The City Plan Commission met 03/27/2024. They had one action item and associated public hearing which was a request to approve the rezoning of a parcel near the Midway Road/Plank Road roundabout from R-1A Single-Family District to R-3 Multi-Family District. Though not a part of the rezoning application, it was mentioned in the meeting that the plan for the parcel is to build a retirement community.
A number of residents attended the meeting and opposed the rezoning, listing worries about traffic congestion, safety, and the impact on wildlife and nature. They also had been told when they purchased their houses that that land was going to be single family properties.
The zoning request, however, met all of the statutory requirements to be approved, and, although the parcel was zoned R-1A Single-Family, that was because when it was annexed into Appleton in 1085 the default zoning for annexed land was R-1A. The parcel had been listed as having a multi-family use on the city’s Comprehensive Plan since at least 2004.
The commission ended up voting unanimously to approve the rezoning request.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
A number of existing residents signed letters or contacted the city by email to indicate their opposition to the proposed rezoning.
A number of them also attended the meeting and four of them spoke. They opposed the rezoning request, stating that they had purchased their properties with the understanding this parcel would remain single family zoning. They were worried about how close the development would be built to their lot lines. They voiced concerns about increased traffic congestion, especially during school pickup/drop-off times, and were also worried about pedestrian safety. Additionally, the impact on wildlife and nature was mentioned. Some residents felt the parcel was unfairly singled out for multifamily zoning when there were other nearby parcels that were single family.
The developer spoke in favor of the rezoning, stating the change aligned with the Greenwood Village Condominiums directly to the west and would help address the need for additional housing in Appleton. The project engineer explained limitations with the parcel dimensions made a single-family development challenging and a condo design better fit the parcel. He stated that the parcel did not have the depth to run a public road through it; however, one of the residents stated that the plan information they had been given by the developer showed a road through the area as well as 25 condo units each with a 2-car garage.
During the commission discussion, commission members and alderpersons who attended the meeting discussed and clarified the difference between a parcel’s zoning and its designated use on the city’s Comprehensive Plan Future Land Use Map. A parcel’s zoning does not always match what their future use is listed as on the Comprehensive Plan. This particular parcel was annexed into the city in 1985, and, at that time, annexed land was automatically zoned at R-1A. [That has since changed. If I recall correctly, properties that get annexed into the city now are often automatically given an agricultural zoning.]
In spite of the R-1A zoning, the land had been listed for many years on the city’s Future Land Use Map as being intended for multi-family development.
Residents had expressed concern that this change was going to prompt a rezoning of another nearby parcel to the north, but city staff said that the other parcel in question was listed as one and two family residential on the Future Land Use map. The rezoning before the commission that day was not going to prompt any changes to that parcel.
There was also discussion about the city’s ongoing need for housing. Per Community and Economic Development Director Kara Homan, the city needed to produce about 300 new housing units a year to keep up with demand but they have only been producing around 170-180. “[E]ach year we under produce that deficit just starts to stack up. And because we have an under supply of housing units, that’s putting that upward pressure on price because demand is outpacing supply.”
Mayor Woodford took time to summarize the most relevant parts of the staff report which recommended approval of the rezoning. The rezoning conformed to the city’s Comprehensive Plan and responded to the city’s need for increased housing. Additionally, staff had determined that the rezoning request was unlikely to create adverse impacts on the surrounding land uses. As a result, he intended to vote in favor of the rezoning and encourage the other commission members to do the same.
The committee ended up voting unanimously to approve the rezoning request.
[I will be really surprised if the commission ever voted against a rezoning request of this nature. Periodically, neighborhood residents will come an opposed a rezoning or a development agreement pertaining to a currently empty parcel in their back yards. The concerns tend to be very similar—traffic congestion, safety, negative impacts to wildlife and nature. But, honestly, those reasons just aren’t strong enough to overcome the right of private property owners to develop their land. These developers are not coming in and trying to build a smog-spewing factory next to a residential area. They’re trying to build more housing next to a residential area. And, if the city didn’t vote in favor of that rezoning, they would probably just be opening themselves up to a lawsuit.]
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1161471&GUID=31707838-8855-4843-88FC-667249C392C7
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