The Notes: Week of December 18 - December 22, 2023

Happy Pre-Christmas/Post-Hanukkah Week, Neighbors.  It's also a Full Council Week in Appleton city government so there will be meetings yet this week before the Christmas holiday.  (Next week's schedule is yet to be determined but I would suspect that it will be difficult to get attendance at any meetings that might be scheduled then!)

Below is what you can expect to hear about from this week's meetings:

Monday, 12/18/2023

Board of Zoning Appeals - 7pm  If you've been following this blog for a while, you know that this is one of my very favorite board meetings to review and to listen in on from time to time.  They haven't met since September so they must have been "saving up" agenda items.  There are three variance requests on this week's agenda:

• A homeowner on Badger Avenue would like to have a four-foot-high fence in the front yard where the maximum height allowed by municipal code is three feet.  This homeowner owns and operates a daycare there and apparently the existing four-foot-high fence has been in place -- out of compliance -- for years.  I wish that this homeowner could comply with the municipal code yet still maintain her daycare business.  I do not understand why license requirements for daycares require a higher fence than what is allowed by city code (or vice versa).  It seems to me that the city should look at this height restriction and perhaps change it to allow for more in-home daycare businesses. 
  
  Due to the rules and restrictions of granting variances, I do not believe that there is enough here to allow the granting of this variance.  A variance remains with a property despite the current owner's business use of the property and should be granted only due to some oddity or uniqueness of the property itself, not based on the current use of the property by its owners.  The standard is that, without a variance, the property would be rendered unusable.  That is not the case in this instance as the owner could choose not to operate the childcare business there.  However, the circumstances of this currently out-of-compliance issue make it hard to see how this owner would not get a variance out of sympathy for her predicament.  This one is quite the pickle. 
  
  
• A property owner on Clara Street would like a variance for a garage that is 4 feet from the home but a five-foot separation is required by city code.  The garage was just recently built with proper permitting from the city.  However, during a rough-in inspection by city staff, it was determined that the garage was built one foot too close to the home.  The original plans for this garage were hand-drawn and not to scale so the permit was issued without the city inspectors seeing how close the garage was to the home and the contractor did not call in the city inspectors for a stake-out inspection (a first step that is usually taken by a homeowner or builder).  The danger of fire spread from accessory structure to home is the reason for the distance requirement.  But the owner has confirmed that the garage will be finished with the proper "firewall" rating of drywall so that the spread of fire from accessory building to home is not an issue.  This one will likely be granted but the need for it seems to be the result of a bad process from start to finish on this garage construction.  
  
  
• The owner of a property on Seymour Street is requesting a variance to allow a six-foot-high fence thirteen feet from the property line in the "back" of the home.  Code requirements state that the maximum allowed is a three-foot-high fence and a twenty-foot setback.  This home is bordered by two streets, one in the front yard and one in the back yard.  By code this means that the property basically has two front yards and must comply with front yard setbacks on each street side.  The applicant has the ability to comply with the requirements of that property but is choosing not to do so and requesting a variance instead.  In general, a variance should only be granted if no other compliant options are available to a homeowner.  We shall see what the board members think about this issue and whether they will allow a variance here. 

Tuesday, 12/19/2023

Library Board - 4:30pm  Board members will look to approve the November 2023 bill register and cash flow statement, a small budget amendment, the upcoming Library Board meeting schedule, the city's new silica policy (mentioned here and to be approved by the full council the day after this meeting) and employee code of conduct, and review of the 2024 approved library budget.  There will also be a building project update and capital campaign update which come with the following statement: "Friends of Appleton Public Library and the Capital Campaign Committee continue to make strong fundraising progress. They have raised $10.3 million of their $12 million goal."  Only two million dollars to go.... 

Wednesday, 12/20/2023

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  The mayor will kick off the meeting with two big items -- the recognition of retiring Utilities Director Chris Shaw (who has been vital to the city's operations of water/sewer utilities since his hire!) and the awards presentation for this year's Appleton Christmas Parade.  After that, we will see the all of the items from last week's committee meetings come up for final discussion and potential approval.  Of note are the following:

• From the Municipal Services Committee:  A resolution (mentioned and referenced here) to use some of the "wayfinding signage" dollars in the 2024 budget for the Parking Utility to contract for a study on the best practices for the utility is up for denial because the committee members did not vote in favor of it last week.  I would like to see much more discussion on this as it comes highly recommended by Department of Public Works (DPW) due to the ever-changing downtown environment.  I believe that this study should be approved and undertaken since the utility has been underwater for a long time and taxpayer dollars continuing to keep it afloat is not a workable long-term solution for the good of the entire city.  What are your thoughts on this issue?  
  
  
• From the Safety and Licensing Committee:  Code updates on alcohol licensing and fireworks sales and a new city-sanctioned maximum tow service fee schedule are up for final approval.  All look satisfactory to me so I expect to be voting to approve them.
  
  
• From the Finance Committee:  A resolution to use some American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds (in the category of Community Wellness, Mental Health, and Violence Prevention) to purchase and maintain ten Flock license plate cameras for use in the Appleton Police Department (APD) for solving crimes is up for final approval.  (See my first discussion of this resolution here.)  This category of ARPA funds set aside by the city has $1M remaining in it for use before the end of 2024.  To me, this is the perfect example of the "highest and best use" of 10% of this category of funds and it offsets the dollars that the APD would otherwise have to use from their budget to pay for these cameras for the next five years.  Let me know if you agree or not. 
  
  Also from this committee is the potential approval of the use of $244,000 more ARPA dollars for additional support of the city's Parking Utility.  I held my nose and voted to approve this during the committee meeting.  I expect to do so again at this full council meeting.  But this just proves to me that we must do something about the losses that this city is sustaining in this area.  Think of how many other things that $244,000 of ARPA funds could have better supported!  It's a shame that we have to throw this "free money" from the federal government (which we all know was and is not free) at a losing parking utility and the majority of other common council members would prefer to vote against a study to help figure out how to close this gaping hole in the city's   finances.  
  
  
• From the Board of Health, the Human Resources and Information Technology Committee, and the Community and Economic Development Committee:  All of these committees voted to approve a new city Health Department position -- a Community Resource Navigator.  While I would not normally be one to easily approve the expansion of the city's health department, this new position makes sense as it will likely take a great deal of burden off of the APD officers and staff in assisting homeless and those otherwise in need of non-law enforcement services.  The funding for this position will come from federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant dollars which are expected to remain stable in the coming years.  As such, this seems a good solution to a growing problem in the city without needing property tax dollars to support it.  What are your thoughts on the creation and payment of this new position?    

There are no other major items on the full council's agenda.  I will not predict that the meeting will be a short one as that might just come back to bite me on Wednesday! 

I want to again encourage you to contact me should you have any questions or concerns on any of the above items or anything else city government related.  Thank you so much for all of your feedback thus far and for reading these weekly blog posts to stay up-to-date on what's happening in our city government.

Have a great week!!