Board of Zoning Appeals - Regular Meeting

Afternoon. I would like to call to order this meeting of the City Planning Commission for Wednesday, 12/10/2025 at 03:30. Mayor Woodford is excused today. I am Denise Fenton, the Vice Chair, so I'll be running today's meeting. Please rise and join me for 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, indivisible, with liberty and justice for

all. Roll

call of membership. Let the record show that in addition to Mayor Woodford being excused, Commissioner Palm and Commissioner Robbins are excused today. Our first item is the approval of the minutes from our previous meeting, twenty five-fourteen fifty two, the city plan minutes from 11/12/2025. Can I get a motion?

Move to approve. Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Are there any updates or corrections to the minutes? Hearing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye. Aye. That passes four-zero. We have no public hearings or appearances, so we will move directly into our action items. The first is 20 five-fourteen fifty three, request to approve the Comet Ridge final plat as shown on the attached maps and subject to the conditions in the attached staff memo. And I think Don Harp is going to talk to us about this one. Correct? Okay. I think you're on.

All right. Thank you. The request is for final plat approval for Comet Ridge. This is phase one. Back in October, the plan commission reviewed and made recommendation for the preliminary plat.

So this is getting into the final plat approval stage the boundary encompasses approximately 10 acres will be 34 proposed residential lots there'll be two out lots in this development one would be designated for cluster mailboxes and the second one would be for a trail extension for the Apple Creek Trail which is all lot to the proposed lot layouts satisfy the r1b zoning district development standards and staff is recommending approval subject to the conditions in the staff report also just want to point out we did attach a phasing plan for the Planning Commission this is anticipated to be broken out into four phases so the last slide should show the entire development which is similar to what was submitted for the preliminary plat just to give the idea of the street network connections how the lots are going to be laid out, and kind of the phasing will be gravitating toward Richmond Street from Hay Meadow extended. So it's going to go to the to the west.

Okay. All right. We need to get a motion to get this on the floor, please.

Move to approve. Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. Any questions, comments from commissioners on the plat? Just to clarify, Don, so we will see final plats for the other phases as well?

That's correct.

Okay.

So when we get it the second phase comes in it'll come through for final plotting so there's a window of opportunity to still come in with final plots even though the pre plaid you know with there's a certain period of time to just plaid it via final plaid rather than coming back to do a pre plaid if, you know, the statute allows for that extension of time.

Okay. That makes sense. Thank you so much. All right. If we have no questions or comments, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying

aye. Aye.

That passes four-zero. Next item is twenty five-fourteen fifty four, request to approve the release of drainage easement for Lot 15 Of Lumbini Estates, tax ID number 30One-nine-four160One-forty1 as shown on the attached maps and subject to the owner agent completing and recording an appropriate correction instrument with the Calumet County Register of Deeds. And Lindsay Smith is going to talk to us about this one, yes?

Yes, yep. So just a brief overview, this was something that was per request of the developer and the engineering firm for Lumbini Estates as they were wanting to retain portions of some trees that was on Lot 15. And so with that, smittled to the city, our Department of Public Works reviewed this request, and then a drainage plan was actually revised. And so based on that, this drainage easement can be reviewed upon the approval from Public Works Department.

Okay, thank you. Any questions, comments oh, I'm sorry, we need to get a motion on that one.

Motion to approve.

Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. All right, any questions or comments from commissioners on that? All right, seeing none, we'll go ahead and vote. All those in favor, please signify by saying aye.

Aye.

That passes four-zero. All right. We have no more action items, but our information items include the comprehensive outdoor recreation plan update. And Lindsay Smith has a presentation I don't want to call it a presentation, but has some thoughts on that for us.

Yes, yep. So just a quick this is an informational item for the Plan Commission. So the Park and Rec Commission actually has been reviewing and actually did recommend approval on Monday evening to common counsel for the proposed plan that was included in the packet. And the reason I wanted to bring this in front of you today is just an informational item, is that wanting to just show you where there's the overlap between the outdoor recreation plan and the city plan commission roles and responsibilities. And so the key piece, and I pointed to it in the memo, is really looking at the proposed future, and it's here on the screen, the proposed park acquisition map that typically has a lot of overlap with Community Development Department and the City Plan Commission.

And so just a general scenario, and as we're working through what we saw even today is a plaque coming before the Plan Commission is when there is a developer interested in developing a property in the city, we look to various adopted plans to see and make sure what's being proposed aligns with long range plans of the city. And so one we do reference is the comprehensive outdoor recreation plan, and with that we look to see if the proposed development is an area that we've identified for a future park. And if it is, we then have those conversations with our Park and Rec department to see is that park location ideal within this proposed development, or is it more on the edge and it may be handled in a different capacity. So this is a great tool that we utilize when we're looking at concept reviews of a subdivision plat, and we work behind the scenes before it even gets to plan commission. But you often see in our staff report, if land is being dedicated for a park, we will reference this map.

And we say per the comprehensive outdoor recreation plan, the acquisition map has identified a future park that we need for our community. So as I mentioned, there's not action that's needed by Plan Commission, just I wanted to make sure you understand what is being recommended at council for adoption and how it will overlap with future actions of our Plan commission.

Thank you. Any questions, comments before? Go ahead.

I just got one. This is one of my favorite trails in the city. I didn't see it identified in the plan. And I know this is really a forward thinking document, but I was spending some time looking at the inventory because it was really cool to see all the neat things and opportunities for recreation we have. I didn't see Apple Creek Trail in there, and I was just curious if that's I don't think I missed it, so I suspect it might be because it's on property that's managed by a public works as part of a drainage facility, Apple Creek Corridor. I was just curious if staff knew off the top of their heads why something like Apple Creek Trail wouldn't be included in the inventory.

So this is specifically looking at what we need for future neighborhood parks, and so it's not getting into the needs for trails. Within the plan, it did identify the existing trail master plan map and that is actually a standalone planning document that's completely separate. So that goes through a whole separate review and planning process for the trails master plan. And one thing just to note for plan commissions knowledge, we are something we're talking about internally right now with various park and rec department, department of public works, and community development is actually creating a consolidated bike and pedestrian plan that would be a uniform plan for the city of Appleton. So right now we do have some various plans that one is trails, one is on street bike lanes, different departments.

That is a separate planning document that would get into the Apple Creek Trail.

So the fact that there are some trails listed in the inventory in this document is it's kind of ancillary and that is not the driving factor in this document.

To my knowledge I would say yes. You know, it probably looks at that connectivity that the trails may to some of these recreation amenities. It's something I can look into further and get back to.

Okay.

As I do any of you have any further insight on this? No? Okay.

Okay. Yeah. It's mostly just a curiosity. But yeah, I can just kind of follow-up and see what went into what was decided to go into the inventory and not.

Okay.

All right. Thank you.

So I have a question on so we talked about the future park area. So we just voted for a final plat approval where the developer is going to make payments in lieu of land dedication for. So if you're working with a developer on a future development and where we're talking about a future park, is that something that staff would I wouldn't say require, but push the developer to say, rather than making the payment saying, we have this in our future park, how would staff then address that?

Yes, yep. So within our subdivision code, it actually gives that, is we need to look at and evaluate if a long range plan identifies a future park is needed. And so if it is, then we consult with Park and Rec department, confirm that is still a need for our community. And then we would inform that developer that we've identified a future park that's needed within your proposed development. And we would work with them to really find that best fit to make sure it's still feasible, and we want that development to continue forward.

And then we evaluate, there's actually a calculation on how much land they're dedicating, and how that equivalents to how many lots are being created. And so there's a calculation within our subdivision code that would determine, you know, we need five or eight acres based on the number of lots that's being created. So that's something upfront we would talk to them about and then they won't be paying that fee. That fee would not be required for the development.

Thank you. Any other questions, comments? All right, well thank you very much for that. And apologies, I hadn't watched the Parks and Recreation meeting yet. So there may have been some more robust discussion in their action item. All right. We have no other information items, so that takes us to item

eight. Motion to adjourn. Second.

All right. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Aye.

We

are adjourned. Thank you all very much for working with the substitute.