Appleton City Council Update: May 12, 2023

Board of Zoning Appeals – 7pm  A favorite committee/board of mine, as you know, meets to discuss and debate four variance requests for three properties in the city:

• A business would like the board to grant them two variances at 100 W Wisconsin Avenue (Christy’s Service at the corner of Wisconsin Avenue and Oneida Street).  They propose to use this lot as they have for their repair/towing business but also for auto sales.  Their auto sales plan would lead to them not following the setbacks and landscape buffering codes required by the city.  Since the property does not seem to have any unique characteristics as required for a zoning variance, I suspect that this self-imposed issue (the owner wanting to sell autos on this lot without being able to follow the setbacks/buffering requirements) will not convince board members to grant these variance requests.
• Rascal’s Bar and Grill on Wisconsin Avenue would like a variance for a code requiring maximum lot coverage of 75%.  Their proposal includes using pavers to cover some current grassy(ish) areas, leading to 91% of this lot being covered with impervious materials.  Since proper lot drainage and runoff is of importance in the city, this variance is unlikely to be granted even though the lot is a bit smaller than the minimum lot size in this zoning district.  Again, what the owner would like to do leads to a self-imposed issue… which is not a reason to grant a variance.
• An owner of a property on East Pauline Street is vehemently requesting a variance for a 7-foot-tall fence when a maximum 6-foot height is allowed by code.  The owner states that her neighbor is such a nuisance to her that the higher fence is required.  She’s stated that she’s taken out a restraining order on the neighbor since he “shoots gravel over the fence”… but that the 7-foot fence currently exists.  So… even granting this variance would not solve her issue with the neighbor.  While I suspect that board members will empathize with her plight with the neighbor, this property will not be granted a variance for the issue.  
  

Library Board – 4:30pm  Board members will be introduced to a new member (Peter Lee of Outagamie County) and then move on to discussion and potential approval of the April 2023 financials, trustee bylaws, and an appointment of three members to a board subcommittee (a “nominating committee”). In informational items, there will be a presentation of the latest architectural renderings of the revised proposed library remodel and some first quarter 2023 library statistics.

Before the meeting of the full council, the Tax Payment Appeal Board will meet at 6pm and the Finance Committee will hold a special meeting at 6:30pm.  The agendas for these two meetings are not yet posted but I am aware that there is at least one contract/payment item that needs Finance Committee approval before it is almost immediately thereafter taken up by the full council.
 
Appleton Common Council – 7pm  After three proclamations by the mayor and a reappointment request for a member of the Fox Cities Room Tax Commission, there will be an opportunity for comment in a public hearing regarding the potential rezoning of the newly annexed property at the southeast corner of North Ballard Road and Werner Road.  (Mentioned here.)  While it’s great to see new development proposed on Appleton’s north side, there should be some near future discussions regarding the additional traffic near Appleton North High School (on Ballard Road and on CTH JJ) that will likely be a result of said development and the proposed Appleton Area School District (AASD) new elementary school east of the high school.  There is no reason to oppose the rezoning item on this week’s agenda; but the traffic issue should be addressed separately.  I will be asking city staff about this outside of this week’s council meeting.This week’s meeting will be another “go/no-go” vote opportunity regarding the restriping of downtown College Avenue (as has been addressed many times in earlier blog posts, most recently here).  If you haven’t already, please let me know your thoughts on this project before we get to this week’s vote.  The bid up for acceptance came in below the city’s budget for the restriping portion of this project so I have no real reason to oppose the acceptance of this contract.  But I’m interested to know your thoughts on whether you think the project should proceed.

And once again, there will be discussion regarding the changing of the meeting start time for the Park and Recreation Committee from 6:30pm (on Mondays of Committee Meetings Week) to 6:15pm (on Mondays of Committee Meeting Weeks).  I mentioned my thoughts on this last week.  If you have any strong opinions on this — since committee meetings are where much of the public discussion and work of the council gets done! — please let me know.  I know it seems unimportant or trivial to most… but public input and your feedback on items taken up by the city council is of utmost importance to me.  So your opinions on when these committee meetings are held holds weight for me.

All other items on the agenda for the full council were hashed out last week in other committee meetings. I’d love for you to share with me any feedback on any of these items you might have.  I love hearing from you and appreciate everyone’s opinions!

And with that… I’m off to enjoy the rest of this Mother’s Day (despite the cloudy skies).  I wish you all the best… until we meet here for another blog post again next week…