Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for April 15, 2025

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Happy Tax Day to all who celebrate (?)

Assuming we don’t all blow away before then (I literally had a wooden flagpole snap in half recently), I just wanted to give us all a heads up that the Ballard/I-41 interchange WILL be closing around the end of this month. We had initially heard that it might be delayed into May, but apparently all parties got their infrastructure moved.

Ballard Road Schedule:

   

OO/15 closings:

You can keep track of the progress and future closings on the I-41 Project Page.

Since we are well into roadwork season, a reminder that work has begun on N. Morrison St. For those of you who received parking stickers with your notification letter, we have confirmed that you are able to park in the south lot at Erb Park if that is more convenient for you. Just make sure to have the sticker on your vehicle if you park there overnight.

This is a busy week for the Common Council as we start our new year. Tonight at 5:00 inside Fox Commons (probably an excellent choice since last year’s almost blew the City Band away), the newly elected and re-elected alders from the even districts will be sworn in. The public is invited.

After the swearing-in ceremony, we will have an information organizational meeting in council chambers at 6:00. This meeting is a preview of the formal organizational meeting that will be held on Wednesday at 6:00 before the regular 7:00 council meeting. At the informal meeting, we will review our council rules, the council code of conduct and the department and committee functions, which we will vote on at the formal meeting. I have not seen any council rule changes submitted thus far, and there has been one resolution submitted that would strip an alder of their committee assignments after three unexcused absences from a committee meeting. All that is required for an absence to be excused is notification of the committee chair in advance.

At the formal organizational meeting, we will vote on the council rules, recommit to the code of conduct, receive our committee assignments for the year and vote on the Council President, Vice President and the council representative to the City Plan Commission.

The regular council meeting will start with several proclamations:  

• Arbor Day
• Autism Acceptance Month
• Earth Day
• Golden Rule Day
• Hemophilia Awareness Day
• Public Health Week

We will vote on reappointments to the Fox Cities Area Room Tax Commission and then move to regular council business.

I don’t expect that many items will be separated for individual consideration and votes. The Municipal Services Committee voted on an amended version of the item designating two spaces in front of the new Trout/Lawrence University building as a loading zone. The amendment would allow for a six-month trial period, starting on the opening date of the building. We requested that the Traffic Division would track available parking as they did for a single day in March. On that day, Thursday, March 27, there was always at least one available street parking spot within a block of the businesses adjacent to the new building, and often as many as eight or nine.

A couple of recommendation for denial of alcohol licenses/change of agent requests might be discussed – there were no representatives of either business at the Safety and Licensing Committee meeting last week, but they might appear at the Council meeting. Minutes are linked here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/View.ashx?M=M&ID=1281679&GUID=6B9F54CF-8627-4E9A-B66A-B297FC339A99

I did want to point out one item from the City Plan Commission meeting that I think really illustrates the way that communication between neighbors should work. We were taking up a request for a special use permit for a landscaping business on W. Weiland St., and some neighbors had concerns. They attended the meeting, and I talked with them before it started, expecting that they might speak during the public hearing. When they did not, I checked in after the meeting, and they told me that the business owner attending the meeting had spoken to them and answered their questions. Kudos to those neighbors for checking in and to the business owner for being available and responsive!

While I was writing this, I got an email from the City Traffic Engineer outlining some changes related to the Ballard/I-41 interchange closure. While only part of this area is in our district, the traffic will likely affect us. This is from Traffic:

• We will be changing the lane use designations for eastbound and westbound traffic on Florida at Meade. The lanes will be marked as follows:
• Left Lane:  Thru and left only
• Right Lane:  Right only
• We will be changing the RRFB crossing across Meade at Florida from a “Pedestrian Crossing” to a “School Crossing,” and posting the related/required 15mph school zone for Meade St traffic.
• The temporary traffic signal at the Richmond/Ridgeview intersection will be installed.
• We will be monitoring traffic and adjusting the timing of traffic signals in the area as needed to minimize congestion to the extent possible.

Traffic Engineer Lom notes that 22,000 cars per day traverse the Ballard interchange, so there will certainly be pain points as people adjust to new routes, but as the last bullet point notes, they’ll be monitoring and trying to adjust signals to make it as easy as possible. My non-professional advice is to plan ahead, leave a little early and give your fellow drivers some grace – they’re all in the same (backed-up) boat.

Have a great week!

Denise