The City Plan Commission and the Community and Economic Development Committee each met 04/10/2024 and received updates on the policy guide put together by the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Development.
Community and Economic Development Director Kara Homan explained that the task force had been formed about 6 months ago with the intention of trying to improve housing affordability in the area. It was composed of two groups of people—(1) external community members such as realtors, home builders, developers, engineers, community non-profits, and community leaders and (2) internal city staff including members of the Community and Economic Development Department, the Engineering Division, and Inspections. While they recognized that they could not change things like interest rates and federal and state policies that impact housing, they did come up with a set of 5 themes that believed could improve the development process within Appleton and, thereby, improve housing affordability.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussions for download:
THEME 1 – VISION: They want to create a community vision that prioritized housing. The city’s Comprehensive Plan does provide a community-wide vision for development, but, currently, it doesn’t get into the need for housing, housing diversity, and affordable housing. They just received $400,000 in ARPA funds to facilitate the updating of the city’s Comprehensive Plan and sub-areas plan, so as they update that, they will update that housing vision as well.
THEME 2 – CREATE A POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT APPROVAL PROCESS: They want to make sure that the process of building a development, from initial process to rezoning to subdivision approval all the way through to permit issuing and inspections is a good experience. They want to be clear and honest with developers about what is expected and help the developers navigate the process efficiently which making sure that the developers are meeting all of the city’s standards. They believe that will differentiate Appleton from other community that have a more difficult process developers have to navigate. Although the focus of the task force was on housing, they also believed an improved development process would also be beneficial for commercial and industrial projects as well.
THEME 3 – ACTIVATE THE CITY’S EXISTING HOUSING POLICY: Appleton has already done a lot of good work updating its zoning code and has a lot of good policy. They do not always do the best job of communicating that policy, providing education, or making it easy for people to be aware of the different options available to them. She specifically mentioned that homeowners may not be aware that they have the option to build Accessory Dwelling Units.
THEME 4 – PROACTIVELY ENCOURAGE AND FISCALLY INCENTIVIZE HOUSING CENTRIC POLICY: They want to equip the Appleton Redevelopment Authority and also utilize tools such as TIF Districts and grants to incentive housing development within the city.
THEME 5 – BETTER COMMUNICATION: They want to improve communication. The city is already good at responding to inquiries, but they want to become better at proactively explaining what the process is for development. They want to do this by updating the city’s website. Additionally, they are making updates to their administrative system. Currently, they utilize a system called i-series that is very old, but they will be moving toward implementing a Tyler Munis Community Development module that will help staff better track the development and permitting process.
View full City Plan Commission meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1168044&GUID=79D7434E-26C1-490E-8CAE-AC73C340171C
View full Community and Economic Development Committee meeting details here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1168048&GUID=87BEA084-B3B0-498F-85F9-A90522630B6D
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