The 02/02/2022 Common Council was a short meeting under 30 minutes in length. Three items were separated out for individual votes, but none of those items took very long to discuss. The three items in question were (1) the Special Use Permit #1-22 for a car wash located at 3040 East College Avenue, (2) the Class “B” Beer and “Class C” Wine License application for Alpine Swift LLC, Adam Marty, Agent, located at 1016 E Pacific St, contingent upon approval from all departments, and (3) approval of the City of Appleton’s On-Street Parklet Policy.
As previously posted, Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) had signaled his intention to raise some concerns regarding the special use permit for Club Car Wash, a car wash planned for the site of the former Applebee’s building near the corner of College Avenue and Kensington Drive.
During the Public Hearing portion of the meeting, Aaron Breitenfeldt appeared on behalf of the permit applicant Robert E Lee & Associates and spoke briefly about the business and gave some background on who Club Carwash was. He said they are a car wash company that has been around since 2006. They currently own about 54 carwashes throughout the country, mostly in Kansas and Missouri where they are based, but they are looking to expand have 24 new sites planned in Illinois, Texas, Colorado, and Wisconsin. 8 of the Wisconsin sites are in the northeast area of Wisconsin, and the one on College Avenue would be the fourth location in the Fox Valley to receive approval in winter with construction intended to start this summer. He let the Council know he was available to answer any questions, but they did not end up having any for him.
Once discussion on the item commenced, Alderperson Firkus referenced the statement he had asked to be read at the City Plan Commission meeting regarding the feedback he had received from some of the people in his district. Those people were opposed to the carwash going in and had pointed out that there were already a number of other carwashes in that stretch of road. A couple of people also raised concerns about traffic, although Alderperson Firkus conceded that it was already a pretty high traffic area and that adding a car wash was probably unlikely to add to the cars.
He did want to make sure that these concerns were raised in Council because “this is something I’ve gotten more feedback on than quite a few items in recent months, so I just want to make sure that I’m sharing that feedback.”
He understood that the city and the Council didn’t want to play favorites or start micromanaging which businesses could go where; however, he pointed out that this was a bit of a land use change and was more than just the building moving from housing one business to a different one.
He was glad to see that a building that was sitting empty was now going to become an operating and taxpaying business, but at the same time he did want his fellow Council members to be aware that at least some of the people who lived closest to this felt it was an unnecessarily change to the neighborhood.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) said she had watched the City Plan Commission meeting, but she wanted to affirm that the Plan Commission had not found anything that was a reason to prevent the special use permit from being granted.
Mayor Woodford answered that the City Plan Commission had unanimously affirmed the recommendation from staff to approve the application contingent on the conditions laid out in the report being satisfied.
There was no further discussion and the special use permit for Club Car Wash was approved 12-2 with Alderpersons Firkus and Nate Wolff (District 12) casting the new nay votes.
The Council them moved on to Alpine Swift’s Class B Beer and Class C wine license application.
Various aspects of this business have been working their way through committee.
- The variance request to not have to provide any off-street parking was granted back in November, 2021.
- Their special use permit to serve beer and wine was approved on January 12, 2022.
- The Class B Beer and Class C wine license application was initially held by the Safety and Licensing Committee so they could review it more closely.
- The Safety and Licensing Committee then came back on January 26, 2022 and approved the application.
Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) requested that it be separated out for an individual vote and told the Council, “I separated this item because Adam Marty is here in chambers and I didn’t want him to have to wait for the balance of the agenda, but I support the recommendation to approve this, and I hope all of my colleagues will approve this.”
There was no further discussion and the Council voted 14-0 to approve the application. My understanding was that was the last application Adam needed to bring in front of a committee and the Council in order to be allowed to open his restaurant.
The final item that Council took up for an individual vote was the approval of the city’s new parklet policy. The Municipal Services Committee discussed and approved this on January 24, 2022.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) separated it out, stating, “I just separated this out not to hear myself talk but to share some kudos to Director Vandehey and staff for moving forward on the parklet policy. I think it’s a really important means of engaging downtown businesses—maybe not directly on College Avenue—giving them some opportunity on off-streets to expand the ability of our citizens to stretch out a little bit, have some additional greenspace where that can be a challenge…and creating some unique opportunities for essentially more social engagement within our community in some of these side streets, which, frankly, don’t get much.” He thought it would be a good addition to the city and was looking forward to seeing how it developed in the next couple years.
There was no further discussion and the item was approved 14-0.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=917287&GUID=EAAB901C-8079-484E-A3BF-AE7344D9C0FD
One thought on “Common Council Approves Three Items – Special Use Permit For Club Car Wash, Alcohol License For Alpine Swift Restaurant, And New Parklet Policy”