Common Council Votes 14-1 To Approve College Avenue Lane Reconfiguration Pilot Project

The Common Council met 04/05/2023. One of the items they took up and the item that took up the largest part of the meeting was the request to approve the College Avenue Lane Reconfiguration pilot project. This project would spend approximately $130,000 to restripe College Avenue, reducing the number of directional lanes from four (two in each direction) to three (one in each direction as well as a center turn lane) and add bike lanes on either side of the street.

After the restriping is completed, the city will collect data for 18 months on a number of metrics including:

• Traffic Counts
• Bike/Pedestrian/Scooter Counts
• Crashes
• Vehicle Speeds
• Total Roadway Closures due to Aggressive Driving
• Parking Meter Revenue along College Avenue
• Business/Community Member Feedback
• APD/AFD Feedback

The Council will then vote on whether to make the lane reconfiguration permanent, return it to its current form, or make some other kind of changes.

The Council voted 14-1 to approve the pilot project with Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) casting the sole no vote.

I’ve prepared a complete transcript of the discussion for download.

9 members of the public made public comment on the proposal, five in favor, three opposed, and one neutral.

Those who supported the change mentioned:

• Increased safety (this was mentioned multiple times)
• Increased efficiency
• Decreased noise
• Improved pedestrian and restaurant-goer experience, particularly for those wanting to dine outside
• The likelihood that more pedestrians and a more positive pedestrian experience would lead to increased business
• This change would make downtown more accessible to people who don’t have money for a car or gas and will facilitate them being able to go to grocery stores
• Would turn downtown into a lively, safe downtown designed for all sorts of people instead of catering to drivers

Those who opposed the pilot mentioned:

• The negative impact on business
• The cost and the idea that this money could be better spent on other infrastructure projects
• Wondered if this was a modification to the city’s 5 Year Capital Project plan
• Safety concerns were overstated given that there were only two pedestrian-involved crashes last year
• Bikes and scooters could use Washington Street instead of College
• Police should be enforcing traffic laws more instead of redesigning the street

Alderperson Croatt was the only Council member to vote against it. He liked that it was a pilot project but he was concerned that the Council would not be willing to change it back if they needed to. He also wanted more information about the metrics that would be used to measure the pilot and felt that they were not sufficiently clear.

Council members who voted in favor of the pilot echoed some of the points raised during public comments, particularly that downtown College Avenue was very loud and it was not a pleasant pedestrian experience. Police Chief Police Olson affirmed to the Council, “The police department does not have the resources to enforce traffic laws to the degree required to address the constant and ongoing complaints that we receive related to speed, reckless driving, noise, and other types of driving in the downtown area.”

A question was raised about how deliveries would be handled along College Avenue. Director of Public Works Danielle Block said that most loading and unloading happened in the parking lanes before the stalls filled up or in the alleys, and DPW was creating new loading zones on some of the side streets. They anticipated they would need to add additional loading zones on a case-by-case basis.

Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) believed the change would be successful, but she was absolutely willing to undo the changes at the end if they proved not to have worked.

Alderperson Nate Wolff (District 12) reiterated the desire he had voiced at a committee meeting that the bike lanes be placed in between the parked cars and the curb instead of the parked cars and the traffic. [Note: it was mentioned in one of the committee meetings that this was infeasible because there were curb bump-outs at the intersections, and this layout would result in a decreased number of parking stalls.] He also said he would support undoing the pilot if it turned out to not work.

Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) thought this change would really help people on bicycles and scooters have a safe, legal option for riding on College Avenue. He also thought it would result in businesses being more successful.

Alderperson Vered Meltzer (District 2) thought this change would give people something to look forward to in terms of coming downtown, but was also absolutely willing to undo this if it was not working.

Alderperson Brad Firkus (District 3) believed the city could not enforce its way out of the issues downtown and thought this design would lead to safer behaviors. He also thought it would lead to more pedestrian traffic interested in patronizing the College Avenue businesses. He also suggested that if problems did arise with the change that they might be able to be corrected in some way other than reverting the design back to the current layout.

Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) was very much in favor of the change and pointed out that the most positive downtown experiences were things like the Farmers Market when College Avenue was closed to traffic. “You’re going to have to work to convince me to roll it back. It’s going to have to, you know—it’s going to be, have to be more than a couple of people saying, you know, ‘It’s taking me five minutes longer to get to work, and I just can’t go there.’ But you know, with enough proof, I’d be willing to roll it back. But right now, I am fully in support of this.”

Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) also strongly thought the changes would improve the downtown experience. “I’m willing to roll this back if necessary. But I have to say I wouldn’t be voting for it if I thought that that’s what was going to happen. I don’t want to waste money.”

Alderperson Israel Del Toro (District 4) said there was overwhelming support for this change in District 4.

Alderperson Chad Doran (District 15) thought that some of the issues downtown had been building for a number of years and agreed that the city could not enforce its way out of them. He said that he spent a night staying downtown and was shocked by the level of noise, starting as early at 9PM and continuing all through the night. He had found, in visiting other cities, that the best downtowns had been walkable.

Alderperson Maiyoua Thao (District 7) thought the change would make downtown College Avenue vibrant and unique.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1084959&GUID=3AE75ACA-E120-4802-AB29-59B5D602FBF7