The Notes: Week of July 5 - July 9, 2021

Happy federal holiday today, neighbors!  I sure hope everyone had as great a holiday weekend as my family and I did.  Watching the sunset and then the Festival Fireworks from the pathways on the Thrivent property was a wonderful experience!

This week -- "Full Council Week" -- in Appleton city government, there are two impromptu meetings before the regular Wednesday, July 7, 2021, meeting of the full common council.  Here's a brief rundown of the agendas for those two committees: 

• Community & Economic Development Committee - 6:15pm  The committee will discuss the awarding of a contract for the design/development of the College Avenue North Neighborhood Plan project.  The city has been searching for a consulting firm that will help plan and design the portion of the city that includes the library and the downtown transit center.  This contract would be for the 2021 budgeted amount of $100,000 and the planning work would begin as soon as August 2021.

• Safety and Licensing Committee - 6:30pm  In this meeting, we will discuss the approval of multiple license renewals for taxicabs, tobacco sales, and a pet store.  Also on the agenda is an informational item regarding some neighbor noise complaints for a liquor licensee (Core's Lounge on College Avenue) that was brought to the committee's and the full council's attention in previous weeks.

The meeting of the full council kicks off with a public hearing regarding the addition of verbiage to the city's municipal code to allow for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units (JADUs) within the city.  I mentioned this topic when ADUs/JADUs came to the City Plan Commission for discussion in June.  

The idea behind the addition of these structures as options in the city is to increase the amount of affordable housing in Appleton.  It will no doubt be a nice option for those who are hoping to add separate dwelling units on their single-family lots for their aging parents.  My concern with this was that of neighborhood character changes that could come with these ADUs/JADUs being constructed and used as Airbnb's.  But there are apparently other codes (including state codes and requirements) with which home owners must comply before optioning their homes (or ADUs!) as temporary rental homes/Airbnbs.  City staff has also done a very thorough job of adding code language that will (one hopes!) allow for the building of ADUs/JADUs that conform with neighborhood standards and will not detract from the safety or proper enjoyment of homeowners in neighborhoods in which they are built.  A matrix of the whats and hows of ADUs/JADUs in Appleton (assuming the approval of this item by the full council) is as follows:

Other items for consideration at the full council meeting include items from the committee meetings held during the week of June 21 - June 25 and the impromptu meetings mentioned above.  Also up for debate are two other updates to the municipal code: one to amend what electrical work a homeowner can perform on his/her property (versus requiring an electrical contractor meeting state licensure requirements) and one to disallow pole buildings and metal shipping containers as garage/accessory building structures in residential zoning districts.  The pole building portion of the latter is a bit disconcerting to me as I have seen some very nicely built pole buildings which satisfy all other requirements of city codes that would not detract from the quality and character of our city's neighborhoods.  The libertarian in me would prefer to have that portion of this code revision changed to allow for pole buildings but not shipping containers.  Do you have any thoughts on this?  If so, please share. 

The last item of interest that is up for discussion and vote in council chambers on Wednesday is a resolution regarding political signs on city-owned property.  It is already a fact (per the city attorney) that "any unauthorized sign, regardless of its content, that is posted on City property is subject to automatic removal."  But this resolution specifically calls for the removal of political signs posted on city property that is rented/leased by another party.  In my opinion, the spirit of this resolution is that parties who lease property from the city of Appleton must give up First Amendment rights to free speech since they would be prohibited from posting signage of a political nature on that leased property.  I take real issue with that!  

There are currently five city properties being leased by private parties, each with different lease end dates: Basil's (patio), Appleton Yacht Club, Supple Group (Heritage Park area), USA Youth right here in District 13, and the Appleton Family Ice Center.  The city attorney's office recognizes that this resolution on its face disregards the First Amendment rights of lessees of city property and, with suggested amendment verbiage, believes the city can negotiate with lessees (during new lease/renewal negotiations) a prohibition of political signage on leased property.  I feel that this negotiation -- and indeed, this resolution -- is unnecessary.  Very few people know, for instance, that the city owns the USA soccer fields in our district.  So there's really very little implication to most Appletonians that the city endorses *any* signage on that property.  And disallowing property lessees from having a voice in the political happenings in the city is wrong of the City of Appleton to ask.  If there is a city- or state-wide political initiative related to the youth and families that frequent and use the USA Youth complex and the USA Youth board of directors is not allowed to post signage of their support or opposition of the initiative on the property they pay to lease, what good does that serve?  I believe that this resolution is a solution to a problem that really does not exist in Appleton.  As such, I will be voting not to approve it, regardless the city attorney's amended verbiage to address the issue through lease negotiations.

Do you have an opinion either way?  Please share it with me!  I'm interested in any and all feedback from my District 13 neighbors. 

Thanks for joining me here again.  Have a safe and beautiful first full week of July!