, water through communications campaign

The City of Bozeman will host a Q&A event for the Water Adequacy for Residential Development (WARD) special interest group initiative at HRDC’s Market Place (206 E Griffin Drive) on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. This is not a City initiative. The event is open to all members of the public who are looking for facts on how this initiative could impact the City’s current water and housing programs.

“The City is uniquely positioned to provide this critical information to the community, which is why we launched this communications campaign around WARD and are hosting this event,” City Manager Chuck Winn stated. “There is no other organization that works as closely on these issues, has the real data at its fingertips, and is not advocating for residents to vote a certain way. Our goal instead is to educate the public on the impacts of the initiative so that voters can make an informed decision.”

The City will start the event with a quick presentation to get attendees up to speed on the citizen-initiated ballot issue before opening it up to questions.

The Water Adequacy for Residential Development (WARD) is a local ballot initiative that was created by a group of citizens, not the City of Bozeman. The ballot issue seeks to change the City’s municipal code to require developers of three or more residential units to pay cash-in-lieu of water rights to the city only if the development designates 33% or more of the units as affordable.

If the developer does not include 33% affordable units, they are responsible for securing water rights, which, because of state water rights processes, could take five to eight years. The WARD initiative also removes the ability for developers to meet the water demand of their development through off-site water efficiency or conservation measures. 

City officials have provided facts on water and housing through their communications campaign to better inform residents on these issues. For example, when new housing is proposed, the City ensures there is enough water to support it. In a normal water year, we have used 43% of our available supply, and in a drought year, that number is 60%.

Due to the high costs of land, labor, materials, and lending, housing is expensive to build, and only about 5% of units can be set at affordable rates. Requiring numbers beyond that may stop the development from occurring, which could reduce housing supply, increase housing prices, and increase sprawl.

“We urge our residents to understand the full picture of what WARD could do,” said Winn. “The city has supported and worked on using water efficiently and reducing housing costs for years, and this initiative could impact those efforts.”

Those interested in learning more about water, housing, and WARD in Bozeman can visit engage.bozeman.net/ward.