Minutes
Sustainable
Greater Green Bay Task Force
Thursday,
9/17/2009, City Hall Room 604
3:00 PM
Members
Present: Nic Sparacio, Dan Lindstrom,
Ned Dorff, Josh Beaton, Mary Haupt, Rich Krieg, Sue Perz,
Karen Kohlbeck, Crystal Osman, Kevin Vonck, Amy Kox, Lisa Evenson,
Kathy Lefebvre, Molly Collard
1. Call
meeting to order
Nic
Sparacio called the meeting to order and stated that he would be chairing the
meeting as Paul Linzmeyer was out of town.
Introductions were made.
2. Approval
of minutes from the August 20, 2009 meeting.
Motion by N. Dorff, second by L. Evenson
to approve the minutes of the August 20, 2009 meeting.
Motion carried.
3. Future
City Planning Department projects – Nic Sparacio
N.
Sparacio stated that P. Linzmeyer asked that he provide some insight as to what
the Planning Dept. has been up to and especially things that might be on the
horizon that would give this group the chance to have an impact and to get
involved in. He stated that will begin
with sharing some practices that are happening in the planning and zoning areas
that promote sustainability and then get into some recent and ongoing projects
and finally what projects are on the horizon.
Nic gave a power point presentation as follows:
Current Planning Practices – Planning by its nature is very
close to sustainability; making sure that future generations have the same or
better opportunities as the current generation.
He stated that the Planning Dept. has been talking and thinking about
doing things along the line of sustainability long before it became popular/trendy. He
said they are doing a lot of things along the sustainability lines such as the
Sustainable Community Development Code Framework which is a comprehensive tool
put together by the Denver University Law School which looks at things that
communities do, decisions they make, practices and codes they have that effect
their day to day operations and they try to put it into a sustainable context. He referred to a daft of eight areas they try
to touch on including 1) Environmental Health and Natural Resources 2) Natural
Hazards 3) Land Use and Community Character 4) Mobility and Transportation 5)
Community 6) Healthy Neighborhoods, Housing, Food Security 7) Energy and 8) Livability. Nic stated that there are subcategories in
each of these classifications and said these are some places that the City’s
Planning Dept. fits in and said there are some places where we don’t fit in.
Climate
Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction – He stated that the city allows mixed-use
development by right in selected zone districts. He said the city’s zoning code underwent a
major overhaul in 2006 and we incorporated some mixed use zoning districts that
are pretty progressive. We allow for
residential use where you have a business and home in the same place. The city allows for shared parking especially
in the downtown area. Nic said sidewalks
are required in all developments and new subdivisions, connecting with adjacent
sites. The city is allowing recycling
facilities in appropriate industrial and commercial districts, on a smaller
scale. The City allows for reducing parking requirements for mixed-use
developments in mixed-use districts. Nic
said the City allows for conditional uses versus permitted use, adding that
conditional use permits are more difficult and need the approval of the Plan
Commission and City Council. He stated
that we have mixed use developments that are permitted by right, citing home
occupations conducting a business out of their house. Nic said we have minimum floor area ratio requirements, a development has to cover a certain
percentage of the lot with a building.
The City limits the number of garages allowed on each residential lot to
1-2. We prohibit urban level developments (more than 1 residential unit/acre)
outside defined urban service areas. He
showed a map of the far east side of the city and said we have portions of the
city that are still unserviced by sewer that are
outside of our development zones and they are zoned rural residential and they
have to developed on private septic system in those rare cases. He said it’s basically a holding zone and
said we’re not allowing inefficient development to take place, sewer and water
needs to be extended.
Coastal
Hazards – We are applying FEMA’s Community Rating System program that provides
flood insurance reductions for communities adopting “no adverse impact”
practices in the floodplain. The City
established floodplain regulations that meet NFIP requirements and we have
adopted regulations that do not allow increases in densities in hazard prone
areas. Nic stated that we have adopted
new standards that are going to work to put a hold on density within the flood
plain areas. The city has adopted
floodplain regulations that add a minimum height or freeboard requirement of at
least 1’ above base flood elevation. Nic
said the DNR requires every community in Wisconsin that does flood plain zoning
to do this. K. Lefebvre commented that
someone on E. Shore Drive who rebuilt their home after a flood said the
basement had to be five feet above. Nic
responded that the first floor elevation is what needs to be above.
Bicycle
Mobility Systems – Nic said we have eliminated free or low cost on street
parking in the downtown and said the city permits exchanging at a four-to-one
rate, bicycle parking for car parking if you provide parking for four bicycles,
you can trade for one car parking slot. Karen inquired if a business requests
to have a bicycle rack put in, does the business incur that cost? Nic responded that he is not certain how we
work with that in the downtown but said that is something we should look at in
the future. Kathy said if we are going to encourage wider bicycle use, we need
a big campaign to educate the public.
Nic agreed and said encouragement is the last step. Eliminate single or limited use zones in
neighborhood and community centers. He
said we are getting there for bicycle mobility but still have some work to do
with the Olde Main Street district.
Housing
Affordability – Nic said the city allows for accessory dwelling units in
residential districts but in most cases they require the conditional use
approval. He said in our zoning ordinance we allow for town homes, duplexes and
single-room occupancy buildings in residential zoned districts. Revise or remove unnecessary dimensional
standards that act to prohibit these building types (e.g. minimum lot widths
greater than 20 feet). Nic said our
minimum lot requirements don’t go down quite that small but said in some cases
like townhomes, they go down to 25 feet and said we do have that flexibility in
place. Ned inquired about the maximum number of people that can live in a home
and asked where they can find out information.
Nic referred him to the Housing Authority and Integrated Community
Services and said the zoning ordinance does define what a family is and the
city looks at it on that basis. Remove large minimum lot size regulations, he
said our minimum lot sizes are very flexible and very oriented toward efficient
development to have the ability to allow for diverse housing. He said we have four main residential zones,
R1, R2, R3, Rural residential. He reviewed what was included in the various
zones in the past and said now the code allows for mixed housing in certain
areas. D. Lindstrom mentioned the Financial Programs in place that assist with
upgrading/improving homes and converting a two family to a single family home.
Food
Production and Security – Nic said the City allows for conservation
subdivisions that concentrate housing on small areas with the intent of
preserving green space for gardens and food production. He said the City allows
for farm stands, outdoor sales and display of food and includes the Farmers
Markets. He stated that the city allows for
permit grocery stores in business and residential zones (allowance for small,
corner stores in R districts). He
discussed an urban services boundary to restrict development outside of
designated growth areas and said the city has had a pretty progressive and
strict development policy in place since the early 90’s and said it’s now been
codified into the subdivision ordinance and said depending where you are
located in the city service area and how well you can be reached with sewer and
water and other infrastructure, you are going to pay different assessments for
these services.
Recent and Ongoing Planning Projects –
South Broadway
Rezoning; 50 years of non-conformity reversed as the tagline he placed on
it. Nic showed the specific area that
the Planning Dept. looked at from Seventh Street to Liberty. He indicated that he and Derek Lord
inventoried every land use in the area, took pictures and talked to people on
the street and came up with a hodgepodge of everything from warehousing and
manufacturing, single family homes to barber shops. He indicated that most of this was built
before there was zoning and said somewhere between 1950 and 1958 the city
changed the zoning in this area from residential to industrial. Nic said the hope was that the residential
would go away and the area in decline would have businesses moving in. He indicated a typical approach is to move
out, tear down and build new but that didn’t happen because there is no money. He said the people who live there like it
there, inspite of the coal piles, the noise, the
odors, dust, etc. Nic said even though
people were not able to get mortgages, they are still finding ways to improve
their homes and make it look like a decent neighborhood. Nic said there was no solution in the zoning
ordinance and the city created a new classification of zoning district called
Special Purpose Residential Light Industrial and said they wanted to make it
possible for people to get mortgages, to have the existing properties be
conforming.
In
terms of economic impact in this district, Nic said there is a minor impact on
redevelopment opportunities with the major impact being that people will have
the ability to finance homes. In terms
of environment, affordable housing is in close proximity to employment and
there are walkable and bikable
neighborhoods. He said pride of
ownership and resulting upkeep is a benefit as well. Nic stated that crime and
blight will be improved with the new zoning and said there is affordable
housing and can now be maintained as such.
The
East River Trail – The Missing Link, as he refers to it. He said the idea of having a trail connection
along the East River through the Main Street corridor has been around for a
while and the City’s Comprehensive Plan talks about it. He showed where the trail is presently and
where they would like the link to be to tie it all together. He said it’s an extremely challenging area to
try to get a trail in and said the Olde Main Street
Inc. has been the driver behind this. He
indicated that the trail would enhance access to and the attractiveness of Main
Street businesses and brings together the regional trail system in Green Bay’s
downtown and affects a CDBG Impact area and provides redevelopment
opportunities. A trail along the East
River will increase exposure to the river and will bring more attention to
shoreline restoration. Nic said
providing safe routes for bikes and pedestrians and getting them off of the
Main Street corridor will benefit the youngest and oldest segments of the population. This trail extends through a low and moderate
income area and in terms of social equity, makes sense to invest in. K. Lefebvre inquired if there is a
better/safer biking route coming in from East Shore Drive? Nic said there has to be a safer route and
said the Planning staff has a desire to do a comprehensive biking and
pedestrian plan for the city and the first step is to build a constituency with
people interested in those things.
Floodplain
Updates - Nic
reviewed the floodplain updates which we must conform with through the DNR and
said the city is required to meet the minimum standards and we have been able
to maintain the city’s eligibility for and discount in NFIP. He said the new floodplain elevation better
prepares for climate change and new policies will preserve and enhance flood
storage and reduce damage. He said the
equity side is that the standards proactively address expected neighbor
conflicts and reducing density in Olde North could
reduce blight, but displaces low to moderate income housing. He said the city would like to explore
alternative options and said they encourage residents if they can’t meet the
minimum standards, not to do the work; to work out something else with their
neighbor, etc. He said in Wisconsin we
do “flood proofing” putting fill around homes, like a beachhead for someone to
come in by boat and rescue a person. He
reviewed elevating houses like is done in New Orleans, adding that this cannot
be done in Wisconsin unless the statute is changed, adding that Ald. Dan Piton
is looking into this. Ned said in
Bloomington, Indiana they built a water park which collects runoff from all
over the city and runs into a big pond and is sculpted very beautifically
and acts as a flood mitigation park.
Subdivision
Ordinance – This is one of the key regulatory tools that the city uses and as a
result of the Comprehensive Plan, sidewalks will be required in all new
subdivisions and they reestablished the Parkland Improvement Fee so new
developments that are demanding new recreational facilities will be paying part
of the cost for those facilities. The
City codified the City’s Development Policy and encourages solar orientation
and other sustainable development practices and adopts standards for
conservation subdivision design. On the
equity side, the subdivision ordinance allows for narrower residential street
widths and said if you reduce the cost of the infrastructure,
it’s more affordable and safer.
Upcoming Planning Projects – Comprehensive Smart Growth Plan to be
updated every five years. As of January
1, 2010, there are certain decisions that the city makes that will have to be
made consistently with it’s
Comprehensive Plan by law. They want to
do Neighborhood Plans with the scope to be determined. Pedestrian and bicycle planning is something
the Planning Dept. is looking at in the future.
Wind Turbines is a need that we have to address. The Building Code is in the process of being
rewritten and he will keep the committee updated on this. One specific planning project is developing
more of a vision for the Military Avenue corridor and said there is not yet a
cohesive vision there yet and one of the pieces of that puzzle is a market
study and design plan.
Where We See the Gaps/Needs – Nic said we need a consistent
definition of what sustainability is that translates into a functional policy
framework. He stated that there are
frameworks out there that we could adopt or create, especially for city hall
and we need to do this. He said we need a
grass-roots education and awareness, city staff buy-in
and top-down elected officials commitment to using a sustainability policy
framework to guide decision making. K.
Lefebvre mentioned strip malls, saying that eventually many of them become
vacant. Nic responded this is why we
want to do a market study on Military Avenue and said there are good and bad
strip malls. He said we just tightened
our regulations on Pay Day Loan Stores.
Kevin inquired how much collaboration Planning does with DPW? Nic responded
that there is always communication between the two departments and said we’re
definitely learning from past mistakes and said we need to have a more
integrated process and is something they have been working on.
4. Committee
reports
·
Local Food – Karen Kohlbeck
Karen
thanked Nic for the presentation. She
reported that there are a couple of events relative to local food. The Wisconsin Eat Local Challenge will be
taking place between Sept. 27th and Oct. 4th and the
Urban Frog will host the screening of Fresh, The Movie on Oct. 1st
at 6:30 pm. The movie will get people to question what they are putting in
their mouths, what is the food source, how reliable is the food source, is
there a better way that we can look at that food system? Karen said there is a new Magazine called The Urban Farm and shared a copy of the
magazine. She indicated that they are
still doing the fresh food collection at the Wednesday Farmers Market and it’s
going well. Lastly, Karen said she
submitted her resignation as chair of the Food Subcommittee to Paul Linzmeyer
and they will be looking for a new chair for that subcommittee. Nic thanked Karen for her great service in
that area and asked if she would be able to hang in there a little longer until
we complete the Visioning process, to which she said she can. He said we may find a different structure
that puts food with other related issues and said he would like to know what
our structure will be before we seek a new chair. He stated that this committee has done an
amazing amount of work. R. Krieg said
the Council approved closing the street for the Wednesday Farmers Market for
next year. Dan added that they approved
the closing but need to see how it would be funded for the overtime pay and
said Council did not feel that the city should be responsible for these
costs. Karen said she had hoped that the
leadership of this group could have gotten behind that issue and said she feels
there are some grant opportunities with that being a truck route. She said it will take some dollars to get it
to happen. Kathy mentioned the liability
factor of a child getting hit. Karen
said we are losing some patronage from vendors and shoppers who are preferring the Appleton Saturday market and said our
markets are an important venue and we need to keep them strong. M. Haupt said she receives daily requests
from people wishing to be vendors at the Saturday market. Nic concurred and
said we need to get the Wednesday Market more user
friendly.
·
Sustainable Building – Tom Lesperance
– Nic said Tom
Lesperance is the new Chair of the Sustainable Building Committee and is
spearheading the building code rewrite and Tom is looking for interested
members on the Sustainable Building subcommittee. Please contact Tom in Inspection if you are
interested.
·
Communication and Marketing – Lisa Evenson – Lisa
had to leave and asked Nic to share that the Press-Gazette Go Green insert will include a feature on the Task
Force in a small article on past and future projects. The Communication Committee will be meeting
in the next couple of weeks to determine goals for 2010.
·
Improving City Hall – Andre/Derek Lord
– No report
·
Community Events - Crystal Osman – Crystal had to leave early, no
report
Rich said he mentioned at
the last meeting he would like to bring back the Transportation Committee and 4
or 5 people indicated to him that they would be interested in serving on this
committee. He and P. Linzmeyer will be
scheduling a meeting in the near future and he will send a notice regarding
this meeting. Karen inquired about
restructuring some of the subcommittees? Nic said we need to make sure that our
structure aligns with our mission and vision so that we’re working toward the
things that we set out to do. He said
we’ll probably be working on a lot of the same issues but will be doing it in a
way that keeps us on task, keeps these meetings efficient and moving forward
and allows us to play to our strengths as much as possible.
5. Publicity
on League of Women Voters NEWrails program September
30th.
Nic
shared a notice of a program by NEWRails sponsored by
the League of Women Voters which will be held on Wednesday, Sept. 30th
with a social beginning at 5:45 pm, at the Holiday Inn City Centre. Contact Joyce McCollum for reservations at
(920) 621-2542.
Karen
mentioned that NWTC will be hosting a speaker on Sept. 28th to speak
on soils and grass fed beef technology.
The
meeting adjourned at 4:20.