The City Plan Commission met 08/27/2025. Much of the meeting was taken up with and overview and discussion of the draft update to the city’s Comprehensive Plan. Members of the public can review and comment on that here: https://www.planappleton.org/
Other than that, the commission took up two action items which they recommended for approval and reviewed two proposed updates to the city’s Municipal Code which will come back before the commission as action items later in September.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
DEDICATION OF A PORTION OF JOHNSTON STREET ALLEY FOR PUBLIC RIGHT-OF-WAY – A portion of the Johnston Street Alley behind the former Chase Bank building at 200 W College Avenue is technically still privately owned even though it is used as an alley way. The owner/developer of the building that was formerly the Chase Bank building and is now the home of Vault 202 formally dedicated that section of the street to the city for public right-of-way. This was more an issue of getting paperwork in order and will not result in any change to how the public experiences that area.
The basement of the building is located under a section of this street, so associated with this public dedication, the developer applied for a permanent street occupancy permit which the Municipal Services Committee recommended for approval.
ANNUAL REVIEW AND REQUEST TO APPROVE THE DOWNTOWN APPLETON BUSINESS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT (BID) 2026 OPERATING PLAN – Jennifer Stephany, the executive director of Appleton Downtown Inc, which is the managing arm of the Downtown Business Improvement District appeared at the commission meeting and briefly reviewed the annual report.
They had 204 contributing parcels and units in the BID and their value increased over the previous year by just under 14% to a total value of $208.3 million, which was a pretty substantial increase. The 2026 BID level was going to remain unchanged at $2.75 per $1,000 of assessed value with a maximum levy of $5,500 on any parcel and a minimum of $275 per parcel. That levy will generate $285,183 for the BID.
They were focused on achieving sustainability and growth for ADI and the properties within the BID through things such as their façade grant program and their business recruitment grant program. They also had a full calendar of events scheduled for downtown and was focused on promoting unique visitor experiences.
They wanted to foster community engagement and had some new programs including the Youth Advisory Committee and a brand-new podcast. Additionally, they were keeping Downtown Appleton clean and safe through contracts with power-washing companies and a care program with Riverview Gardens. They were also advocating alongside Pillars to help solve homelessness issues in downtown.
They were trying to attract new residents to downtown by supporting residential development, hosting neighborhood engagement programs and events, and recruiting businesses to meet the needs of downtown residents. They were still trying to get a grocery store to open a location in Downtown Appleton, but that was proving to be difficult.
Mayor Woodford commented that he often heard visitors to Downtown Appleton remark on how clean it was. That was only possible because of the efforts of the BID which had contracts for power-washing services.
DRAFT TEXT AMENDMENTS TO MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 23 ZONING ARTICLE III. SECTION 23-54 TEMPORARY USES AND STRUCTURES – This was an information item that gave the commission and opportunity to review proposed changes before they were brought forward for action at a later meeting. The purpose of these proposed changes was to eliminate duplication of staff effort. Currently there are a handful of temporary uses, such as firework and Christmas tree sales, that require vendors to get a temporary use permit through the Community Development department as well as a license through the City Clerk’s Office. Under the proposed changes, would still need to get a license which would be reviewed by the Community Development Department, but they would not need to get a temporary use permit also. On paper, the elimination of the temporary use permit would result in between $700 and $1000 in revenue to the city, but that would be potentially more than offset by the reduction in administrative staff time that would free city employees to focus on other things.
DRAFT TEXT AMENDMENTS TO MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 23 ZONING CREATING ARTICLE XI. SHORELAND-WETLAND ZONING DISTRICT REGULATIONS AND AMENDING ARTICLE XIX. SHORELAND ZONING – This was also an information item for commission review prior to being brought forward as an action item. The changes were prompted by the DNR which wanted Appleton to adopt a shoreland-wetland ordinance because a few of the recent annexations on the north side of the city have wetlands of five or more acres.
City staff mirrored the model ordinance that the DRN provided and also cleaned up a small section of the Municipal Codes existing shoreland ordinance to reflect some of the language in the DNR’s model code. City staff had wanted to customize the language of the new ordinance somewhat in order to clarify some language, but the DNR did not want them to do that and wanted them to adopt the model code as written with no changes, so city staff did not make the changes they had wanted to.
Mayor Woodford asked if there were issues with the model ordinance that could be adjusted while still remaining compliant. “Ultimately, you know, we want to make sure we’re compliant with our with our ordinance. On the other hand, the Department of Natural Resources does not write Municipal Code for the city of Appleton. So, if, if there are things that that we need to take a look at, I believe I speak for my fellow plan commissioners, we would be happy to entertain our recommendation, so long as we’re maintaining that compliance,”
Principal Planner Don Harp did not think any changes would be necessary and said that they had gone over things wit the engineering staff who would be administering this provision of the code and their comfort level was now good with the draft language in front of them.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1317588&GUID=2D15F102-5626-436A-A64A-0C739977D368
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