The Municipal Services Committee met 09/23/2024. Around 45 minutes of the hour-long meeting was taken up with a public design hearing for 2026 street reconstruction projects. Multiple residents who lived in houses along the streets slated for reconstruction attended the meeting and expressed their concerns and questions regarding the proposed projects. Recurring themes were concern about the loss of trees, the loss of parking caused by the proposed narrowing of streets, and questions regarding the logistics of getting to and from their houses during the pavement projects.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
There were four street paving projects proposed for 2026.
- Alexander St from Melrose Ave to Glendale Ave
- Melrose Ave from Alexander St to Ballard Rd
- Bell Ave from Summit St to Richmond St
- Bellaire Ct from Atlantic St to cul de sac
CONCERNS ABOUT MELROSE PROJECT – The street was being narrowed to 26’ from curb to curb and parking would be limited to one side of the street.
CONCERNS ABOUT BELL AVENUE PROJECT – The narrowing of the street to 26’ from curb to curb and the associate loss of parking was raised as a concern multiple times. One commercial property owner expressed concern that parking restrictions were not enforced appropriately; additionally, his commercial building was close to the sidewalk and he was worried that his building would be damaged or dirtied during the project. A handicapped person expressed worry she would have difficulty getting to and from her house during the project. The potential impact of the project on property values was also mentioned.
CONCERNS ABOUT BELLAIRE COURT PROJECT – Parking and accessibility during the project was a major concern because the street dead-ends in a cul de sac and there is only one side street available to park on and place trash and recycling receptacles. The street was home to multiple elderly and disabled individuals with mobility issues. 18 trees that were either ash trees or in poor condition were slated to be removed as part of the project; residents were concerned about the loss of so many trees. Some desire was expressed by some neighborhood residents to turn the street into a one-way street. Access by emergency vehicles during construction was also inquired about.
STAFF RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS AND CONCERNS
TREES – During project planning, the city arborist will drive through each of the streets that will be reconstructed, look at each tree, and mark down which ones are in poor condition and which ones are ash trees. Either of those issues automatically results in trees being removed regardless of how close they are to the construction. Additionally, the forester assessed how large the terrace is and how the street reconstruction will impact the existing trees on the terrace. Depending on the side of the tree and the extent of the root system, some trees cannot be saved even if the street is narrowed and the excavation is kept further away from the trees. They do also assess how many trees can be saved by narrowing the street. There is no official report generated about the reason why individual trees are slated to be cut down.
PARKING – Construction crews do their best to fill in holes and make the streets as accessible during non-construction hours as possible. They also do their best to provide accommodations to people with mobility issues so they can get in and out of their driveways. Per Project Engineer Jason Brown, “I’ve been doing this for 16, 17 years, and I haven’t had a project yet that we haven’t figured it out. So, it’s not always convenient. It’s not always the easiest thing to get through, but we do we do the best we can to get people in and out during the project.”
GARBAGE COLLECTION – Residents generally need to pull their garbage and recycling bins to the closest side street so that they can be picked up by the collection crew. There was the possibility that Bellaire Court would need to be reconstructed in phases because of the long distance it was to Atlantic Street which was the only nearby side street and the fact that Atlantic Street did not have a lot of room to accommodate extra garbage and recycling bins. The general timeframe for a street reconstruction project was 4-6 weeks, but if Bellaire Court needed to be done in phases this would extend that timeframe to 6-8 weeks.
NARROWING OF STREETS – The City followed the Complete Streets design guide for street reconstruction. That guide looks at things like traffic calming, safety, multimodal use, and parking. For local streets (which all of these streets are), the guild identified 26 feet from curb to curb as the standard width. This necessitates the limiting of parking on only one side of the street. Narrowing a street is a way to calm traffic. It is also environmentally beneficial, increasing green space and decreasing the impermeable surface. For safety reasons the Fire Department does not want streets to have less that 20 feet of width for driving on any street, so 26 feet provides 6 feet for parking and 20 feet for driving on.
Project Engineer Brown said that, given the concerns expressed during the hearing regarding the parking needs on Bell Avenue, they may have to go and look more closely at whether or not parking on only one side would be adequate for the neighborhood’s needs.
ACCESS BY EMERGENCY VEHICLES – Emergency vehicles will be able to access the neighborhoods even when the streets are under construction. Construction crews as a matter of practice fill in the areas they excavate during the day right away so that emergency vehicles are able to access the street.
The item before the committee was only a design hearing with no associated action. It was slated to come back to the committee as an action item on 10/07/2024, and then it would come before the Common Council for a final vote on 10/16/2024.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1226866&GUID=354E065E-5186-42F1-AB9B-8C762FD2D2C0
Be the first to reply