Common Council Approves Acceptance Of Federal Dollars For Valley Transit Projects, Alcohol License Premise Amendment For PAC Event, Amended Street Occupancy Permit For Fox Commons Development

The Common Council met 08/21/2024. In addition to the Corner Pub alcohol license and the re-obligation of ARPA dollars toward the cost of an update to the city’s Strategic Plan, the Council took up 4 additional items, all of which were approved and none of which resulted in much conversation.

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

ITEMS 24-0976 AND 24-0977 AUTHORIZING ACCEPTANCE OF $12 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDS FOR PHASE 2 OF THE WHITMAN FACILITY REMODEL AND $25 MILLION IN RAISE GRANT DOLLARS FOR THE DOWNTOWN VALLEY TRANSIT REGIONAL TRANSIT MULTIMODAL HUB – These items were initially recommended for approval by the Fox Cities Transit Commission back on 07/23/2024. At the time, there was minimal discussion; however, Valley Transit General Manager Ron McDonald noted that they were currently through the majority of the phase 1 of the Whitman Avenue Facility remodel and this $12 million would allow them to complete phase 2.

Additionally, the $25 million RAISE grant would be in addition to the $1.8 million in ARPA funds Appleton had contributed to the downtown transit facility project. The plan was to build a transit center on the ground floor and then work with a private developer to install housing above that.

ITEM 24-0993 ALCOHOL LICENSE TEMPORARY PREMISE AMENDMENT APPLICATION FOR FOX CITIES PERFORMING ARTS CENTER – This item had been approved without discussion as part of the approval of the balance of the agenda during the 08/14/2024 Safety and Licensing Committee meeting. Clerk Lynch explained to the Common Council that the PAC had met the statutory filing requirement for the application, but the event was scheduled to begin prior to the Common Council giving final approval. Under these circumstances, there was a provision in the Municipal Code that allowed a special issuance of the premise amendment by the mayor. Mayor Woodford had done that, so the event was currently operating legally under his order and once the Common Council approve the application the event would be operating legally under their approval.

Mayor Woodford told the Council, “I’ll just add that that when we issue these orders, I certainly don’t take them lightly. So fully review the application and ensure that we have internal recommendations for approval, that the event or the application is compliant, and also take into consideration the requester terms of history with operating events. So, there is due diligence when these orders are issued, and it’s not taken lightly. It’s also something that I follow up with folks about in terms of timing, to make sure that they allow plenty of time for processing, but in this case, weighing all of the various considerations, I did exercise the authority granted to me to issue this order.”

The Council voted unanimously to approve the application, so, as of 7:33 PM and 5 seconds on 08/21/2024 the PAC’s event was operating with the blessing of the Council and not just by the order of the mayor.

ITEM 24-1036 PERMANENT STREET OCCUPANCY PERMIT FOR 5 AWNINGS IN COLLEGE AVENUE RIGHT OF WAY – Boldt wanted to install 5 awnings on the Fox Commons project downtown. The awnings would reach out over the sidewalk so a permanent street occupancy permit was required. The item had been approved unanimously on 08/12/2024 by the Municipal Services Committee after minimal discussion.

At the request of staff, Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) asked to amend the item to make approval of the street occupancy permit contingent on “the completion of site restoration of the blue ramp site in accordance with the existing site use agreement.” The Fox Commons Developer had an agreement with the city to use the former location of the blue parking ramp as a stagging area for their construction equipment; however, they had not met the deadline they had agreed upon to restore the side, so the city wanted to use approval of the special use permit as a form of leverage to encourage them to restore the site.

The Council voted unanimously to approve the amendment and then voted unanimously to approve the amended permanent street occupancy permit.

View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1213514&GUID=81937D7D-E288-43F7-8B2B-974F7E8C9240

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