The Community and Economic Development Committee met 07/26/2023. In addition to approving the resolution to create the Appleton Conservancy Park, they voted on two other action items. The first was a request for a variance to the Southpoint Commerce Park’s deed restrictions and covenants to allow for the construction of an outbuilding to be used as a truck maintenance shop. The other was a request for a 6-month extension to the development agreement for the Park Central development project. Both items were approved unanimously.
I’ve prepared a complete transcript of the discussion for download.
SOUTHPOINT COMMERCE PARK DEED RESTRICTION VARIANCE – This variance request was related to the 16-acre purchase in the commerce park that was just approved by the Common Council on 07/12/2023. The variance would allow for the construction of a truck shop that would be used to maintain the fleet of vehicles utilized by the business building on the property. The variance was necessary because the deed restriction and covenants of Southpoint Commerce park require all buildings to be at least 7,500 square feet, and they do not specifically allow properties to be used as truck shops.
Community and Economic Development Deputy Director David Kress explained that the applicant had a prospective tenant for a built-to-suit project. The truck shop in question would be an accessory building. The primary building would be around 106,000 square feet which was well over the 7,500 square foot minimum. Additionally, many of the businesses within Southpoint Commerce Park have some sort of vehicle maintenance happening on their properties. The only unique aspect of the specific request before the committee was that the truck shop would take place in a stand-alone building.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the request.
6-MONTH EXTENSION TO DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT FOR PARK CENTRAL DEVELOPMENT – This was the second 6-month extension requested by the Park Central developer, the first one having been approved in December of 2022. The previous extension had given the developer a six-month extension for the completion date of the project and also extended from January of 2023 to January of 2024 the date by which they needed the building to attain an assessed value of $8.1 million.
The current extension request only extended the date by which they needed to complete the project, but did not extend the date to achieve the correct assessed value. Due to the way the development agreement was structured, extensions happened in six-month increments, but the developer really only needed a few more weeks to complete the project. The residential portion of the building was complete, but the ground floor commercial space had some outstanding items that needed to be completed before a certificate of occupancy could be issued. The reason for the delay [as so many of the project delays experienced in Appleton recently] have been due to labor issues and delays in materials.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) commented that they must be close to completion because the advertisements for the Park Central apartments were all over her social media feeds.
The committee voted unanimously to approve the extension request.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1105923&GUID=EFD388ED-F309-4247-9B04-9EA571D3BDC6
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