The Municipal Services Committee met 02/22/2021.
The big news is that Tyler is one step closer to getting his second driveway and things aren’t looking so good for the Pollenablers who wanted to create a 7 day grace period before people needed to mow their lawns after No Mow May.
Two members of the public appeared to speak regarding the request by an Appleton homeowner to make a second curb cut to install a second driveway on his property. One of the homeowner’s neighbors opposed that curb cut which resulted in the city automatically recommending denial and the homeowner had to appeal it to the Municipal Services Committee.
Tyler, the homeowner seeking the curb cut, spoke on his own behalf. The proposed driveway is for a second garage that he would like to build. He had been communicating with city employees about the project and found the city employees to be very helpful. His original design for the garage was too big, so he made it smaller. There is a tree on the terrace that would need to be removed to make room for the curb cut, but it is an ash tree so the city forester had no issue with its removal because the city was going to want to take it down anyway.
Tyler stated that he’s building the garage because he competes in walleye tournaments professionally and fishes 9 months out of the year. Right now, his boat stays in storage, but he got married in September and when he and his wife bought a house they specifically wanted something with extra room so that they could store “the boy” at home and be able to work on it at home.
He also mentioned that one of his plans for the future is to start a program to take underprivileged families and kids out on guidetrips at no cost. He already has a few sponsors, but Covid has slowed the process down.
The garage is 20’x32′ and behind the garage is a 10’x10’ slab. He wondered if someone maybe mistook that slab on the diagram as a shed, but it’s just a slab for an access door to the garage.
He had discussed the possibility of building the second driveway off the first one but it was more difficult to stay within code that way. It would be a lot easier to just put a second driveway in going straight to the garage.
Mike, the neighbor who opposed the curb cut, then spoke. He and his wife live next door to Tyler and have been there for 20 years. They oppose the second driveway because no one else in the neighborhood has a second driveway, and they think allowing someone to have a second driveway would change the residential character of the neighborhood. He didn’t know if allowing this curb cut would lead to other homes having second driveways and more vehicles. He also thought the garage would look like a second home on the lot. He said he talked to Tyler before the meeting and suggested Tyler build a driveway extension and remodel his garage but Tyler told him that there were code issues building out on that side of his house.
Mike concluded by reiterating that no one else in the neighborhood has a second driveway and it would change the characteristics of the neighborhood.
Paula Vandehey, the Director of Public Works, confirmed that everything about the project was correct and to code. The city’s driveway opening policy talks about 5 conditions that need to be met for them to administratively issue the second driveway permit. One of those conditions was permission from the city forester. Normally if there’s a tree in the way, the city forester would recommend denial, but in this case it’s an ash tree so the forester is fine with it coming down. Everyone else they checked with was fine with this curb cut being made; however, one of the things they do based on the policy is to send letters to the 4 nearest neighboring properties (the two neighboring properties on either side). If any of those neighbors object, the city automatically denies the request, and that denial can then be appealed to the committee.
Alderperson Cory Otis wanted to clarify if Mike lived next door to Tyler. The answer was, yes
Alderperson Patty Coenen said that Tyler talked about not being able to add on to the side of the existing garage and it looked to her that there wouldn’t be enough setback space on that way. She wanted to confirm that that was the issue.
Tyler confirmed that she was correct. Not only would a new garage not fit, but with the current garage being built into the house he’d have to teach the house back to add onto it. A garage on the other side of the lot would be a lot easier.
Alderperson Coenen looked the property up on Google and noted that it looked like Tyler’s garage was somewhat in front of his house. In order to put a garage there it looked like he would end up blocking part of his house. She didn’t know if there were windows on that side of the house. Tyler confirmed there were.
Alderperson Coenen then asked Director Vandehey if she remembered what the premise of this policy was. if it’s legal to have an additional building on there, what was the thought process in putting the policy in place to get approval from both neighbors for the curb cut for an additional driveway?
Director Vandehey thought that what had happened was that the Common Council got feedback as second driveways were being added to residential neighborhoods. She thought some of those neighbors had concerns similar to Mike’s that these second driveways changed the look or feel of the residential neighborhood and some property owners felt like they purchased and invested in a neighborhood thinking that it would remain looking the same as when they purchased their homes. So that was why Council decided to get feedback from those abutting property owners. She mentioned that they do get around a dozen second curb cuts or so per year. Typically no one opposes it,
Alderperson Joe Prohaska wanted to clarify whether the committee could overturn the denial and approve the garage.
Per Director Vandehey, the policy says that administratively her department has to deny it, but the appeal is through the Municipal Services Committee and the Common Council which can overturn the denial. She also clarified that they are not approve whether Tyler can build a garage or not. They’re approving whether he can have a second driveway. [Honestly, it’s not clear to me that they were even voting on that. Rather, it seems like they were voting on whether or not he could cut the curb to access his second driveway from the street.]
Alerperson Coenen wanted to know if the other neighbors had been notified, and Director Vandehey confirmed that letters had been sent to 4 neighbors–two on either side–but they only heard back from one.
Alderperson Coenen made a motion to approve the driveway cut instead of denying it. Alderpersons Coenen, Firkus, Prohaska, and Woff voted yes. Alderperson Otis voted no.
Alderperson Firkus then stated that the committe voted to recommend approval of teh driveway curb cut. That recommendation will then to the the Common Council on 03/03/2021. If the Council approved it then Tyler will be able to build the second driveway. If it’s not approved then he won’t.
The next item was the contract for the 2021-2025 moveable bridge inspections. Per Director Vandehey, the city is required to do annual inspections on their moveable bridges. They received 3 quotes. All 3 of the firms are qualified to do the work, so they’re recommending to award it to the company with the lowest quote which is AECOM Technical Services, Inc.
The committee voted to approve 5-0.
They then took up the “request from Pollenablers-Fox Cities to designate the month of May, 2021 as No Mow May and to provide a 7 day grace period to not enforce the Weed Ordinance.”
Director Vandehey presented some information that alderperson Fenton had asked for. 2020 was a very dry spring, so there probably was not the amount of growth that would have happened in a normal year. She looked at the average complaints they received from 2014-2019 to provide a comparison to the complaints they received in 2020. Over those 5 years in the month of June they had 85 complaints on average. In 2020, they had 106. Of note was that 52 of those complaints came between June 1st and June 5th. Those 52 complaints were actually 23 percent of the complaints that they received through the entire year of 2020. The staff’s perspective was that they understand the reason behind No Mow May, but they also see the frustration of neighbors. The staff’s request is that the committee approve No Mow May but do not include the requested 7 day grace period and, instead, require the properties to be cut by May 31st.
Alderperson Nate Wolff asked her if she would be comfortable with a grace period that was less than 7 days.
Director Vandehey said he was starting to get into policy decisions. Her recommendation would be “No Mow May. Mow In June”.
Alderperson Prohaska: Looked at the calendar and said May 31st is on a Monday. He was perfectly okay with not having the 7 day grace period and expecting people to have their lawns mowed by Tuesday. He mentioned that he mowed his lawn last year, and it took him a couple passes but he got it down in an hour or so. He also mowed his neighbor’s lawn which took a little bit longer. He didn’t see a problem with people having their lawns mowed by the end of May.
Alderperson Otis agreed and pointed out that not only is May 31 a Monday, it’s also Memorial Day, so most people will have time over that weekend to clean up their yards. If people mow a little bit before the end of May he doesn’t think that will defeat the purpose of the program. He was okay with doing away with the 7 day grace period.
Alderperson Coenen wanted to know if this could be administratively changed or if they needed to make a motion to strike the 7 day grace period.
Per Attorney Behrens, the motion on the table includes a 7 day grace period, so they either needed to change that motion through an amendment or withdraw it and made a new motion with no grace period. Either way, it would take some kind of action from the committee.
Alderperson Coenen made a motion to strike the sentence giving the 7 day grace period.
Alderperson Firkus agreed with the removal of the grace period. He said that dandelions take between 9 and 14 days to go to seed. 5 weeks of someone letting their lawn grow wild is basically just letting their dandelions blow seeds into their neighbor’s yards, some of whom may not be participating and not really enjoying it. He thought extending No Mow May longer would probably ratchet up the conflicts surrounding No Mow May. He knew some people really enjoy being able to do it and help the bees, but some people really enjoy having their lawns look very neat and manicured. He thought trying to not make this issue more contentious for neighborhoods would definitely be a better step in the right direction.
Alderperson Coenen agreed with his statement and said it was about finding a middle ground and keeping everybody happy. In this case she thought that they were able to do that. She still preaches constantly about planting flowers that will feed bees from the time there’s snow on the ground until there’s snow on the ground. She took pictures of her yard last year to prove that fact. You feed them all summer instead of just looking at what they can do in May. There are a lot of flowers in bloom in May already. She thought the No Mow May was fine but she preferred that yards be mowed by May 31st.
The item was amended to remove the 7 day grace period and the amended item was approved 5-0.
They then moved on to the “request to extend free parking in the Red Ramp for an additional 90 days, during vaccination clinic days only, as part of the community vaccination program at the Fox Cities Exhibition Center.”
Director Vandehey said she had originally brought this through the committee and Council as a 30 day request because she felt that they should check in and make sure that everything was okay. During that initial 30 days, the city had been leaving the gate arms up pretty much the whole week, but they’re not going to do that anymore and, instead, plan to have them open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursdays during the vaccination clinic days.
The committee approved the request 5-0
They then touched briefly on their one information item “Inspection Division Permit Summary Comparison Report for January, 2021”
Director Vandehey said it was too early to start talking about trends, but things are looking pretty good.
The meeting then adjourned
View full meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=831366&GUID=5ADE2D98-17C1-43A1-914C-D761B871C26B&Options=info|&Search=
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