Monday, September 26, 2016

What you may not know: Week of September 26

It's a busy committee week for the Appleton Common Council, and here are some of the items of interest:

Parks and Recreation, Monday, 6 pm

On Monday evening the Parks and Recreation Committee will be asked to make a recommendation on a request to make modifications to the city's Recreation Program Fee Waiver Policy. The goal of the policy is to ensure that all of the city's children have access to recreation programs and activities, including our two pools, regardless of household income.

The updated policy, however, contains some language I find somewhat troubling in the definition of "family." Under the updated policy, a child would be required to live at an address greater than 50% of the time to be eligible for "family" benefits. As someone who grew up with divorced parents, I have experience leading to both philosophical and practical issues regarding this suggested policy.

I'm hopeful that the committee will reconsider these proposed changes.

Municipal Services, Tuesday, 6:30 pm

In my last two updates (last week and two weeks ago) I've mentioned a dozen streets coming up for reconstruction in 2018 that were coming up for design approval. Ten of those 12 streets were approved at council last week but two, Mary Street and Catherine Street, were referred back to committee for further discussion around proposed compromises.

Both of these streets are in an older portion of the city where we come across a frequent issue: The trees planted along the terrace are large enough and have deep and wide enough root structures that it's very difficult to reconstruct the existing street at its current width without having to remove them. This creates a difficult choice, as saving the trees usually means narrowing the streets and creating issues related to parking and access.

Community and Economic Development, Wednesday, 5 pm

In my last two updates I've also mentioned the city's ongoing Community Development Block Grant process, which this year includes a city staff request to allocate $200,000 for land acquisition for a "small house community."

We first heard about this request two weeks ago, and at council last week I referred it back to committee for further discussion related to the following questions:

  • Staff has chosen to call these proposed homes "small" instead of "tiny," but I'd like more clarity on what that means in terms of square footage.
  • Currently, the city's zoning code does not allow new construction houses to be less than 900 square feet. At committee two weeks ago I received conflicting answers regarding what would need to be done to allow for a project involving smaller homes.
  • The city's portion of this project is slated for property acquisition, but I have yet to hear if that means we'll be owning the properties long term, donating them or selling them. If we're selling them, I do not know where the proceeds would go.
  • The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), who oversees these grants, requires that projects meet several criteria to ensure they're helping low-to-moderate income people. I do not know what, if any, steps we can take or plan on taking to ensure these properties end up with those that need help.
I'm looking forward to a robust continued conversation on this topic.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.

Monday, September 19, 2016

What you may not know: Week of September 19

The Appleton Common Council will meet for our regularly scheduled full council meeting on Wednesday night, but we have a busy week of special meetings between now and then:

Appleton Redevelopment Authority, Tuesday, 10 am

On Tuesday the Appleton Redevelopment Authority has been called to review and consider approval of a development agreement for the former Foremost Dairy site along the Fox River, just south of the College Avenue bridge.

The proposed agreement with Alexander Company & Iconica calls for a senior living facility with approximately 99 units to be constructed on the site in Phase 1, with a projected assessed value of $15.7 million. The second phase could add an additional ~$2 million in assessed value via single-family homes or condominiums.

The agreement also includes financial assistance for the project via Tax Increment Financing, or TIF. The city's TIF contribution would be 25% of the tax increment value of Phases 1 and 2, not to exceed $4,267,500.

Tax Increment Financing is a frequently used tool to spur development in places where it would not happen without some level of assistance. It's a somewhat complicated process, but here's a quick attempt to explain it:

  1. The value of a property or collection of properties (and as such, its existing tax contribution) is determined. The amount of property tax revenue generated by that property is frozen for a period of time. 
  2. At this point the municipality involved (in our case, the city) can borrow against the "increment," the increased revenue they will receive in the future due to the increased value of this area.
  3. As the value of the property rises due to the development, the increased tax revenue generated by its increased value is used to pay off the debt.
It seems like there's a frequent misconception about how this process works: In the case of tax increment financing, no general fund (citywide property tax) dollars are used. The borrowing is contained and repaid by the TIF district, and does not impact the city's overall tax structure.

Community and Economic Development Committee, Wednesday, 6:30 pm

Elsewhere in significant transactions, on Wednesday the Community and Economic Development Committee will meet in special session to make a recommendation on staff's request to purchase 19.41 acres of property along the city's northwest boundary in the Town of Grand Chute. Assuming the purchase goes through, the property would be annexed into Appleton.

The requested selling price for the property, located at 210 W. Edgewood Drive, is $610,000 including due dilligence costs. That figure could go down if initial wetland delineation shows that large portions of the property would not be buildable. The funds needed for this purchase would come from the city's Industrial Park Land Fund and would not impact the general fund or property taxes.

Maintaining an adequate supply of commercial and industrial property for future development is critical to the ongoing growth of the city. Combined with a recently purchased property adjacent to this one, the city would have slightly less than 25 new acres, pending wetland delineation and utility connections, available in future years.

Common Council, Wednesday, 7 pm

Wednesday's Common Council meeting may be delayed due to a pair of special committee meetings scheduled to happen before we get started. With that said, once the meeting gets started our agenda will include the following items we discussed in last week's update:
  • Last week the Finance Committee voted unanimously to recommend rejecting all bids on the Water Garden Redevelopment Project at the Scheig Center in Memorial Park due to bids coming in well over budget. In the meantime we've been able to do some of this work in-house and will have a smaller project to bid out next spring.
  • The Municipal Services Committee also voted unanimously to recommend approval of the designs for 12 streets scheduled for reconstruction during the 2018 road construction season.
  • The Community and Economic Development Committee voted to recommend approval of the city's portion of the 2017 Community Development Block Grant funding, including $200,000 towards a "small house development."
Of those three, the third is the only item I expect to be controversial at this week's meeting. Committee discussion on the Block Grant topic raised several important points, including the fact that our existing zoning code does not allow the types of structures that our "small house development" would likely entail. I'm looking forward to more discussion to learn more about this topic.


You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.




Monday, September 12, 2016

What you may not know: Week of September 12

The Appleton Common Council has a nearly full slate of committee meetings scheduled for this week, and here are some of the highlights:

Finance Committee, Tuesday, 4:30 pm:

On Tuesday the Finance Committee will be asked to make recommendations regarding the proposed awarding of several city contracts for work this fall, and one proposed rejection of bids.

The proposed rejection is for a project to redevelop the water garden at the Scheig Center in Memorial Park. The 2016 budget included $65,000 for the removal of the boardwalk and reconstruction of the water feature at that facility as part of an effort to improve accessibility and maintainability in that area. Unfortunately, the project received two bids and the lowest was $164,608.66, nearly $100,000 above budget.

Early indications show that the timing of this project may have been an issue, as contractors who decided to bid are heavily booked through the end of the year and may have built overtime labor rates and other premium costs into the bids.

Assuming the committee and council follow staff's recommendation to reject all bids, this project will likely be postponed to 2017 and re-bid in the spring.

Municipal Services Committee, Tuesday, 6:30 pm

As we near the end of road construction season, it's time to start looking ahead to future projects. This week the Municipal Services Committee will be asked to approve design recommendations for 12 streets scheduled for reconstruction during the summer of 2018:

  • Lynndale Drive, from Leonard Street to Everett Street
  • Lincoln Street, from Olde Oneida Street to 230 feet east of Olde Oneida Street
  • Marquette Street, from Division Street to Oneida Street
  • Summer Street, from Morrison Street to Drew Street
  • Catherine Street, from Washington Street to North Street
  • Mary Street, from North Street to Pacific Street
  • The alley west of Perkins Street, from Charles Street to Perkins Street
  • Kamps Avenue, from Fire Station #5 to to Douglas Street
  • Drew Street, from Glendale Avenue to Pershing Street
  • Sanders Street, from Seymour Street to Verbrick Street
  • Reeve Street, from Linwood Street to Badger Avenue
  • Winnebago Street, from Linwood Street to Badger Avenue
Holding design hearings for these projects as early as possible is important because it gives us time to make any necessary changes or discuss for as long as we need without having to worry about deadlines for the following year's budget or issuing construction contracts. Again, these projects are scheduled for the summer of 2018.

Brief summaries of the recommended designs for each street are available here, in each item's description. If you have any further questions, I'd recommend you contact the Department of Public Works or email me (district13@appleton.org) and I can refer your question to someone who will be able to answer it.

Community and Economic Development, Wednesday, 5 pm

Finally, as budget season approaches, so too begins work on the 2017 Community Development Block Grant process. This week the Community and Economic Development Committee will hold a public hearing for constituent input on priorities for the available dollars and take the first steps to allocate an estimated $528,000 in available federal funds.

A portion of that money is proposed, per usual, to find several city projects that meet the funding guidelines of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development:
  • $80,290 for the city's Housing Rehabilitation Loan Program
  • $60,000 for the Appleton Housing Authority
  • $40,282 for the city's administrative costs for grant disbursement and monitoring.
Additionally, the Community and Economic Development Department is asking for $200,000 to fund property acquisition for a proposed "small home community." The initial goal for this project is to create five affordable housing units.

If this project is approved it will leave $147,428 available for local agencies to apply to receive at a future date. Last year the award process for these remaining funds was very competitive: Even after one applicant rescinded their request and another received no funding, four subrecipients of grant funding still received significantly less than their original request.

You can see agendas for all of this week's meetings and the full schedule at the city's Legistar page.

Keeping you informed on issues that may impact you around the city is one of my primary goals as an alderman. Good governance happens in the open, and I remain committed to raising awareness on the issues coming before us.