Common Council Sends Gold Cross Ambulance Service Agreement Back To Committee, Votes To Approve Design And Placement Of Sexual Assault Survivors Monument In Ellen Kort Peace Park, The Heritage Rezoning And Special Use Permit, Rezoning Of Lawrence University Owned Properties

The Common Council met 07/19/2023. They separated out seven items from the agenda for individuals votes; however, with the exception of the denial of Core’s Lounge’s Class B Beer license application, none of the items generated any discussion, and all of them were passed unanimously, although some alderpersons did abstain.

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

Item 23-0824: Fire Department Service Agreement for Gold Cross Ambulance – This item was referred back to the Safety and Licensing Committee by Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) who indicated he still had some concerns about staffing levels related to the ambulance service. [The number of paramedics on the ambulances and whether it was better or possible to staff the ambulances with two paramedics versus a paramedic and an EMT was a point of discussion during the previous Safety and Licensing Committee meeting.]

Item 23-0865: Consolidated Action Items: Sexual Assault Survivors Monument in Ellen Kort Peace Park  – This item came before the Parks and Recreation Committee and the City Plan Commission which both approved it. The Council voted unanimously to approve it. It sounded as if someone associated with the fundraising effort for the project was present at the meeting, because Mayor Woodford spoke to someone, saying, “Thank you for the work you’ve done on this. And we very much appreciate it and look forward to seeing it go up. So, thank you so much. Congratulations.”

Items 23-0732 and 23-0724: for special use permit #8-23 and rezoning #4-23 of The Heritage – ThedaCare wanted to rezone its property at 2600 S Heritage Woods Drive and get a new special use permit so that it could expand the community based residential facility there and increase the number of beds from 20 to 51. The City Plan Commission voted unanimously to approve the request.

The Common Council also voted unanimously to approve the requests. Alderperson Vaya Jones (District 10) voted “aye” for the Special Use Permit but then abstained from the vote pertaining to the rezoning request.

Items 23-0633 and 23-0635: for Future Land Use Map Amendment #1-23 and Rezoning #3-23 for lots along E College Avenue near Drew Street – These parcels were owned by Lawrence University. The Future Land Use Map Amendment and the rezoning request (from PI-Public Institutional to CBD-Central Business District) been approved unanimously by the City Plan Commission, and the changes were intended to facilitate the development of some sort of mixed-use project on those parcels.

Lawrence University lawyer Eric Schacht attended the Council meeting and spoke during the public hearing portion of the meeting. He said the rezoning would make the zoning of the parcels consistent with the rest of College avenue and give Lawrence University some flexibility in what they did with them. “We have not had a master real estate plan in over 20 years. We’re undertaking that right now. And this will give us the flexibility to do some good things moving into College down Drew.”

The Common Council voted unanimously to approve both items with Alderpersons Israel Del Toro (District 4) and Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) abstaining. [Alderperson Del Toro is a professor at Lawrence, so presumably felt it was a conflict of interest to vote on the item, but I don’t know what conflict Alderperson Van Zeeland may have had.]

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1099776&GUID=52265030-C06C-41DC-8C50-6300B98344E7