Community Development Committee - Regular Meeting

Hello, and welcome to the Wednesday, 10/22/2025, Community Development Committee here at the City Of Appleton. I call this meeting to order. Next, let's say the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call of membership will start from my left.

Vered Meltzer, District 2. Denise Fenton, District 6. Baya Jones, District 10.

Josh Lambrecht, District 1.

Wonderful. First we're going to go ahead with approval of the minutes in the previous meeting, item number 251,240, CDC minutes from teneighttwenty twenty five.

Move to approve.

Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Nays? Abstentions? That is four-zero. May I also say that Alder Heffernan is excused. I apologize. I forgot to say that. Wonderful. Next, we'll move on to public hearing and appearances. Item number 251,241, Community Development Block Grant, CDBG, Notice of Funding Available and Community Needs for the 2026 program year starting 04/01/2026 through 03/31/2027. This is associated with action item number 20 42. This is a public hearing.

Is there anyone who wishes to speak? I do have to say it three times, so I'm not forcing you. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? Since there is no one wishing to speak, this public hearing is closed. Now on to our action items. Item number 251,242: request to approve preliminary 2026 program year community development block grant, CDPG, core and city department program funding as specified in the attached documents. Do I have a motion?

Move to approve.

Second.

All right. And Deputy Director nope. Specialist Olivia Galleon, you are mic number six. District 6.

Perfect. So every year as an entitlement community, the city of Appleton expects to receive community development block grant funds from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. And it's partway through the prior program year. So for us, this was in June 2026 as we were working on our department level budget. We began to forecast approximately what we think the 2026 community development block grant application or allocation would be.

And then from there, we start our allocation process, which has three major phases. So the first part of the allocation process is to allocate funds to our core projects. These are projects that are typically done on an ongoing basis and are critical to our community development block grant program. They include our housing rehabilitation loan program, community resource navigator position, which is a newer position for us, in the past couple of years, our CDBG administration, Fair Housing Services, which is a required component of community development block grant funds, and then our partnership with the Appleton Housing Authority as well. So those core projects are submitted to us.

We kind of see what those budget amounts would be in, and then work through how much we would have left available for the two application process pieces we have, the first of which is city department applications. So then the application process is open for our city departments, and they're kind of the next priority in that allocation process. And this year, the applications were opened September 18 and available till October 17. When we began the budgeting process in June, we estimated the 2026 award would be about $570 sorry, dollars 576,096. This is just an estimate based on our prior year allocation and kind of what we've gotten over the last few years.

But it is highly dependent on the federal government's budget and then any changes at the HUD level that may be coming or not. So we are making preliminary allocation recommendations right now that may change depending on where that final budget comes in, during 2026 once we get those numbers. But like I said, we had the core applications decided, kind of our determined what we would recommend, then moved into opening the city applications for just under a month. And during that period, two applications were received, one from the inspections department and then one from or the inspections division of community development, and then one from the parks and rec department. And so according to our CDBG policy, the city or community development committee makes a recommendation to common council based on staff recommendations for all core and city department CDBG programs.

And then the next part of the allocation process would be once we're ready, we'll open up the remaining funds to external applicants. And that goes through a bit of a different process. But for today, we're just looking at those core projects that you see listed and then the city department to project requests. And so the core project allocations totaled $303,717 and the city department allocations totaled $177,000 And then there's a proposed summary of each of the projects in, attachment a. And so then this would leave a remaining amount of $95,379 to be available to, external nonprofit organizations in the community.

And again, these numbers may be adjusted slightly. Typically, if we do get more or less, the adjustments would be made first with that external amount, and then also to make sure we're meeting other requirements that we have related to public services caps and administrative dollar caps. So mentioned in the memo as well is first that there is a 15% cap on the amount of funds that can be used for public services. And we expect the community resource navigator position, which is considered a public service, to take up the 15% of that. And again, that number would be adjusted slightly as needed once that official allocation amount comes in.

And then the other portion that has a cap is our administrative funds, which includes fair housing. So that is both what you see under admin and fair housing. And so right now with those allocation recommendations, it totals $112,467 which is at 19.52% of the funds. So we're all good on meeting that 20% cap as well. And then like I said, the remaining balance of funds at about $95,379 would be made available to external nonprofit organizations through our competitive application process, and they'll have about a month to complete those applications.

And then the applications, once they're reviewed by staff and ensured that the projects are eligible and that they fit within those caps or requirements we have, then they would be passed along to our CDBG advisory board for further consideration. And the advisory board would then make preliminary recommendations to CDC, and then those would be carried on to common council. And then any adjustments that would need to be made once we have the actual allocation amounts would then go back to CDC and common council. So all of this today is preliminary, but we're just hoping to get approval for where our allocations and city department projects came in at.

Four points, only because I will not remember about how to do that. So last year, how much so there's 95,000 this year left over. What was last year's amount?

Do you know the exact amount? I wanna say somewhere

You can 112,000. Have it.

I want to say somewhere in, like, 150, 145. Was 12,000. Okay. It was a higher amount than what we have this year. Last year, I don't believe we had any city department level projects.

So that was part of it. But we did have a higher request for our housing rehab loan program project last year. So sometimes there's fluctuations between core projects or city departments in terms of how much of the allocation is taken up through that phase of the allocation process. I would say overall too over the past few years, we've had a shift in additional prioritization of core and city level projects for what we can provide at the city services versus the external applicants. So there's been a general decline over the past few years in what's been available to external applicants for the competitive allocation process.

And then that was another question I had was the funds for the rehabilitation loan program. Last year, I believe, was the big chunk that kind of got it back to normal level. This is just kind of the regular?

Yes. This is more continuation just to make sure that we do still have funds available for the project. And the way the housing rehabilitation loan project works is that it is a revolving loan fund. So when somebody sells their house or the ownership otherwise transfers, the loan is repaid to us, and then we reinvest those dollars into a new project. So some years, we've gotten really high levels of repayments, especially when interest rates are lower.

People refinance their mortgage and it makes sense for them to go down, so then they repay us. But over the last year or so, because interest rates have been higher, we haven't seen as much of that. And so request more, and some years, we request a little bit less for, that program. Perfect. Two more.

I've been on this committee every year I've been here, so forgive me if I don't have my years right. There was a year where the Appleton Housing Authority gave back unused funds. Reallocated. Reallocated. I that makes me nervous. Has the has the housing market changed so that their services are in reach and they're able to use these funds?

Yes. They've generally been spending down the allocations quickly in recent years in terms of the amounts that they've been receiving their projects to they provide both the, down payment assistance portion and the rehab portion. I think it's pretty common for them to need to supplement the rehab portion or for that portion to be there. So in terms of, though, their recent performance was spend down, I don't have any major concerns with, yeah, their ability to spend it down. They've been pretty quick on getting those requests spent down in recent years.

I'm real good with spending money, so they need help. And then lastly, just kind of for everyone, it's a unique environment right now with funding. But when you estimate, you guys are very close. Your estimates are very realistic, and I just kinda want that said that, yes, it's a unique time, but you're you're good at what you do.

Correct? Thank you. Thank you. Well, hopefully, we'll be on track for where we are. And, again, you know, it's always good for us if we get more than we thought, then we get to add a little to our projects. So that's always ideal, but we're just trying to make the estimate as close to what we think we can get to lessen the burden of readjusting as much as possible.

Perfect. Thank you. Elder Fitton, I think

you had a question. I did. So I have two questions. Thank you, Chair. So the first is kind of related to the estimate and the timing.

I know at the federal level they don't have

a budget yet. They're not near a budget. Is there are there any concerns that some of the programs, we don't know what the allocation is, there's some risk to any of the projects if not necessarily if the allocation is low, but if we don't know or if we don't get the funds at the time we expect them.

Thank you. So I guess my reaction there is, as Olivia touched on, this is preliminary, right? And so I think any entity that's involved in this early stage process understands that there's some potential for modification of these numbers including substantial modification. I might take a different mic if that's okay.

I think you need one from this side of the room.

Yeah. Eight is eight is from that side. Sure.

Apologies about that. The reason for doing it now, which probably feels like it's very far in advance compared to the actual program year starting in April 2026, is about when we receive the actual allocation amount from HUD, we're able to hit the ground running, and we're not working through weeks or months of an allocation process. So yes, there is the potential, of course, for these numbers to need to be modified. But based on past performance, I mean, CDBG has been around for over fifty years now. I think last year, they celebrated the fifty year anniversary of CDBG a federal program.

Feel pretty confident in our estimates. We try to be realistic, if anything, conservative with those estimates. So of course, there's the possibility we'll need to change, but feel that it's warranted to do it now so again we can hit the ground running in April when the program year actually opens.

Thank you. And my next question is on the city projects, I absolutely do not dispute that the park, the playground project for Colony Oaks is a good project. Is there any concern that those funds might be better spent on either an outside project or another city project that has more direct effect to communities, people in need?

I think that's a fair question and one frankly that the committee could deliberate on if warranted. We'll say that when we open up the internal application process each fall, which includes application forms being sent out to all directors and deputy directors, try our best to find projects that could be eligible based on pretty tight CDBG criteria. As Olivia touched on, there are years where there are no applications that are submitted. There have been times in the past where our colleagues in Park and Rec department have explored potential projects and, for one reason or another, weren't able to deem them eligible to meet CDBG criteria. So I don't foresee this being the type of project that will be coming through on an annual basis.

But in this case, given the fact that Colony Oaks Park is within a low to moderate income area and parks obviously have natural benefit to the surrounding neighborhood, we felt confident bringing this forward as a good internal project.

Just another note on that, I think, for consideration is with our public facilities projects like this one would be. They are typically able to impact a larger number of beneficiaries because there's just a higher number of people that can go enjoy the new facilities at the park than additional funds for a housing rehab project or another type would. So that's one benefit of the public facilities is that they're more open in general to everyone and that anyone can enjoy that improvement. The other thing about it is, that this improvement would, improve that ADA accessibility of the playground and benefit, I think, a large number of community members who maybe right now don't have the best ability to access the playground just because of the outdated structure of it being over 20 years old. So that was another, piece of it that we felt was meeting some of the CDPG goals of making sure that our community facilities are open and accessible to all residents.

Thank you. I appreciate that answer. Thank you, Chair. I just kind of wanted to get it out there in case there were some concerns. I do understand that the team does your jobs with great care and concern. So thank you.

Any other questions? Wonderful. All right. So let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That is four-zero on that action item. Our next action item is 251201, request to approve the third amendment to the development agreement, phase two, with Merge LLC for a mixed use development located on the Southeast Corner of West Washington Street and North Appleton Street, tax ID number 30One-two-twoOne-two-two70Two-zero and tax increment financing district number 11. Do I have a motion?

Move to approve. Second.

All right. And go ahead. Okay.

So this is a request to approve the amendment to the development agreement for Merge Urban Development. There this is phase two of their project. So when the original development agreement was come forward, it was the phase one that is now complete. And then phase two is the green grass in front of City Hall currently. I know a lot of people are really sad.

It might be going it is getting going it's going away, but I think it'll be good. Either way, so with this development agreement, they actually still have to close on the property. And so that's the biggest thing that's gonna be changing this development agreement. They pushed their they were extended to close 3x in the past, and so now we have come to agree agreement with the developer. And so they will be closing by 04/30/2026. There's a couple other changes agreement as well. Actually, the closing the purchase price is gonna be adjusted a little bit. Not adjusted. Just is the wrong word. But there was a $40,000 credit for a no build easement, and so it was 590,000.

It is now 550,000 with the credit. Let's see. Couple other things just because of how phase one went. There is some changes in the language restricting balconies being built into the right of way. So that is one thing that we have heard, and we are making sure that will not be included.

Let's see. We have changed language as well, included language as well that residential houses cannot be used for tourist rooming house. Let's see. We also I actually talked to the architect today, and I made sure to let him know that there is a local Houdini historic marker that should be included in the site plan as well. So that'll be fun to see how they incorporate it.

Right now it's on a concrete pedestal on the corner of North Oneida and Washington Street. Alright. Either way, this this will just help the developer be set up for success for the future of hit this phase two. We are confident in him. I know there's gonna be two developments hopefully going on at the same time with the transit center and this logistics will be good. And they with the closing date in April, permitting and groundbreaking should be by fall.

Of all the very important parts of this, the the marker. Yeah. Sure. Are we we just letting the developer decide what they wanna do with it? Is there any, like, hey. What are

you doing with it? Sure. I mean Okay. So we it's kind of up to their their discretion. So our site plan approval is all internal. But I guess if you want input, you can I I you can do

it now? Don't wanna cause any issues. I just wanna make sure that we're respecting the monument and not just ditching it for the sake of progress. It is not being ditched. I will let

you know that. No no ditching of Houdini. No. It is not. Middle name. We're very serious about That's why it is put in there. And so the language does say that has has to be in a publicly viewed location on the property. If there's additional language you want us to add, we can absolutely add it. We worked with our attorney's office to make sure that it was taken care of. I trust the attorney. Okay. Yeah.

Alder Fitt? Thank you, Chair. First, thank you for the balcony language.

Yeah.

As someone who walks that sidewalk now. Also, this is the second development agreement in a row where we've modified the terms to allow them to start receiving revenue in the year they reach the defined assessed value rather than a year after. Is this something

that we're going to incorporate into these agreements going forward? I would anticipate to I think it is a good incentive for developers. It'll make us look better as a developer friendly community. Okay. Thank you. Alder Maltser.

Thank you. Since the closing date was pushed off so much, how confident are we that now it's set?

Very confident. So a lot of the reason why it was pushed back is the developer he's a developer in multiple other states, and there was a property he was actually selling. And so in order to be able to have the capital to close on this property, he needed to make sure that sale went through, which it did, and we followed it. Made sure made sure it did. Alright. So, yes, we were very confident. Also, the fact that I talked to the architect today.

So Oh, okay. Awesome.

Well, I'm I'm glad to hear that.

Yeah. No questions for me.

Wonderful. So we can go ahead and vote on that. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? Any abstentions? That passes four-zero. To which I would look to Attorney Gladden and say, Do we need to then do the next one? No. No.

What do I, as a chair, need to say to make that official? Calling the next item. 20Five-thirteenO6, request to approve the offer to purchase from Consolidated Construction Incorporated, its successors or assigns, for Lot 41 in the South Point Commerce Park Platte Number 44041 East Endeavor Drive, tax ID number 30One-nine-five8Hundred-four, consisting of 4.627 acres at a purchase price of $43,000 per acre. Do I have a motion?

So moved.

I'll second.

Wonderful. Lillian, you still covering my gun.

Yep. That is cool. Okay. Thank you. I'm gonna start off with, in my whole career, this is the first clean offer to purchase I've ever received. So this is this is fabulous. Usually, there is if you look at the end of the w or WB form, there's always something in there, this contingency, blah blah blah blah. There is nothing. So we are really happy to present this offer. Asking price is for 3,000.

That is what they're offering for Lot 41 in the new phase, this phase four of South Point Commerce Park, they're going to be constructing a manufacturing warehouse facility. I hear it's like a dog food. So that'd be kinda interesting. Actually, I think it's like dog protein powder. Yeah. So that's exciting. If you guys have high performance dogs, check them out.

I do.

But the closing closing would happen in ninety days, which is awesome to hear. That would take bring us ninety days to binding of sentence, which was October 17. That would bring us to 01/15/2026. That was great. They know that this the use is going to work here, and they'll go through the proper site plan process. They've actually already had a presubmittal meeting for a site plan.

Perfect. And so asking price, 43,000. They are paying 43,000. Mhmm. So that's clean. Per acre.

Yes. Per acre.

Thank you. And just, again, to have this out there, you personally go through and validate, are the asking prices up to date? Is this realistic? You compare. And you did this a couple months ago?

Yes. Okay.

So this is this is up to date.

Yes. It is. Yep. And so next year, maybe we'll see an increase. Maybe we won't. Okay. Yeah. I work with the assessor's office on that.

Perfect. Yeah. Any other questions or comments?

I just had a quick, it looks like there was mean, at least it's marked that there's a a finance, con or contingency, but there's no details with regards to what that financing might look like on page seven ish or six, right at the bottom of six. And I mean, it's yeah. Okay. You're on the right place. Six. Maybe I'm on a different

Can you do the the line number as can

you see the Oh, yeah. 355. Thank you. I mean, I'm not concerned, since it seems like, everything is fairly clean, but

it if I'm not mistaken That's so, like like, when you buy a house, that's, like, your financing contingency. It's like, you can't buy a house unless your banks is like, you get a loan.

Yeah. I was just wondering, is that a contingency that we have in here for their financing of the purchase itself and if there's anything specific, or is that not necessarily because it's a a commercial property and not a residential?

Oh, residential. Yep. So this this w what is it? WB 13, this does cover that because it is vacant land offer, it has yes. This this form, like, that's why we use this form. We require them to use this form, and it covers it covers that. Yes.

All right. Let's go ahead and vote. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any abstentions? Oh, not abstentions. Objections. Abstentions. Chair votes aye. That is four-zero. And that passes. So we are not going to need for our next item. We have no information items. So our next one, number eight. Move to adjourn.

Second.

All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Four-zero. We are adjourned. Thank you.