What you may not know: Week of May 20

I'm a little pressed for time this week, so please excuse the brief update. I did want to bring some attention, however, to a few items of note this week:

Funeral information for Mitchell Lundgaard

For anyone that may not have been aware, funeral information has been released for Mitchell Lundgaard, the Appleton firefighter shot and killed in last week's incident at the Transit Center.

The full schedule can be seen here. Follow that link for a map of Monday's planned processional and details for the visitation, scheduled for 3:00-5:30 pm at Alliance Church.

Out of respect for the victim and his family and to allow anyone interested to pay their respects, Monday's scheduled meeting of the Finance Committee has been postponed.

Community and Economic Development Committee, Wednesday, 4:30 pm

The Community and Economic Development Committee has a very busy agenda this week, highlighted by the first discussions of a pair of potential housing projects downtown.

This week the committee will be asked to make recommendations on a pair of proposed development agreements within Tax Increment Financing District #11, which generally spans the east end of downtown. The development agreements call for developers to build on a property at 320 E College and on properties located at 309 E Washington Street, 118 and 122 N Durkee Street to add dozens of residential units to the downtown marketplace and add millions to the property tax base in this neighborhood.

The development agreements call for the city to contribute to both projects but, as was also the case with development agreements for the Zuelke and Gabriel buildings, these are "Pay as you go" incentives. In both cases, the city is not on the hook to pay anything to developers until or unless the properties are developed and create enough increment (the increase in tax revenue resulting from the increase in these properties' value).

Furthermore, because both projects are within the city's TIF district #11, these properties can be financed without any impact to property taxes or the general fund. Any contributions made to these projects would be made out of the TIF district proceeds, not the general fund.

It's an exciting and active time for downtown development, and I'm excited to have a pair of low risk, high reward projects to discuss this week.

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.