The Common Council met 05/17/2023. In addition to the rezoning of the Saville Properties Annexation and the snow removal assessment waiver requested by Rachel, the Council did separate out two other items for individual votes; however, neither of the items questions or debate, and Mayor Woodford spoke on a third item that was part of the consolidated action items.
I’ve prepared a transcript such as it is for download.
The first item was the special use permit for a carwash located at 4029 E Calumet Street. This special use permit was recommended for approval by the City Plan Commission on 05/10/2023. At that meeting, one member of the public voiced concerns about the impact of locating a carwash in that area, including:
- Vehicle access to the property. (Access to the business was from Lorna Lane, not Calumet Street or Eisenhower Drive and it sounded like there were possible issues with the public using the TJ Steakhouse parking lot to access other businesses.)
- Traffic problems generally seeming to be related to traffic on Eisenhower getting backed up to Coop Road.
- Safety issues related to a nearby daycare and senior living center.
- The large number of carwashes that exist on the east side of town. (The speaker said there were 14 within a 2 ½ mile radius and 30 overall on the east side of Appleton.) [The number of carwashes on the southeast side of town has been raised several times over the last year.]
Principal Planner Jessica Titel told the commission that the city was going to do some striping at the intersection of Calumet Street and Coop Road which she thought would help with some of the traffic issues. The commission went ahead and approved the special use permit with Mayor Woodford specifically noting “it’s not the role of the planning commission to make determinations about the types of private uses on private property in the city in terms of what kind of business is located in a general vicinity.”
The Common Council did not discuss the item when it came up for a vote, but Alderpersons Vered Meltzer (District 2) and Nate Wolff (District 12) voted against issuing the special use permit.
The second item separated out which generated no discussion was the request to approve the contract to restripe the lanes on College Avenue.
The 18-month pilot project would see the lanes reduced from 4 (2 in each direction) to 3 (1 in each direction plus a center turn lane) along with the addition of bike lanes on either side of the street. After a delay of two weeks while the city went back and rebid the project, the Municipal Services Committee approved the contract with Brickline Inc for $71,910 during the 05/08/2023 committee meeting. The Common Council approved the contract with no discussion by a vote of 14-1 with Alderperson Chris Croatt (District 14) casting the dissenting vote.
After the item was approved, Mayor Woodford took a moment to recognize the work city staff, in particularly Traffic Engineer Eric Lom, had put in to get the bid within budget. The bids had originally come in high, but city staff had gone back and asked for a rebid which ended up cutting about $30,000 off the original bids.
Finally, as part of the consolidated action items, the Council approved the addition of the Village of Greenville to the East Central Weights and Measures Consortium. This was discussed briefly at the 05/10/2023 Board of Health meeting and then approved unanimously.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the Board of Health discussion for your downloading pleasure.
Essentially, the state requires cities and villages with over 5,000 residents to provide weights and measures services. When Greenville became a village it then had to meet this requirement, so they were asking to join the East central Weights and Measures Consortium. They currently have 13 establishments (a mixture of retail and gas stations) requiring annual weights and measures inspections. 8 services days per year would be needed to carry out those inspections, but it would not impact needed staffing levels for the consortium because of efficient inspection processes and extensive workforce training implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic. The addition of Greenville to the consortium would result in $3,500 of additional revenue.
At the Board of Health meeting, Mayor Woodford spoke highly of the consortium. He noted that the state legislature had put forward a bill on shared revenue that included a provision to incentivize local governments to provide shared services across community boundaries, and he pointed out that the East Central Weights and Measures Consortium was one of the ways Appleton was already doing that.
After the Common Council approved the addition of Greenville to the consortium, Mayor Woodford once again praised the work of the consortium. “This is, I’m told, the largest Weights and Measures consortium in the state of Wisconsin, and it’s a great example of communities working together to reduce costs for taxpayers. It’s a great program. This is local consumer protection at work. And I’m really proud of Eric Maggio and the team in the Health Department for bringing another community on board. And to our friends in Greenville we say, ‘Welcome to the consortium.’”
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1084964&GUID=534943ED-CEDD-4AAB-876A-D1D8828DEE05
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