News from the Knoff Group

What do you think?  Should people be able to build event centers in agricultural areas?  Seems that this is becoming more and more popular to do in our area…

By Troy Carter Chronicle Staff Writer

David Rall is planning to build a five-bedroom home and an 80-by-50-foot special events center to host weddings on his 136 acres of picturesque land near Middle Cottonwood Creek on the west slope of the Bridger Mountains. His kids have been convincing him to do it for three years. His son Forest lives on the place now in what was once a shed.Getting there from Bozeman means driving up Sypes Canyon Road, up and over the Summer Cutoff Road to turn east on the tail end of Saddle Mountain Road, an area zoned for residential and agricultural use. Rall would also build a 90-vehicle gravel parking lot.Looking southwest from the place offers gorgeous views of the Gallatin Valley set against the Tobacco Root Mountains. With the small lake and timber environment, Rall thinks if the Gallatin County Commission approves his conditional use permit, he could book 60 weddings per year.The only problem is his neighbors.

Tom and Rosemary Evans live 3,000 feet to the west in a spacious log home. When Rosemary read about Rall’s plans in the legal notices, she began to worry and organized the neighborhood.On Thursday, as part of the county planning department’s staff report, Rall’s neighbors submitted a petition to the County Commission opposing Rall’s permit application. Most of the 124 people who signed the petition live in the subdivision and will be negatively impacted by the traffic and noise, Rosemary said. They’ve sent in an additional 34 letters expressing concerns and opposition.“We all moved here for peace and quiet,” Tom said.

via Proposal for event center on Saddle Mountain Road meets resistance – Bozeman Daily Chronicle: County.