The Notes: Week of March 18 - March 22, 2024

Welcome to this week's alderman blog post, Neighbors.  Thanks for stopping back in for a read.  

This week is a Full Council Week but happens to have a few other meetings on the schedule as well.  Here is your regular rundown of what you can expect for the week:

Tuesday, 03/19/2024

Library Board - 4:30pm  The board will review and look to approve the library's February 2024 bill register and cash flow report and a small March 2024 budget amendment.  Later in the meeting, they will review the latest building project update in which we find the following statements:

• Opening day for the new library is on track for early 2025.
• Friends of Appleton Public Library and the Capital Campaign Committee continue to make strong fundraising progress. To date they have raised $10.9M of their $12M goal.

While I'm pleased that the private fundraising has come this far, I am curious as to how soon these efforts will net the needed $12M to successfully complete the project without additional city budget/taxpayer funds.  

Wednesday, 03/20/2024

Community and Economic Development - Special Meeting - 6pm  When this committee met last week, there were some closed session discussions involving the item on this week's special meeting agenda -- the potential for TIF funding for the US Venture remodeling/updating of "The 222 Building" (222 W College Avenue).  At that time, a development agreement between the city and US Venture was not yet available for review... but now one is.  Here is a memo regarding the gist of the agreement and here is a copy of the draft agreement for your review.  What it boils down to is that US Venture's project to revamp The 222 Building will increase the value of the property from the current $12.9M to an estimated $29.3M.  The increment (the difference between the before and after values) is $16,389,500.  The TIF assistance the city is looking to offer US Venture for this is ~$2.1M (about 13% of the added tax value created when the project is complete).  So... should the city grant US Venture just over $2M to go forward with this project?  Is the increase in property value on the tax rolls and more jobs within the downtown area of the city worth that?  

There are some other downtown lots that US Venture owns which are also a part of the proposed development agreement.  Per the agreement, the smaller of the lots are to be offered for sale by US Venture for further development by the purchasers (or by US Venture themselves should they wish to develop them) to further increase the value of those properties in the downtown area.  The agreement also offers US Venture incentives to develop the larger two of the lots to allow US Venture the rights to secure further parking permits for US Venture employees in the city's Green Ramp.  The proposed agreement states that US Venture will be offered the right to annually acquire a minimum of 650 parking permits in the city's Green Ramp so that the business can accommodate the parking needs of their employees who are expected to be working in The 222 Building.  

What are your thoughts on this proposal?  I have a "once bitten, twice shy" attitude about development agreements and TIF assistance between US Venture and the city due to the amount of infrastructure spending the city has already undertaken surrounding the original proposed Appleton headquarters of US Venture (the so-called "Bluff Site") and the fact that that original site remains undeveloped (so it has not increased in value on the city's tax roll).  While this currently proposed development agreement contains a clause which states that it will supersede any earlier agreements so the city will not have any further requirements to fulfill on the earlier agreement, there is nothing compensating the city for the already spent taxpayer dollars.  And the fact is that the Bluff Site remains undeveloped, adding no value to the tax rolls as was initially proposed.  Should this 222 Building agreement be approved, the city will lose any leverage it might have with US Venture to further development on the Bluff Site.  And while I believe in the rights of any property owner to do what he/she/they will with an owned property (within the current laws and regulations), I am concerned about the languishing of the Bluff Site property.

I'm interested in your thoughts on this and look forward to hearing from you.    

Safety and Licensing Committee - Special Meeting - 6:45pm  This committee did not meet last week so they have a few pre-full-council items up for approval in this special meeting.  There are a couple of new liquor licenses, a couple of changes of agents for existing liquor licenses, a couple of premises revisions for liquor license holders, and a few cigarette/vaping device license applications to approve.  None of these looks like anything other than routine so I expect this to be a quick meeting (and apparently so did whoever scheduled it for fifteen minutes before the full council meeting).  

City of Appleton Common Council - 7pm  Since there are zero items in the mayor's business portion of this week's full council agenda, we will get right into the thick of things right away this Wednesday night.  Here's what I expect will be separated by council members for further discussion before votes:

•  From the Municipal Services Committee:  For a few spring/summer seasons, Rye Restaurant on College Avenue has had a window planter box filled with seasonal flowers on its front window.  This requires a annual permit from the city for a "street occupancy permit" as it technically occupies a portion of the amenity strip/sidewalk (overhanging it).  There was no issue with the approval of this item at last week's committee meeting.  But subsequently, all aldermen were sent an email questioning the safety of this overhanging planter box for any visually impaired folks who might be using the sidewalk near it.  While I empathize with the visually impaired and want city policies to help ensure their safety, I have not heard any of any complaints or of any incidences/accidents here in the past and, with the permit, the restaurant must carry appropriate insurance coverage for any issues which might arise with this planter box placement.  As such, I am inclined to vote to approve this permit.  What do you think?
  
  
• From the Community and Economic Development Committee:  The 222 Building development agreement to be debated at the special meeting noted above will again be taken up, this time by the full council.  Again, I hope that you will let me know your thoughts on this.
  
  
• From the last meeting of the full council:  As I was unable to attend the last meeting of the full council, I watched a replay of it later last week.  Due to my absence, I did not cast a vote on the item regarding the proposed changes to the hours of operation for the city's two yard sites. 
  
  After watching the meeting replay, I asked the mayor and city clerk to add this item to this week's full council meeting for reconsideration (and a re-vote).  
  
  The proposal was mentioned briefly here. The changes came from much discussion regarding the city having two yard waste site (while many nearby cities of this size only have one) and the cost of this duplication of services.  I believe that the proposed changes should be approved, but the vote was tied during the last council meeting and therefore failed to pass.  The proposed changes are not detrimental to the service of the community's yard waste drop off needs.  And the county's Holland Road waste facility ("the dump" on the east side of the city, bordering District 13) has wide hours of availability for those looking to dispose of yard waste outside of the proposed new hours of the city's yard waste sites.  What do you think?
  

While it seems as though Wednesday evening might be a short meeting night, I suspect that there will be much discussion (and perhaps a closed session discussion) on The 222 Building development agreement.  After that meeting concludes, though, we will have a lull until the next alderman blog post for the next upcoming Committee Meetings Week.

I hope that you will share with me your thoughts or concerns about any of the above items.  I always look forward to hearing from my neighbors!

Happy St Patrick's Day Sunday!