Local Bozeman builders have tried to come up with viable solutions to the affordable housing scenario in Bozeman. Although more building permits have been issued in the last few years, many of these homes are aiming at prices above $300,000 (read some stats on 2014 single family residence homes here). As the Gallatin County has seen high economic prosperity, home prices have gone up as local buyers find themselves able to buy more expensive homes. However, several local builders have tried to come up with designs that would be both affordable and useful to future buyers.One design has called for a 2 story economy home. The 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom home would be 1,336 square feet and would come with a garage. The home design would sell on average for around $220,000.Another design would bui... 03/19/2015

 Home inventories have fallen in early 2015 as markets have struggled to find a balance between homes for sale and qualified buyers. Home inventory fell in January by 6.7% month over month and 8.7% year over year. Although obvious on the surface, the major problem causing a lack of homes for sale is that sellers have yet to put their homes up for sale. Many home owners have watched their markets increase, with the expectation that their home will sell higher the longer they wait. In many cases this will be true. However, in markets like Bozeman, Montana, where there are many willing and able buyers waiting for the right home to come onto the market, a seller who puts up a home in a desirable neighborhood may actually receive multiple offers, allowing them to choose the highest bidder. I... 03/18/2015

The Bozeman School District will be adding 170 more students next year, highlighting Bozeman and the surrounding area’s continued growth. Last year, Bozeman schools had their highest enrollment ever and it looks like the record won’t make it through the calendar year.In addition to the 170 new students, administrators will hire 11 more teachers to better educate the additional students. In order to make those hires, the 2015 legislature will need to pass the public schools bill in April. Luckily, the bill dealing with inflation costs has already passed.Elementary and middle schools will increase by 167 students next year. That is a 3.8% increase from the 2014 to 2015 school year when 4,321 students were enrolled in elementary and middle schools. The high school only added 3 new students... 03/11/2015

On Tuesday, the City of Bozeman grappled with employing one of the more interesting real estate practices – eminent domain. Eminent domain is when a government body forcibly purchases private land from an individual for the overall benefit of the public. Eminent domain can be a very hot topic because it draws people’s basic political philosophies on the government’s role towards its people into a real estate conversation—two things I think most of us would like to keep at a comfortable distance from each other.In this specific case, a property owner nearby the land in question wanted to develop his own land. The Bridger Creek HOA did not grant him an easement that would have allowed him to connect the development to city water and sewer lines and building emergency roads. The HOA said i... 03/05/2015

The Bozeman Public Library looked to expand its services by going mobile. In our modern world, going mobile usually means a new app or mobile website—but not this time. No, the library is actually going mobile by creating a vehicle to take books to local Bozeman residents. The focus of the new mobile library?—to continue improving the quality of life for all local Bozemanites.Helena, Billings and Missoula all have some form of mobile library so its great to see Bozeman hop on board. As Bozeman has expanded westward and the Gallatin County has seen a sharp rise in its population, the library has continued to try to make books available to all local residents, even as that number has grown. Belgrade’s Library, who just won an award for top small public library, has also adapted with the g... 02/27/2015

The 78 year old Willson Auditorium will have some new swagger starting today. One of Bozeman’s biggest performance spaces, the auditorium had been out of commission while a 3.5 million dollar renovation that tackled everything from improved acoustics to a higher ceiling took place over the last 8 to 9 months.Crews started working on the project in May and are set to finish today, assuming all goes to plan. Once the auditorium has gone through the necessary safety checks, there will be a performance in it on Friday.Bozeman, which was just recently honored for being the 6th most artistically and culturally vibrant small city in the United States, has not been afraid to put the money where its mouth is, so to speak, in regards to local art. 2.5 million dollars of the total 3.5 million came... 02/26/2015

 According to the Department of Community Development’s Annual Report, Bozeman has seen a huge spike in building permits over the past two years.639 single-family resident permits were filed in Bozeman in the last two years. That number is more than 2008 to 2011 combined. 40 duplex permits were filed in 2014. 44 were filed from 2009 to 2013. 27 triplex permits were filed in 2014. 18 were filed from 2008 to 2013.The report has shown most of the growth on the western end of town but growth is also present to the south as well. Bozeman Deaconess Hospital, among their other construction projects, may soon be developing the open space acreage around them. Preliminary plans include 300 homes with park and wetland additions.When seeing numbers like this, its hard to say Bozeman is not doing en... 02/25/2015

A 54 million dollar bill to cover the costs of inflation for Montana public schools passed through the legislature this past week. The bill keeps the funding for Montana public schools at the same level as previous years, by adjusting for inflation. The state will increase education funds by 2.3% and 1.8% over the next two years.By passing the bill, the legislature has relieved many school officials from the stress of budgeting their next school year without knowing exactly how much funds they will receive.For Bozeman Public Schools specifically, school officials have worked hard to achieve additional funding through grants and other programs, including their recent 3.3 million dollar award to fund new mental health programs in schools and their 1.3 million grant to improve student perf... 02/24/2015

Two recent projects taking place in Bozeman have highlighted the city’s recent efforts to better address the health and safety of its residents.The Bozeman Police Foundation has spent nearly $6,000 to improve safety around Bozeman. One of the projects added flashing beacons to several crosswalks around Sacajawea Middle School and Whittier Elementary School. The new beacons should help drivers see and react to children crossing the street better than ever before.Crossing guards have always helped children cross the road during times of high traffic, like in the mornings and after school. However, during off hours and  the times in between classes, those crosswalks do not have guards on patrol. Now, with flashing lights, the kids can cross the street safer and cars will be well aware when... 02/20/2015

Two new downtown hotels are still right on track to open this summer in Bozeman. The Element Hotel by Westin will be moving into 25 East Mendenhall and the Lark Motel will be moving into 122 West Main. The Element Hotel is scheduled to open by the end of June. The Lark Motel plans on accepting reservations starting in April.Between the two hotels, they will add 142 additional rooms to the downtown area. These added rooms may find themselves needed quickly as Bozeman’s tourist reputation continues to expand onto the national horizon. Bozeman has built new hotels, new apartment complexes and new subdivisions for the increasing population of out of town visitors, whether permanent or not.In addition, the Etha Hotel will be renovating and moving into the armory, but they will not open until... 02/18/2015

In a report released by a local research group, Prospera Business Network, Bozeman is barely above the average cost of living of the national average in 2014. According to Prospera Business Network, Bozeman scored a 100.8 index cost of living score—or in other words, they were 0.8% above the average. The data was drawn from an unweighted average from the first three quarters of 2014 from 281 participating towns and cities. The report took data from six categories—housing, utilities, grocery items, transportation, health care and miscellaneous goods and services. The report also broke down the cost of living by each category—something both home buyers and real estate agents may find more useful. Housing: Bozeman scored an index score of 113.2, meaning houses cost 13.2% higher than the n... 02/16/2015

  As Bozeman City Commisioners have discussed their priorities for the 2015 year, infrastructural improvements to the city has been high on the list in light of the city’s and surrounding area's growth. Bozeman has looked into upgrading their storm water utility system and enacted a few small changes already. In addition, the city has turned its focus on city street maintenance due to higher traffic and delayed projects. Both improvements will come with a significant cost, but the cost will prove necessary so long as new residents continue to buy and add new homes to the greater Bozeman area. Late January, the city placed new separation technology at the City Shops Complex to remove trash and debris from storm water before its runoff flows into the Bozeman Creek. The City will also loo... 02/13/2015

Congratulations once again to Bozeman, Montana! It seems like somehow, some way, Bozeman manages to get mentioned in the lists of top towns in the US every month! After National Geographic’s rating of Bozeman as a top 25 ski town, it seemed unlikely it could do any better. Well, yours truly thought wrong, as once again, Bozeman made another list. This time, Livability.com honored Bozeman as the 11th Best Place to Live in the United States. More than 2,000 cities with populations from 20,000 to 350,000 were ranked. The 2,000 towns were considered in the top 5% of United States communities. Doing a quick bit of math that puts Bozeman in the top 0.55% of the top 5% of towns in the United States. Very, very impressive. Livability called their list a result of “its editors criss-crossing th... 02/11/2015

The Streamline Bus System had its 2 millionth rider last week—a noteworthy benchmark for the Gallatin Valley public transportation system. The busses have served its greater Bozeman area residents  for eight years and by breaking the 2 million rider mark has confirmed the Gallatin’s increased use and need of the bus system. Over the first 5 years, Streamline reached the million rider mark. However, it only took 3 years and 3 months to serve the second million. Not only does this show the growth of the Gallatin Valley in general, but it also shows the increasing popularity of the valley’s bus system. Last year, Streamline served 330,000 riders. Streamline busses help Bozeman become more than just a “car only” town. The city has focused on keeping itself affordable for all types of peopl... 02/09/2015

Looks like Bozeman is at it again, breaking into national rankings list for the third time in 2 months. Bozeman is now considered one of the best mid-sized art towns in the US—thanks to a new Art Vibrancy Report released by the National Center for Arts Research. Bozeman had already been honored as a top 25 ski town in the world and was also honored as one of the nations most livable towns in the United States. This national competition took the to 20 medium and small towns in America and ranked them based on their art, art culture, and art availability. The report added a variety of factors, but took a very scientific approach to such an unscientific diversion. The report based their rankings on numbers: the number of independent artists in the area, the number of art and culture emplo... 02/03/2015

The City of Bozeman has approved a plan to lay a fiber-optic cable network throughout the city to improve high-speed Internet availability, cost and quality. City commissioners made a few changes to the earlier plan advocates had submitted in late December. The main change will not put the city in direct control and ownership of the cable network, but will shift the responsibility to a new non-profit that will manage and oversee the cable project. The change will keep the city from becoming the “internet service provider.” Now, the non-profit will lease conduit from the city, but own the fiber optic cable inside the conduit. It is assumed that they would then lease to private companies who can benefit from leasing cable, rather than dig their own at a higher upfront cost. Although not ... 01/27/2015

  Sacajawea Middle School may see some expansions in 2016, thanks to a rising enrollment in Bozeman Public Schools. The middle school has 40 classrooms that can hold up to 750 students. If eventually approved, the middle school will join Petra Academy (private) on the list of upcoming school expansions in Bozeman, showing the continued growth of the area. As of now, enrollment has not hit 750 students, but many of the other rooms are currently used for other purposes than a traditional classroom. Physical Education classes have taken a few of these open classrooms with aerobic equipment, weights and other resources. After looking at demand and enrollment in Bozeman Elementary schools, many officials believe the school will not be able to keep up within the next few years. School offici... 01/14/2015

Bozeman, Montana has fast become a winter sports haven for the nation and even the world. Within the last two months, Bozeman has seen major steps forward in both its Alpine and Nordic ski reputation. Bozeman was honored by National Geographic as one of the top 25 best ski towns in the world. That’s right, not the nation, but the world. Bozeman shared the honor with towns such as Whistler, Canada; Chamonix France; Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy; Aspen, Colorado; and Zermatt, Switzerland. According to National Geographic, Bozeman stood out as the adventure capital of the Northern Rockies. The magazine enjoyed the working town feel of Bozeman, as oppose to other ski resort towns. But Bozeman still offers the best of both worlds, with its two very different ski areas. Bridger Bowl, the non-prof... 01/09/2015

This month, we will highlight townhome and condo sales through November in Bozeman. Here are a few stats for all Bozeman condos and townhomes: Unit sales increased from 2013 to 2014 by 16.98%. (371 sold in 2013, 434 sold in 2014) Dollar volume increased from 2013 to 2014 by 34.23% ($68,926,687 in 2013, $92,523,141 in 2014) Average sales price also rose from 2013 to 2014 by 14.75% ($185,786 in 2013, $213,187 in 2014) Summary –Bozeman has seen increases in townhomes and condos across the board. With more unit sales going at higher prices, Bozeman’s condo and townhome market is healthy and growing. 01/07/2015

The Montana Land Board gave the preliminary go ahead for land swap between the state and county for the Logan Landfill. The agreement should benefit both parties and avoid bureaucratic money exchanges in the future. Currently, the Logan Landfill is owned by the state. The county actually has to lease the land and at a pretty good sum. Each year, the county pays more than $26,000 in yearly rent for the 48-acre landfill. The waste district also pays $47,000 a year to the state’s Department of Environmental Quality for its permit. Under the agreement with the state, the rent on the landfill was also designed to increase by 3% each year.  Although the Logan Landfill does not operate on tax dollars but a $27 per ton tipping fee, it still came time to get ownership into county hands. Of cour... 01/06/2015