The Parks and Recreation Committee met 07/24/2023. The one action item they took up was Resolution 8-R-23 to create Appleton Conservancy Park and dedicate city-owned land in Southpoint Commerce Park for trail, trailhead, and parkland. Alderperson Katie Van Zeeland (District 5) who authored the resolution did so with the aim of aim of creating a new, larger park on the south side of Appleton which she described as “under-parked especially in the community park area.” Although the Appleton was not planning for any cooperation on the park from other municipalities, Alderperson Van Zeeland did express the hope that “this might help open the lines of communication with the other municipalities, especially Harrison, which is really building in that area.” The resolution was approved 5-0 with no amendments, but Alderperson William Siebers (District 1) did warn about the rising cost of Parks and Recreation staff associated with increasing the city parks system.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download.
Alderperson Van Zeeland explained to the committee that the south side of Appleton, part of which she represents, does not have any many parks as other areas of the city, particularly in terms of a large community park area. “I see this [resolution] as an excellent opportunity to right that wrong.”
Director of Parks, Recreation, and Facilities Dean Gazza told the committee that the city had at one time been working with Harrison and Menasha to create a joint community park on the south side of Appleton. There had been city boundary issues with the proposed location of that previous project and eventually Menasha and then Harrison stepped away from the project.
Alderperson Van Zeeland noted that for this park Appleton was not counting on the help of neighboring municipalities; however, the previous project fell apart during a time when there was also a border disagreement, and “I would hope that something like this might help open the lines of communication with the other municipalities, especially Harrison, which is really building in that area.”
Director Gazza thought this new park would work well on the land dedicated to it because that area was a wetland and could not be used for commercial development. The park would be focused on preserving what was there. It would have unpaved, unlit walking trails that don’t affect the environment. There would also be cross-country skiing trails and also probably some bike trails so that people go get away from the city and experience nature.
In terms of funding for development, the city was looking into opportunities both for grants and, it sounded like, organizations that may want to donate funds. The city was expecting development to happen 18 to 24 months from now, but something could happen sooner if money became available.
Alderperson Van Zeeland noted that the DNR offers grants for the type of work envisions for this wetland area. She had just started talking with Mayor Woodford and local state representatives about moving forward with that, but the grant was not due until December.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked how this project influenced the proposed WE Energies Trail project that had been planned near to this location but then put on hold due to groundwater issues. Director Gazza said they did not know if they would be able to use the specific area they had originally planned to use for the WE Energies Trail. They would possibly have to move a section of the trail to the street and then come back to the trail through the business park. The city already had an easement for the area in the commerce park that the majority of the trail would be located on so the part of the area through the commerce park could go ahead. He noted that that section of the trail did not have the issues that the WE Energies part of the trail had. [I took that to mean, the Southpoint Commerce Park section of the trail did not have the water issues associated with the trail section that was further east toward Oneida Street.]
Alderperson Schultz asked if there was the possibility of securing some support or additional funding to complete the western part of that trail that had been put on hold. Director Gazza said he wouldn’t count that out and said there had been a company that had at one point shown potential interest in helping reduce costs to the city.
Alderperson Kristin Alfheim (District 11) asked if this new park would push back any of the other park plans the city had. Director Gazza did not think that would happen because this new park was not going to be a major investment. They would be creating the plan for the park, but they would not hurry with the actual development of the park. Additionally, the development could start of small with just some walking trails and then increase from there.
He mentioned that the area there was not currently managed. Trees fall and nobody cleans them up. Homeless people are camping in that area, and deer stands have been set up. Designating it as a park would result in it being managed more, which would benefit the commerce park.
Alderperson Siebers asked if the city was going to need more personnel in the future to maintain the new parks, especially the Appleton Conservancy. Director Gazza said they would not need additional personnel if they just added the Appleton Conservancy, but in total as they added new parks, they would need to add more staff members if they wanted to maintain the same quality. If they were willing to lower their standards, then that would be a different situation.
Alderperson Siebers told his fellow committee members, “I just want my fellow colleagues as well as my colleagues out there that aren’t here. This has a price tag to it—and I’m gonna vote for it—but it has a price tag, you know. So, at some point in time, we’re going to have to vote on you know, the plans. We’re going to have to vote on possibly more staff, etc., etc. That’s going to come at a time when we’re going to talk about more staff for Fire, more staff for Police, etc., etc. So, the challenges are going to be pretty big.”
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) had questions about whether the park would be included in the newly created TIF District 13 that encompasses Southpoint Commerce Park and how TIF funds would be handled regarding the park. Director Gazza did not know the answer to those questions, so Alderperson Fenton was going to possibly bring them up when this resolution came before the City Plan Commission and the Community and Economic Development Committee.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the resolution.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1111661&GUID=044D7EE3-828A-4D6F-9239-B81321CD85B6
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