The proposed design for the Oklahoma Street reconstruction project has resulted in a lot of pushback from neighborhood residents and has also revealed some of the practical implications of the city’s new Complete Streets design standards that were approved by the Common Council in April of 2024.
The residents of Oklahoma Street have two main concerns regarding the proposed design of their street reconstruction—the loss of on-street parking on one side of the street due to the narrowing of the street to 26’ from curb to curb and the loss of trees.
I reached out to the city with a few questions on the situation which Traffic Engineer Eric Lom and City Forester Mike Stanonik were both very helpful in answering. In the screenshots of our conversation, Mr. Lom’s answers are in red and Mr. Stanonik’s answers are in green.
LOSS OF ON-STREET PARKING – Oklahoma Street’s loss of parking on one side of the street is not unique to Oklahoma Street but will be the norm moving forward. As part of the new Complete Streets Design Guide, the City of Appleton is prioritizing creating and reconstructing local and collector streets with on-street parking on only one side.
[For what it’s worth, I don’t remember the reduction in on-street parking being a point of focus during the discussions about the Complete Street Design Guide. Rather, pedestrian safety and traffic calming were the items I remember being talked about the most.]
NARROWING OF STREETS TO 26’ – Per Traffic Engineer Eric Lom, the Complete Streets Design Guide calls for residential streets to be narrowed to 26’ when there is “average to low parking demand.” The increased parking related to the street’s proximity to West High School does not seem to warrant reconstructing the street with two-sided parking. Mr. Lom explained, “In the case of on-street parking on Oklahoma Street, we made numerous weekday and weekend observations, noting an average occupancy rate of about 15-20% across the entire Mason-to-Richmond segment. The area nearest Mason St (and the high school) definitely does experience some school-related parking during pick-up and drop-off times, which would inherently be limited to one side if parking were removed from one side.”
LOSS OF TREES RELATED TO STREET RECONSTRUCTION – Per City Forester Mike Stanonik, “Tree preservation during construction projects has many factors to consider such as tree species, location, tree health, structure, maintenance history, proximity to underground utilities and hard infrastructure.” A lot of existing, mature terrace trees were not planted with those factors in mind and are, therefore, difficult or impossible to preserve. Beyond that, mature trees simply don’t tolerate major soil or root disruptions well.
Going forward the city is trying to reduce these issues by planting proper tree species and placing them in locations that favor “the best chance for long term survival in an urban environment along with the possibility of accommodating established trees in future reconstruction projects.”
In the past, the city has been able to preserve some mature existing trees by narrowing streets by a foot on each side during a reconstruction project. Going forward, a street that is narrowed to 26’ would not be able to be narrowed any more in subsequent reconstruction projects. Per Mr. Stanonik, “Certainly narrowing streets even a foot can help with tree preservation during a street reconstruction in SOME instances, but it’s not always guaranteed.” However, he does not believe a full street narrowing would restrict tree preservation in subsequent reconstruction projects. “Again, picking the correct tree and getting it in the best location for the long term health, vigor and future growth of the tree puts the odds in the favor of tree preservation. It’s worth noting that trees are typically planted half way between the curb and the sidewalk, so when a street is narrowed (and the terrace area gets correspondingly wider), the newly-planted trees naturally end up further from the curb.”
Be the first to reply