Appleton Common Council District 6 Update for August 20, 2025

Greetings District 6 Neighbors,

Summer is winding down, at least by the school calendars. Mead Pool closed last Friday, and Erb Pool will close after this Sunday. However, we still have a couple more weeks of Thursday concerts at Jones Park, the Light the Night Market this Friday evening downtown – sports-themed this month, with the Packer Band and mascots from the Timber Rattlers and other local teams, and the Downtown Farm Market carries on through early October. Baseball season is still in full swing – although the Brewers’ amazing win streak was broken, 
I think we can expect to be watching October baseball with the Crew.
We had a full week of council committee meetings last week, so there is a fairly lengthy agenda for tonight’s council meeting, although I expect that only a couple of items will be separated for individual discussion and votes.
One of those items is the reconstruction of Oklahoma St. between Richmond and Mason St. A number of people spoke at the design hearing and then again when the design was up for a vote in the Municipal Services Committee meeting last Monday. We were also presented with a petition signed by almost 50 residents asking that the street not be narrowed from 32 to 26 feet, despite the fact that 13 trees would have to be removed in addition to the 41 that would be removed with the 26-feet design (32 due to poor condition, 8 due to size and proximity to sidewalks, driveways or the street and 1 ash tree). The reconstruction design was developed within the Complete Streets policy that the council approved last year, which prioritizes safety by incorporating traffic calming features, including narrower streets, in residential areas. While many people spoke about the trees and the character of the street/neighborhood, the petition signers’ primary concern was the width of the street and restricting parking to one side. After much discussion at the committee meeting, where we learned that there was not really a feasible third option – the street could not be narrowed enough to save the 13 trees and keep parking on both sides while still remaining wide enough for emergency vehicles. Alder Meltzer introduced an amendment to redesign the reconstruction to keep the street at 32 feet in width. That amendment passed, but the succeeding vote on the amended design failed 2-3, so what goes to the full council is a recommendation to deny the reconstruction design – Alder Schultz voted for the amendment, but against the amended design proposal.
As I have written and stated before, I can appreciate the feelings of the neighborhood, though I will note that we also received several e-mails in support of the new design, noting the number of vehicles who travel at excessive speeds on Oklahoma St. However, I believe that we should adhere to the Complete Streets policy – developed by our team of professional design and traffic engineers and based on comprehensive research. We also have to look at the cost – reconstructing the street at its original width has an estimated cost of $159,000 more than the width in the proposed design. Since homeowners are no longer assessed for the cost of street reconstruction, ALL city taxpayers would be footing the bill for the increased cost.
I hope my colleagues will vote to approve the original proposed design so that we can proceed with this very much needed reconstruction.
While I am not an engineer, I have read a number of articles about the benefits of traffic calming features, including narrower lanes, in reducing the number of collisions and increasing pedestrian safety. The study by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health cited in this article looked at more than 1,100 streets in seven cities in the U.S.
The other agenda items were approved without much discussion by their respective committees, so I am not sure which, if any, might be voted on separately.
If you haven’t completed the survey about parking in Appleton, it is still available:
Also –
The draft of the new comprehensive plan for the City of Appleton has been completed and the community is invited to an open house to hear about the draft plan for Appleton’s future. There are two sessions on August 28 at 4:00 and 5:00 p.m. at the new Mary Beth Neinhaus Activity Center, 3000 E. College Ave., Suite B. Each session will start with a brief presentation, followed by interactive stations where you can learn more about:
  • Housing
  • Transportation
  • Land use
  • And more
You can provide input and feedback to shape the final plan. No registration is required – just come at the time which works for you.
Have a great week!


Denise

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