The City Plan Commission met 11/09/2022. It was a brief meeting, lasting around 12 minutes, in which they took up one action item which was an application from Holiday Stationstores for a special use permit for gasoline sales and a carwash on the corner of E Calumet and Schaefer Street. The committee ended up unanimously approving the special use permit.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the complete meeting for your downloading pleasure.
City Planner Jessica Titel informed the committee that the applicant wanted to build a convenience store with gas pumps and an associated car wash on the site. The parcel is zoned C-2 Commercial, and both gas sales and car washes are allowed as special uses in the C-2 zoning district.
This site is located very close to an existing car wash, and there have been quite a few carwashes that have been moving into Appleton recently. Some residents have expressed displeasure at what feels like an overabundance of car washes in certain areas. Perhaps prompted by some of those concerns, Ms. Titel noted that neither the zoning code nor city staff had the ability to regulate the proximity of businesses to those of like uses.
The issue that garnered the most discussion was the fact that the concept plan showed an access point to the south that would send cars onto the adjacent property. Ms. Titel told the committee that the plans were only preliminary and still subject to review and approval; city staff would only approve an access point onto the adjacent property if they had permission from the neighboring property owner and an easement was recorded.
The adjacent property owner, however, did not approve of such an access point. Although he was not able to attend the meeting himself, he had spoken to the alderperson for the area Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) who attended the meeting and told the commission that the property owner requested that they consider holding the item until the plan was updated to not include an access point onto his property.
It was reiterated that the plans presented for special use permits were preliminary plans, and that there were several future review and approval steps before the developer would be able to build. However, developers typically wanted to know whether or not their use was approved before they spent the time, energy, and money on preparing civil drawings. One of the requirements for approval of any project even after a special use permit was granted was that the developer adhere to all zoning codes and ordinances. An access point onto an adjacent property would not happen without the approval of the adjacent property’s owner or without a record of an easement. Additionally, the access point was not material to the plan and could be removed without causing the project to not be in compliance with code.
The commission also consulted with Deputy City Attorney Amanda Abshire who told them, “it’s important to note that the scope of Plan Commission’s review is really to look and see whether or not the applicant that’s applying for the special use permit meets or agrees to meet all of the requirements and conditions that are specified within Appleton municipal code, within our ordinance, or those imposed by the city’s zoning board. So, if those requirements are met, the state law that governs over this indicates that this body ‘shall grant’ that special use permit. So the authority and discretion is really limited to what’s been codified already.”
Mayor Woodford voiced his support of not holding the item or requiring the plans to be updated, saying, “I’m supportive of moving this forward today with the understanding that there are stipulations that will have to be met, conditions that have to be met in the staff report, and additionally, opportunities for public input in subsequent approvals.”
The commission went on to unanimously approve the special use permit.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1003243&GUID=DF6F3593-84F3-4FB4-B883-5432299DD8EC
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