Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon. I now call to order the Wednesday, 04/08/2026 meeting of the Appleton City Plan Commission. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic that stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

All right. Roll call of membership has been taken. We'll note that Commissioners Palm, Robbins, and Edinburgh are excused. And we have Director Lori Youngworth representing the Department of Public Works with us today. Wright need a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting.

So moved.

We've got a motion and a second to approve the minutes. Is there any discussion of the minutes? Hearing none, all those in favor please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? With none opposed, the minutes have been approved. Alright. We have one public hearing this afternoon. This is item 20 six-four 17 regarding special use permit number 126 for a year round shelter facility located at 314 North Appleton Street. And before we open the public hearing, I'll hand it over to Don Harp, who is going to tell us about this one.

All right. Go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. The request is for a special use permit for a shelter facility at 314 North Appleton Street. This application was submitted by BCS Companies Incorporated.

They currently operate a shelter facility at St. Joe's Parish at 410 West Lawrence Street. Also, if the special use permit goes forward, they would plan to cease operations at their current location and move them to this subject site. The property is currently zoned CBD Central Business District, which may permit a facility as a special use permit. The proposed shelter facility would be operating on the 1st Floor with 2nd Floor administrative offices, year round shelter seven days a week.

The evening operation would begin at p. M. And would end at nine a. M. The applicant provided the detailed plan of operation that spells out the volunteer responsibilities, daily procedures, and security measures.

The plan of operation was consistent based on the current operation shelter that operates at St. Charles Parish. We did make some slight modifications to that to kind of fit the subject site. Staff in early March did a courtesy inspection so that conducted a walk through the facility with the applicant with the police department fire inspections division and myself and at the conclusion of that meeting we went through the necessary public and our building improvements that would need to be complied with that would satisfy Building Inspection Division commercial code requirements as well as fire code standards. So that would all be conducted through a plan review and outline in our staff report.

We did identify various stipulations that we need to occur before the operation could begin at the subject site so with that and our analysis of the special use permit provisions staff is recommending approval subject to the conditions outlined in our staff report just wanted to point out that if this proceeds to counsel just want to make a correction our staff report we did identify this this would proceed to the council meeting at the April 22 but this would go to the April 15 meeting. So I just wanted to point that out. Also attached we not attached, but we made copies of a letter of concern that was submitted to the owners of Rookies Bar and Grill. So the Planning Commission has that for consideration prior to action.

Thank 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?

Welcome. Please state your name and affiliation for the record, please.

Lisa Strandberg. I'm executive director of Pillars, 605 East Hancock Street. I wanted to remind you all that our board three years ago adopted a vision statement. We envision a creative, compassionate community that collaborates to ensure everyone has a place to call home. And the folks from St.

Joseph Parish, Providence Place, have been creative, compassionate partners for the last two years in providing shelter during extreme weather. We all know that homelessness cannot be solved by one organization alone, and it takes a whole community to do that. Homelessness is a housing problem, and we have a housing shortage here in our community. Until that housing shortage is resolved by all of us working together, interim solutions are called for. Intermittent solutions are called for.

And that is what we understand this shelter to be, that it'll operate during extreme weather as we have operated together and collaboratively for the last couple of years. The folks, as I said, behind this shelter have been collaborative partners with us, and we are grateful for that. We intend to work alongside each other to work to ensure that our operations are not duplicative, that our operations are efficient and effective together, that gaps are filled, and that by working together and with others in the community that everyone will eventually have a place to call home. Not a shelter bed, a place to call home. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else who wishes to speak? All right. This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? This is a public hearing. Is there anyone who wishes to speak? All right.

Hearing no further, I declare this public hearing closed. We'll move now to the associated action item. This is 26Dash0418 request to approve special use permit number 126 for a year round shelter facility located at 314 North Appleton Street as shown on the attached development plan and per the attachment of plan of operations to run with the land subject to the conditions of the attached staff report memo and approve attached resolution which will require a two thirds vote of the common council if it moves to the council. Again 2018 looking for a motion.

Move to approve.

We have a motion and a second to approve. We'll open the floor for discussion. Yep, Alder Fenton, District 6.

Thank you, Chair. Just and I'm not sure who would answer this, but given the letter that we received, I know that when we had a previous application from the same organization, they worked with some of the neighbors. And my question would just be, have they had some discussion with rookies or anybody around?

Does staff have any knowledge of dialogue between the organization and rookies, or the proprietors or rookies? Do we know?

I'm not aware of any, but we did forward the letter of concern to the applicant to share their concerns so that if there was dialogue, they understood what were their concerns so they can start that conversation. So I'm not aware of that they had that or not.

Okay. And I'll just ask, you're aware applicants have been made aware of the letter of concern. So we can confirm that the applicants have been made aware of the letter of concern that was submitted by the proprietors of rookies and intend to open up a dialogue with them. Okay. Nodding in the affirmative. Okay. Looked like yeah, go ahead. District 2.

Go ahead. Thank you, Chair.

Just Sorry, Elder Lambrecht, yes.

Thank you, Chair. So I just want to thank the folks here tonight and for Executive Director Strandberg's comments. I know that homelessness is a significant challenge in our community. And there aren't enough beds, let alone enough houses for everybody in our community. And so I just wanted to thank this organization for stepping in and trying to do something to address that concern here in our community.

Thank you. Further discussion? All right. Alder Fenton.

Thank you. In the same vein as Alder Lambrecht, I just have great admiration for both the compassion and the tenacity of the folks involved in this. When it didn't completely work out at the church facility, they got together and went out and got a building. And I think this is a recognition of the problem that we have and how we have to work together to solve this problem. And I'm absolutely obviously within the conditions, I'm absolutely supportive of this.

Director Youngworth.

Just from a DPW perspective, I wanted to add that we see this firsthand in the parking ramps pretty frequently as well. And I think having a resource to be able to help in that effort is going to go a long way and be extremely helpful, not just for the users, but for us as staff as well, as it's something we routinely manage. So I'm very thankful to see this and see the effort put forth for

it. Thank you.

All right. I'd like to just draw everyone's attention to page four of the staff memo. I think this is important for not only the Planning Commission to recognize but also for public understanding of our review process and the requirements associated when we're dealing with a special use permit. And so, I'll just read from this memo. When reviewing an application for a special use permit, the city must determine if the applicant's proposal satisfies municipal code requirements and conditions.

Pursuant to section 23 dash six six sub c sub five of the municipal code, the plan commission and common council must provide substantial evidence supporting their decision to approve, approve with conditions, or deny the Special Use Permit. Substantial evidence means facts and information other than merely personal preferences or speculation directly pertaining to the requirements and conditions an applicant must meet to obtain a special use permit and that reasonable persons would accept in support of a conclusion. Any requirements and conditions listed for approval must be reasonable and to the extent practicable measurable. So I call our attention to this as we review this item and plan commission prepares to vote, and also for the common counsel, should they eventually take this item up, that the burden is on us to provide substantial evidence. And the staff memo that we have before us represents the evidence that we are citing as we take up the recommendation coming from staff to approve, subject to the conditions in the report.

So as this discussion continues in the community, also important for everyone to recognize that as the council reviews this, there is a burden on the legislative body to meet these conditions and to provide substantial evidence. So as the discussion continues, which I expect it will, just want to make note of the fact that this body, the Plan Commission, and also the Common Council have to present substantial evidence. Again, that substantial evidence in support of the recommendation for approval subject to the conditions is provided in the memo that was prepared by staff. Is there any further discussion from the Commission? We have a motion and a second to approve.

All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? With none opposed, that item has been approved. And we'll now move on to the Common Council. The next meeting of the Common Council is scheduled for April 15 at 7PM here in Council Chambers. Again, this item will move on to common counsel at that meeting. As a reminder, a two thirds vote of the common counsel will be required for approval of this item. Moving along to our next action item. This is 20 six-four 19, request to approve the Glenmore Park final plat as shown on the attached maps and subject to the conditions in the attached staff memo and Don Harp is going to tell us about this

thank you mayor we're at the final plat stage with Glenmore Park this is phase one The Planning Commission reviewed and approved the preliminary plat back in July '5. So we're just working through the final plat phase on this residential subdivision that would consist of 83 lots and six out lots. This also this phase will interconnect with other phases that would deal with Glenmore Park and also Glenmore Reserve, which would be to the north and to the west. So I think in the packet, we did provide a map that kind of shows that street network connectivity and also some additional lots. So with the technical review that staff prepared, we're recommending approval subject to the conditions in the staff report and we'll continue to work with the developer and developers engineer to address all concerns prior to signatures of the final plat.

Okay. Great.

All

right. Looking for a motion.

Move to approve. Second.

We have a motion and a second to approve. We'll open the floor for discussion. Any discussion from the commission? Well, I'd just like to take the opportunity during discussion to thank the applicant and everybody involved in putting this plan together. Certainly a site with its complications with respect to access and connectivity.

I just want to express my appreciation for the collaborative approach to get to this point. So I want to thank the applicant and the landowner and all involved in helping bring it to this point. So with that, if there's no further discussion from the commission, we have a motion and a second to approve. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? All right. With none opposed, that item has been approved. We have no further action items and no information items on our agenda. Entertain a motion. Right. We've got a motion and a second to adjourn. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. All right. Any opposed? We are adjourned. Thank you.