The Common Council met 09/03/2025. One of the items they separated out for an individual vote was an application for a special event permit by the organizer of the World Peace Festival event scheduled to take place in Pierce Park on 09/13/2025.
The application had been administratively denied because it was submitted 25 days before the event, but the city’s Special Events Policy that went into effect January of this year requires special event permit applications to be submitted at least 45 days prior to an event. The applicant was requesting a waiver to the 45-day deadline and approval of the permit.
The Safety and Licensing Committee had unanimously recommended approval of the application, and the Common Council also went on to vote 13-0 to approve the permit application.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
During the Public Participation portion of the meeting, one member of the public spoke on this item. During the Council meeting on 08/20/2025, the Common Council voted to strictly follow the Complete Streets Design Guide policy as it pertained to the reconstruction of Oklahoma Street even in the face of residents’ clearly voiced opposition. This resident opposed the Council giving grace to the applicant when he had not followed the Special Events Policy and was 20 days past the deadline when he submitted the application. Grace in this situation seemed inappropriate given the fact that the need to strictly follow existing policies was heavily leaned on as a reason to not change the proposed design of Oklahoma Street to be more in line with the expressed desires of its residents.
At the time of the Safety and Licensing Committee meeting, the application had been reviewed and approve by all relevant city departments except for Valley Transit which had not yet had an opportunity to review it. At the Council meeting, Mayor Woodford reported that Valley Transit had, since the committee meeting, been able to review the application and sign off on it.
Alderperson Denise Fenton (District 6) noted that when the new Special Events Policy was adopted last year, there had been discussion about how it would be implemented and it had been stated that the City Clerk’s Office would work with applicants of long-standing events because the policy change would be new for them. “So, I don’t really see making this exception as a departure from policy when said policy was adopted with the understanding that for the first year of new events that the clerk’s office would be working with them.”
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) also stated she was voting for this as a one-time exception due to the fact that the process was new. “So again, I’d just like it clear for the public that this is not something that we will regularly be trying to do is just make exception after exception after exception.”
The Council voted 13-0 to approve the special event permit.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1335556&GUID=6ECD5AF2-12E7-4E2B-969A-F176299B4E7A
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