What you may not know: Week of March 18

The Appleton Common Council will hold our regularly-scheduled meeting on Wednesday at 7 pm to take up items including the following:

Rezoning along Glenhurst Lane

Several weeks ago the City Plan Commission heard and discussed a proposal from a developer to rezone two large parcels near the corner of Glenhurst and Lightning Drive from CO (Commercial) to R3 (Multi-family). This proposal has drawn a fair amount of concern from neighboring property owners, many of whom built new houses in the area within the last few years under the assumption that the property was to remain commercial.

One of the challenges of this discussion has been the relatively wide array of property types allowed under R3 zoning. Just within a few hundred yards of this parcel, R3 zoning is being used for:

• Townhomes (to the south)
• A pair of senior living facilities (to the west)
• Apartment complexes (to the north)

While townhomes or senior living facilities might be an appropriate use of these properties and could create a low-impact, positive impact on this neighborhood, the neighbors are concerned about the possibility of apartments. Under the current zoning laws as many as 180 units of apartments could be built on these properties if rezoned. This could have a significant impact on the property value of the surrounding homes, none of whom had any reason to expect this when they built in the neighborhood.

I and several other alderpersons have heard from the developer proposing this rezoning and have been told that max occupancy and/or low quality isn't their plan, but as part of the rezoning process we have to consider all possibilities and cannot obligate the developer to follow their current plan once the property is rezoned.

At the Plan Commission a few weeks ago the vote was split on this issue, with the commission voting 3-2 to recommend approval of the change. I was one of the dissenting votes then, and I'm planning on voting against the proposal again on Wednesday night.

Vaping and e-cigarettes

For the past few months the Board of Health has been discussing relatively new developments in the tobacco industry and how they may or should impact the city's ordinances on smoking. 

As vaping increases in popularity we're seeing it more often in public spaces. At the same time we're also learning more about the chemical composition of what's breathed back into the air by someone using an e-cigarette. Secondhand material from an e-cigarette may lack some of the smell and chemical content of a traditional cigarette but, as we've come to learn, it still contains chemicals like dicetyl, linked to lung disease, benzene, and multiple heavy metals.

Last week the Board of Health voted to recommend the city expand our current smoking ordinances to include e-cigarettes, and ban them in all of the same locations where smoking a regular cigarette is currently banned. We've received some negative feedback on this, but I'd hope most people will understand and/or appreciate our efforts to protect them from unwanted secondhand materials indoors and in their places of business and other public spaces.

You can see all of this week's meeting agendas 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.