College Avenue road diet, more no mow May and an update on shared revenue

 Hello Neighbors!

It should be a fairly quiet committee week this week. Several meetings have been canceled and the most talked-about items will likely be at the Municipal Services and Parks and Rec committees this week. 

Municipal Services Committee

Monday 4:30 p.m. - The main item for this week are the bids for restriping College Avenue as part of the "shrinking" of the road to three lanes to include left-turn lanes as well as parking and bike lanes the length of downtown. 

Post-Crescent photo of College Avenue

We don't have any information on the cost of the bids until the meeting Monday afternoon, but if it comes in at or under the proposed budget that has already been approved by the council, I suspect this will be recommended for approval by the committee.

The committee will also get a chance to discuss the parking utility annual report and a look at the financial picture for the utility to this point of the year. 

Parks, Recreation and Facilities Management Committee

6:30 p.m. Monday - This committee will take up a resolution introduced a few weeks ago, to make Ellen Kort Peace Park a No Mow May park. I wrote two week ago how this was introduced without being discussed with staff which is disappointing. I did discuss this resolution with staff who told me they have concerns about not having the proper equipment to mow the park if the grass gets too long. This resolution is also problematic because the city doesn't own all the land the park is on. Since it's introduction, proponents of the park have expressed some concerns about the resolution as well. 

Ellen Kort Peace Park rendering

There is plenty of evidence that shows No Mow May is more about feeling good than actually doing good when it comes to helping bees and other pollinators. Here are just a couple of examples among many that show what I shared numerous times with my colleagues, which is gardens are better than long grass. 

Board of Health 

Wednesday 7 a.m. - Of note for this committee is a discussion on creating a public health coalition around the Fox Cities. I am interested to see where this goes, because I have in the past spoken to the mayor about combining our health department with Outagamie County which serves the majority of the city. It will be interesting to see if this accomplishes the same goal I was looking for, which is reducing duplication of services and finding efficiencies for tax payers. 

City Plan Commission

Wednesday 3:30 p.m. - The Plan Commission will look to once again recommend approval of a special use permit for a car wash on East Calumet Street. The same developers were granted a special use permit in 2020, but did not move forward with the plan at that time. The permit expired, but the developers are back to try again.

Safety & Licensing Committee

Wednesday 5:30 p.m. - The committee will take up a slate of license approvals, but will also hold a public hearing for the owners of OB's Brau Haus. The bar was cited for allowing semi-nude/nude entertainers at the bar at the end of December 2022. Following the conviction for the offense, the owners are required to appear and explain to the committee how it will ensure this violation does not occur again. 

Community & Economic Development Committee

Wednesday 6:30 p.m. - The CEDC will be asked to recommend approval of an amended development agreement with the owners of Rise Apartments LLC. The developers are making slight modifications to their plans for multi-family and townhome housing on the project site north of Franklin St. on the north side of downtown. There is no change to the assessed value of the project which remains at $3.9 million when completed and will provide low-income housing in the majority of the units. 

Shared Revenue Update

This is something most people aren't following or are very familiar with, but as it pertains to the state budget and local municipal budgets, the legislature and the governor's office are, or were discussing an increase in the amount of funding that comes to local municipalities. 

The legislature has a bill drafted that Governor Evers has recently threatened to veto. This is disappointing because he and local leaders from across the state have been advocating for an increase for this. Because everything at the state level is political, here's what is happening. Governor Evers and even some other democrats, including Rep. Lee Snodgrass who represents most of Appleton, are upset the republican-led proposal does not give municipalities as much as the Governor asked for and that it also includes some requirements they don't like. In my opinion, something is better than nothing and I urged both sides to work together on a solution. 

I also spoke to FOX-11 News about this important issue and what's at stake for us as taxpayers in all of this. You can check that story out here if you want to learn more about the issue. 

Get In Touch

I am always available to answer questions at district15@appleton.org or (920) 419-1360. As always, agendas can be found on the agenda and meetings page of the city website. Meetings can be viewed live on the website or watched at a later date. Meetings are also open for anyone to attend in person and all meetings take place in the Common Council chambers on the 6th floor of City Hall, unless otherwise noted. 

Also connect with me on social media on Facebook and Twitter.