Mayor & City Council

WORKSESSION MINUTES College Park City Council Tuesday, November 2, 2021 7:30 p.m. – 10:48 p.m. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, this was a Virtual Meeting. PRESENT: Mayor Wojahn; Councilmembers Kabir, Kennedy (arrived at 7:43 p.m.) Dennis, Esters, Day, Rigg, Mitchell, and Mackie. ABSENT: None. ALSO PRESENT: Kenneth Young, City Manager; Bill Gardiner, Assistant City Manager; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Suellen Ferguson, City Attorney; Terry Schum, Director of Planning; Bob Ryan, Director of Public Services; Teresa Way-Pezzuti, Director of Human Resources; Gary Fields, Director of Finance; Jim Miller, Parking Enforcement Manager; Michael Williams, Economic Development Manager; David Thornton, Racial Equity Coordinator; Hayden Renaghan, Deputy Student Liaison. Mayor Wojahn opened the Virtual Worksession at 7:30 p.m. City Manager’s Report: Mr. Young made an announcement about the upcoming City election. Amendments to /Approval of Agenda: The agenda was approved without amendment, Dennis/Rigg, 8-0. Discussion items: 1. Report and presentation from the Restorative Justice Steering Committee and discussion of next steps – Violetta Jones Sharps, Andrew Fellows, Maxine Gross, Robert Thurston: Mayor Wojahn, who is a member of the RJSC, gave an introduction. The Committee reviewed the PowerPoint. Discussion:  Healing event: an opportunity for Lakelanders to present their truths to the community and for that truth to be heard; format TBD.  Discussion about the length of time/commitment and large size of the Commission that is being proposed.  Urgency around the community loss issue  Involve the CPCUP Housing Trust committee  Importance of telling this story to our young people and beyond the community  Put this information/history on our website  The books we were asked to read outlined the steps that are needed  There are some things we can do immediately: markers, website. Return with a Resolution establishing the Restorative Justice Commission per the recommendation of the Steering Committee. College Park Worksession Minutes November 2, 2021 Page 2 2. Discussion of on-street parking access for townhouse owners and tenants in the 4700 block of Cherokee Street, and review of traffic flow issues and solutions: Mr. Miller reviewed the staff report. Cherokee Street is 26 feet wide, with (2) 7-foot wide parking lanes and a 12-foot travel through lane. Cars may have to pull over to pass in those areas where cars are parked on both sides. A traffic study has not been done. Council can decide whether to designate a specific parking zone for the townhouse residents. This would provide only 25 spaces and there are 45 townhouses. The townhouses have 2 car garages. The remaining part of the original development may be moving forward. Councilmember Esters thinks providing a designated parking area for the townhouse residents at this time will be helpful. We don’t know what changes may come after the remainder of the development is built. A traffic study may be helpful. Councilmember Kabir asked about the Declaration of Covenants with the developer related to parking. Mr. Miller said the site plan called for 366 spaces in the garage, which was never built. 45 spaces were allotted for visitors and/or retail. The residents are not allowed to park in the alleys. Councilmember Kabir asked if the townhouses met the parking requirement when they were built. Ms. Schum said yes, the requirement is two parking spaces per townhouse, and they have two car garages. The parking departure that was granted was for the multi-family development, not the townhouses. Councilmember Kabir would also like to see a traffic study before a decision is made. He wanted to get details of garage use. Councilmember Dennis agreed we should pursue a traffic study but thinks we should help relieve the parking issue now. He supports making the south side of Cherokee from US 1 to 48th permitted parking for residents of the Lennar townhomes. Councilmember Mackie asked about surrounding permit zones. She hopes the developer will provide decent parking for the visitors so it doesn’t spill out onto City streets. Councilmember Rigg suggested an alternative of giving each townhouse one visitor pass for the south side of Cherokee on a first come first served basis. Councilmember Esters isn’t sure the need for parking is just for visitors. Move forward with the staff recommendation for establishing a new residential zone on the south side of Cherokee for the townhouse residents and proceeding with a traffic study. 2 passes per household. Determine what notice requirements and process should be followed. Mayor Wojahn requested an update on the sidewalk on the north side of Cherokee. 3. Discussion of “No Mow Month” request by the Bee City USA Committee – Alan Hew, Dr. Anahi Espindola, Brenda Alexander, and Alex Schultz from Appleton, WI: College Park Worksession Minutes November 2, 2021 Page 3 Dr. Espindola presented the report. Request is to declare the month of April as “No-Mow April” and that the City refrain from citing residents for tall grass in April; start with a one-year trial period; provide public advertising about the program. Discussion:  Make sure we are addressing other nuisance concerns that might be going on (vermin, trash, etc…) during this period. Ask participants to register their site; share the information with DPS/DPW. They are still not allowed to grow noxious weeds.  Schultz: In 2020, Appleton WI saw a 15-20% increase in complaints. The point of diminishing returns is when grass is about 8” tall; some people may just skip one or two weeks of mowing rather than the whole month. Allow a few days’ grace period.  Support for pre-registration for participants and a public education campaign.  Flip side: some of our residents’ livelihood is mowing lawns and this would impact their income. Maybe they can work on other types of landscaping services during this time period.  Rewrite the draft resolution to give the City flexibility in enforcement. Move forward with draft resolution. Return future W/S for review and discussion. Share with Committee. 4. Discussion of a Participatory Budgeting process: Mr. Fields showed a video. Participatory Budgeting takes a lot of lead time to set up and a lot of involvement by City staff. We have an opportunity to experiment with this through our community forum on use of ARPA funds. Suggestion is to start with $100K. Or, as an alternative, a certain amount per district. [10:30 p.m. Kennedy/Rigg, motion to extend meeting, 8-0.] We already do some of this through the wish list process and input from civic associations, but this could give us a chance to hear from people we don’t usually hear from. This would not impact general City operation funds but would be discretionary funds not otherwise allocated. Start with community input on the ARPA funds. Be attentive to administrative burden. Return in a few weeks. 5. Council Comments: Mayor Wojahn mentioned the public hearings being held on the potential school district redistricting. Next week is the NLC Virtual City Summit. Adjourn Worksession: A motion was made by Councilmember Mitchell, seconded by Councilmember Mackie, to adjourn the Worksession. Passed 8-0; meeting adjourned at 10:48 p.m. ___________________________________ Janeen S. Miller Date City Clerk Approved