The City Plan Commission met 01/11/2023. One of the items they took up was texts amendments to Chapter 17 of the city’s municipal code related to the dedication of land for public use and the payment of fees in lieu of dedicating land. Basically, it sounded like when new land was developed in the city, the developers needed to either provide land to the city for public use such as for parks and trails or to pay a fee which would then be used by the city to purchase land to serve the public parkland needs in new areas of the city.
This item first appeared as a information item for discussion at the December 14, 2022 commission meeting, and then was brought back to the commission at the January 11, 2023 meeting for a vote where it passed unanimously.
I’ve prepared transcripts of both discussions for your downloading pleasure.
Principal Planner David Kress explained to the commission back in December that this was part of an ongoing effort to revisiting and refresh all of Chapter 17 of the Municipal Code, and this particular bundle of amendments was just the first in what would be a series of text amendments that would eventually be brought forward.
The main things they were trying to do with these changes were
- Incorporate into the code recommendations from a report by Baker Tilly regarding standards for parkland dedication and fee in lieu of dedication. Land dedication would now be calculated by square feet per dwelling unit and fees would be a specific dollar amount per dwelling unit whereas under the current code those were calculated based on overall acreage.
- Emphasize the importance of trails, include trails in the dedication process, and aid in the implementation of the city’s Trails Master Plan.
- Implement changes from Wisconsin Act 243 related to the manner and timing of the payment of fees in lieu of dedication. Previously those fees had been paid by developers before a plat was finalized, but going forward they would be paid by the private property owner of a lot at the time a building permit was issued.
- Streamline the language.
During the December 14 meeting, Deputy Director of Public Works Ross Buetow, who serves on the commission, expressed support for the change saying that he understood they were trying to comply with state statutes, increase the fees, and make sure that the trails and park plan was recognized as an important part of the development process. He also thought that it gave the city more leverage to identify the quality of dedicated land and its use to the community.
During the December meeting, there was also some discussion about the move away from having developers pay the in-lieu-of-dedication fee versus having individual homeowners pay it. The optics of that change were mentioned; however, the change was prompted by state statute and not by the city. Beyond that, Mayor Woodford noted that, practically speaking, those fees would have already been passed on to the individual home purchasers by the developers.
During the January meeting the question was raised as to in/how these changes would impact any developments that were in-process. The answer was essentially, any development that was not finalized prior to the new rules being put into effect would have to meet the new criteria. In terms of whether or not developers were aware of the pending new guidelines, Principal Planner David Kress told the commission that sometimes conceptual discussions between the city and a developer happens months or years prior to the developer moving forward with plans; however, any recent discussions that the city had with developers would have included mention that the city was working on updating the code language.
City staff did not have a good estimate of how the change in moving from calculations using overall acreage to calculations based on dwelling units would impact the amount of parkland that was dedicated to the city. Principal Planner David Kress noted that there would probably be a test period with the new code language and that, if they encountered any challenges with it they could come back and tweak it if necessary.
Other municipalities do use this sort of system, so Appleton would not be an outlier in that respect. Appleton has historically been on the lower end of the fee collection scale in the Fox Valley, but there were some communities that did not charge fees at all; however, those communities may not offer all the park and trail amenities that Appleton does.
During the January meeting, there was also discussion about the difference in fees for single-family dwelling units versus multi-family dwelling units and why the proposed fee for single family dwelling units was $1,100 whereas the fee for multi-family dwelling units was only $900 and land dedications were 800 square feet per dwelling unit for single family dwellings and only 650 square feet for multi-family dwelling units.
Principal Planner Kress tried to explain it by saying, “I think the premise is that typically in a multifamily situation, there’s a little bit higher density. And so there’s probably less of a need to require as much land area and less of a need to require as much dollar amount as there would be with single family.”
Commission member Andrew Dane did not understand that and said, “I don’t understand the logic behind that. But I guess I’ll accept statement. I guess is the logic that if you’re, if you’re living in an apartment, your need for trails, or parks or open space is less than if you’re living in a single family home?”
Principal Planner Kress responded, “I think the idea between having that distinction isn’t necessarily how much land is is being used. I think whether you reside in conventional single family detached home or a multifamily apartment, the needs are the same. But if there’s going to be more dwelling units, it’s about getting a proportionate share of the land area, or the cost, and so, on what would equate to a city block you might have, you know 10 or 12 single family homes on that same land area, you might have 20 multifamily dwelling units. And so it’s trying to balance the those two densities and sort of have an equitable way of collecting either land or fee from those types of residential development.”
Mayor Woodford added, “In other words, it’s not about the land per person, it’s about the land use density of the style of development. So I think just—it’s not saying that a person who lives in a multifamily development only gets 650 acres or 650 square feet per person. It’s about the land—the density of that land use and the intensity of that land use, so much lower density, obviously, in an R1 land use.”
Commissioner Dane still did not understand the reasoning behind that change. [And, honestly, I’m with him on that. It didn’t really make sense to me.]
The commission did approve the changes unanimously.
View full 12/14/2022 meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1003477&GUID=0717C105-24B2-4E5D-8BB8-D1CBF1DDB606
View full 01/11/2023 meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1062683&GUID=7BF56024-37D4-4845-8E08-E26A225D0FFB
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