Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for the Week of March 25, 2024

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Ah, Mother Nature! We only THOUGHT it was spring.

While you think about what weather is coming next, I’d like to encourage you to take part in Appleton’s Community Concerns Survey. This particular survey asks us to respond to questions about health. Our Health Department is required by the state to conduct a community health assessment every few years to evaluate the health status and needs of our community. The survey and information about it can be found here:

https://www.appleton.org/residents/health/appletons-community-concerns-survey

In-person absentee voting continues through Friday at noon at the City Clerk’s office on the 6^th floor of City Hall. Election Day is April 2, when District 6 votes at the Scheig Center in Appleton Memorial Park. As noted in prior updates, the only contested elections are for those of you in Outagamie County Board Supervisory Districts 18 and 20. I shared my thoughts on the two constitutional amendment questions on the ballot earlier: https://appleton6.blogspot.com/2024/03/thoughts-on-spring-election-ballot.html

The biggest news from last week’s Common Council meeting is, of course, the council’s approval of the development agreement with USV 222, LLC (the development company for U.S. Venture) for improvements to the 222 Building downtown. The vote was 14-1, with Alder Doran voting nay. I wrote last week about the details of the development agreement, which I believe is favorable to the City of Appleton. Development of the “small lots” shown on the map is part of the College North Neighborhood Plan to bring more housing and businesses into this neighborhood. If USV does not develop or sell these lots for development, the city has the right to them, likely via the Appleton Redevelopment Authority. The 650 parking passes in the Green Ramp would bring close to $300,000 per year to the parking utility.

Contrary to some of the comments on social media recently, the city never invested any funds into the development of the bluff sites. A developer had purchased the church and banquet facilities which were sold to USV in 2019. Street improvements in that area were mostly the result of the 2016 Downtown Mobility Study which brought together stakeholders from a number of diverse groups. I noted last week that I don’t love the fact that USV still owns almost all the parcels on the bluff site, but I cannot imagine that a company that is committed to making a profit would just sit on these valuable properties forever. I anticipate that there will be development there in the future.

The other items separated from the balance of the agenda individual votes and discussion were the street occupancy permit for a window planter box and the contract for native landscape management around the stormwater ponds.

After the Municipal Services Committee approved the street occupancy permit for the planter at RYE, there were some concerns raised by the public that the installation did not comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), particularly in that it was an obstruction within a certain distance above the sidewalk that a vision impaired person using a cane would not be aware of. The item was passed after being amended to state that the window box would be modified to meet ADA requirements.

Alder Del Toro expressed his concern that the contractor chosen to maintain the stormwater and channel landscaping uses glyphosates (Round-Up), which has been the subject of a number of lawsuits citing health risks. I share those concerns and no longer use this product at my home, but current guidance from the EPA is that the product is safe for humans when used according to label directions. I hope that we are able to move away from these chemicals and that the Advisory Panel on Sustainability and Climate Resilience would study them further,  but I was satisfied that the contractor would comply with the recommendations and voted to approve the contract, which passed 11-4.

We also took up the proposed yard waste site hours under a request for reconsideration from alders who we unable to attend the last Common Council meeting. This time the change was approved 14-1. New hours will be the proposed hours shown:

This week’s committee agendas include:

Municipal Services Committee – Monday, March 25, 4:30 p.m.

The proposed changes to the hours that food trucks will be allowed to operate downtown is back on the agenda. I don’t see any changes to the proposal since it was introduced in February, so I plan to attend the meeting to hear the discussion. I would not vote for this as it was submitted.

The committee will also be voting on the Complete Streets documents, which include the policy, pedestrian crossing improvements policy, priority project locations and the full complete streets design guide. I think that the policies put forth in these documents will improve safety on our streets, especially for pedestrians, and I am happy that we voted to undertake the project.

The committee will also be voting to approve the roadway design for a new subdivision bounded roughly by Midway and Plank Road and to accept grant funding from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to replace signal equipment at controlled intersections. (also on the Finance Committee agenda).

Finance Committee – Monday, March 25, 5:30 p.m.

We will be voting on a number of contracts for budgeted projects:

• Unit J-24 Mini Storm Sewer Construction (M&E Construction - $250,000)
• Unit C-6 Sidewalk Sawcutting (ASTI Sawing, Inc. - $30,000)
• Wastewater Treatment Plant 2024 Light Fixture Replacement (Werner Electric Supply Co. - $81,467.14)
• Wastewater Treatment Plant 2024 Roof Replacement Project (Crafts, Inc. - $1,174,198.00 with contingency)
• Fire Station #1 and #6 HVAC Upgrades Project (AMA Heating and Air Conditioning, Inc. - $504,406.00) This project includes a $50,000.00 budget transfer from the Telulah Park Pavilion Renovation Project which came in under budget.

There will also be a vote on the grant for traffic signals discussed in the Municipal Services Committee agenda. The full signal upgrade project will involve this grant, $360,000.00 in ARPA funds and $22,075.00 in 2023 budget carryover funds. This project involves replacing all of the city’s traffic signals and controllers in 2024.

The traffic signal ARPA funding is part of a group of MOUs (Memorandum of Understanding) outlining internal uses of ARPA funding.

There will be a vote on the 2023-2024 budget carryover. This is generally for projects budgeted in 2023 but being completed in 2024 or later.

We will also vote on a number of budget amendments for 2023 and 2024 involving grants, including $279,800.00 from Goodwill Industries for resurfacing the Miracle League field in Memorial Park.

Fox Cities Transit Commission – Tuesday, March 26, 2:50 p.m.

In addition to approving the payments from February, the commission will vote on a change order to increase the amount of the contract for furniture and fixtures in the Whitman Avenue facility to include the office space for the Mobility Manager, Travel Trainer and future space for ADA dispatch. ($45,652.43).

They will also be voting on a contract for paratransit service scheduling and dispatch software. (Ecolane USA, Inc. - $27,520.00)

Utilities Committee – Tuesday, March 26, 4:30 p.m.

The committee will vote on contracts for water quality monitoring equipment (Hach Company - $41,939.44) and replacement wastewater screening equipment (Vulcan Industries, Inc. $28,232.00)

City Plan Commission – Wednesday, March 27, 3:30 p.m.

The commission has one public hearing and associated action item – the rezoning of property at E. Midway Road south of the Plank Road roundabout from single family R-1 to multi-family R-3 for future development.

The commission will also be reviewing as an information item the upcoming update to Appleton’s Comprehensive Plan.

Safety and Licensing Committee – Wednesday, March 27, 5:30 p.m.

The committee will be giving the owners of Pillow Talk-N-Wine (2310 W. College Avenue) the opportunity to address the assessment of demerit points against their alcohol license for being open after hours and give their plan for addressing the problem.

They will also be reviewing the recommendation for denial of bartender licenses to two applicants with a number of convictions.

The Parks and Recreation, Human Resources and Information Technology and Community and Economic Development committees will not be meeting this week.

While the Badgers’ NCAA tournament performance didn’t live up to their Big 10 tournament run, we still have Marquette to root for after a wild finish yesterday. I don’t know about everyone else, but my bracket is pretty much done, so I’m just watching to see the good games.

Have a great week!

Denise