I checked out the City Plan Commission meeting on 05/12/2021 to find out more about what’s going on with the US Venture project.
They had several applications related to the land they own south of Lawrence Street, west of Durkee Street, north of Water Street, and east of Morrison Street.
The first application was to rezone all the parcels in that area as Central Business District parcels.
As was explained by a city staff member, US Venture owns 16 parcels in this general area. One of these parcels is already zoned as Central Business District. The other 15 parcels are currently a mix of R-1B (Single-Family), R3 (Multi-Family District), and PI (Public-Institutional District). US Venture has also submitted a certified survey map to combine all 16 parcels that they own in this area. In order to do so they need consistent zoning across all 16 parcels because Appleton’s zoning ordinance says there cannot be more than one zoning district on any parcel of land. As it pertains to the rezoning specifically, all of the parcels are shown with a future mixed use designation on the city’s comprehensive plan and future land use map which would be consistent with the Central Business District zoning that US Venture was requesting. City staff performed their typical review both against the comprehensive plan and against all of the criteria that are established in the zoning ordinance and staff recommended approving the item.
The commission voted unanimously to approve the rezoning request.
US Venture also submitted a request to vacate portions of South Oak Street and East Kimball Street public right-of-way that ran through those 16 parcels.
As city staff explained, in order to combine all 16 parcels and create a unified development on the entire site, the right of way would need to be vacated which would allow for the creation of one large city block that would be bound by Lawrence, Durkee Street, Morrison, and Water Street. The current narrow portions of Oak street and Kimball street that run through those parcels are not needed, and city staff was supportive of the vacation of the right of way.
The staff member giving the report noted that the two street segments are both 32 feet wide which is quite a bit more narrow than a typical street section today and the total area of land is just over 13,700 square feet in size. Staff had done their typical review and was recommending that this right of way be vacated.
The commission unanimously approved the street vacation.
The final item related to this area was a request to approve the dedication of land for public right-of-way for East Lawrence Street, generally located south and east of the intersection of Morrison Street and Lawrence Street
The staff member explained that in conjunction with the proposal to combine the 16 parcels and the proposal to eliminate the two sections of street, US Venture was submitting a proposal to dedicate some additional land to widen Lawrence Street. The proposal would widen Lawrence street by 20 feet by taking some land from 4 parcels along Lawrence street. Doing so would allow for an 80 foot cross section as opposed to the current 60 foot cross section. The staff member noted that that was consistent with recommendations that are both in the city’s comprehensive plan and the 2016 Downtown Mobility study. For those reasons staff was recommending approval of that item as well.
It also was approved unanimously by the commission.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=858703&GUID=9F7CA3DE-95EB-485F-A5CE-8B37B7C06B76&Options=info|&Search=
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