[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:04] City of Stevens Point Plan Commission meeting. Recorded December 2nd, 2024.
[0:10] I
[0:14] will call the regular meeting of the City Plan Commission meeting to order.
[0:18] What do you guys want to do? Roll call.
[0:22] Mayor Weezza. Here.
[0:24] All the person e-bone. Here.
[0:25] Commissioner Artson. Here.
[0:27] Commissioner Beacom. Here.
[0:28] Commissioner Muscovac. Here.
[0:30] Commissioner Rice. Here.
[0:31] Commissioner Shuler. Here.
[0:33] Everyone is present. We will move on.
[0:35] Let me share this out first.
[0:37] first. Keep forgetting to do that.
[0:45] Come on. And item number two is the report, the meeting
[0:50] minutes from the November 4th meeting of the city planning commission. Thoughts, comments
[0:57] or a motion to accept? I move to accept. Thank you. Second. All right. Motion and a second.
[1:03] Any discussion at all? Just a little bit. You know, I read that section where we
[1:09] talked about change you know the motion and the had to do with the household
[1:15] entities and they covered it fairly well and we did that and that's part that I
[1:22] read mostly and I was good with it so thank you good good and I guess extending
[1:29] I mean I read these things and they're pretty well written and they're pretty
[1:32] good and pretty well covered so thank you for staff and I know staff
[1:36] appreciate that. So just so you know and the people watching and listening, legally the
[1:43] minutes are required to have the motion and the vote. None of the discussion items are
[1:49] required by law in any way, shape or form. And some people would say, oh, well, we record
[1:54] all the meetings anyway. So why do we take such good minutes? Well, we take, I like
[1:58] having good minutes so people 20 years from now, 30 years from now, can understand
[2:04] a little bit of what went on without having to watch through these very exciting and riveting
[2:10] edge-of-the-seat type media videos. Even if there's only five minutes span that's riveting.
[2:16] Yeah, but I think it's important that we put some of the highlights of the discussion
[2:20] so people kind of have an understanding of what was talked about. So that's why we do it,
[2:25] which goes above and beyond what we are required to do. But staff is the one
[2:30] that take care of that so yes kudos to them I support that great that we've
[2:35] shut out of meeting as long as we can we can continue fair enough all those in
[2:41] favor signify by saying aye any opposed and that is approved at number three is a
[2:46] public hearing and a request from the city of Stevens Point to adopt the
[2:49] Stevens Point historic preservation plan consistent with chapter 22.06 sub
[2:54] three sub, two sub, A. Adam?
[2:57] Thank you, Mayor.
[2:59] So I believe this is the third time this calendar year
[3:03] that the conversation about this historic preservation plan
[3:07] has been brought before you.
[3:08] Folks for feedback, a latest time
[3:13] being in October presenting the draft historic preservation
[3:17] plan before you.
[3:19] Just a quick spark notes version
[3:20] of what a historic preservation plan is.
[3:22] It's intended to be a long-range planning document akin to that of the city's comprehensive
[3:28] direct plan outlining some specific goals and objectives for targeted planning areas
[3:35] within the city of Stevens Point.
[3:37] Just a quick version of what this plan all entails, it's really broken down into three
[3:42] different sections.
[3:43] First, outlining more background information and existing conditions, so what's the city's
[3:49] existing local historic districts and landmarks, along with those on the National Register.
[3:55] Second section focusing more on the planning process, so what was all the work that was
[3:59] done over the last 16, 18 months or so to get to this point.
[4:04] And then the last section, really the meat of the document, focusing on specific goals,
[4:09] objectives, and policies for the eight topic areas as included in the memorandum
[4:14] and shown on the screen.
[4:16] So consistent with our local historic preservation ordinance, the Plan Commission would have to take action on this by way of a public hearing.
[4:24] Our Historic Preservation and Design Review Commission did hold the public hearing and recommended approval of this planning document last week, Monday.
[4:34] So staff's recommendation is to approve and I also have our Historic Preservation Chair here in person as well.
[4:41] Should there be any questions?
[4:41] questions. Great. Any questions on the report before we open the public hearing?
[4:50] All right.
[4:51] I will declare the public hearing open. Anyone wishing to offer a testimony, please step
[4:55] to the lectern.
[5:08] Sam Lang, 1547 Strong's Ave. Also the district
[5:13] panel there. I was just going to say this is something that I really enjoyed to read
[5:18] through. This has got some great information in it and some great recommendations and goals.
[5:22] So just to everybody that's been a part of getting this put together. Thank you very much
[5:27] I look forward to getting some of the recommendations that are in this implemented and
[5:32] Again, thanks again. This is a really great document
[5:35] It has a lot of information in there that I found to be very exciting about what we could be doing with our historic districts and
[5:44] Appreciate it guys
[5:46] Public hearing is still open
[5:51] public hearing remains open and for the third final time the public hearing is
[5:57] open seeing
[6:00] no one else wishing to speak I will declare the public hearing
[6:03] closed bring it back to the commissioners first of all I want to
[6:06] commend staff and all of those who provided input on this plan it wasn't
[6:12] an easy process I think we've got a good product in the end so Commissioner
[6:16] Shuler I'd like to recommend approval of the plan subject to a final read
[6:22] through to clear up all several typos, transpositions.
[6:27] We don't do typos.
[6:29] Not in the version that gets the council, hopefully, yes.
[6:32] Yes, sir.
[6:33] We have a second?
[6:35] Seconded by Beacom.
[6:36] Discussion.
[6:37] Yes, sir.
[6:38] I also wanted to say congratulations
[6:41] on a great process and a great document.
[6:44] I love the content.
[6:45] I love the layout.
[6:47] And I love the telling of the process that you went through.
[6:51] I just think it's really a feather in the cap and a really great thing for the city
[6:56] So thank you so much for bringing this
[6:59] Thank you. Any other comments? Yes, sir. Yeah, I'd like to
[7:03] Agree with Jeff there on that and you know the opening statement saying that we could have hired a consultant to do
[7:10] We decided to do it in-house. I think they did a great job
[7:13] And I'm good with the city doing things that I can do as a consultant
[7:19] I'm good with hiring consultants to do things that do better, but we're saving a taxpayer's money.
[7:25] Great. Any other comments? Yes? I just I would like to thank all the people that responded to the survey.
[7:34] Is that reaches even a broader audience than often city meetings or information, public information meetings.
[7:45] And again, kudos to staff. It's really an outstanding piece of work.
[7:51] It certainly does, it is. And then once this is approved by council, this will go up on our website as well so people can see it.
[7:58] It's available now, of course, through the agendas, but the final draft, SANS typos and grammatical errors will be up after council approval.
[8:08] Alright, anything else?
[8:11] Seeing and hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
[8:13] Hi.
[8:14] Hi.
[8:15] Can you pose?
[8:16] And that is approved.
[8:18] Item number four is our annual, why are we doing this item?
[8:24] That's the adoption of the Housing Affordability Report for Permit Year 2023.
[8:29] Director?
[8:32] Yeah.
[8:33] I guess to put it generally, this is one of those items that does need to be ticked
[8:38] off as a requirement.
[8:39] It does have some value.
[8:41] it does offer some interesting data. However, it doesn't hold a lot of weight. So happy
[8:48] to answer any questions. I know Adam primarily went through this, so he'd be happy to answer
[8:53] any detailed questions, but otherwise would be looking for an approval.
[8:58] And really this is just ticking a box. We have to do it in order to get grants and
[9:03] things like that, something we do have to do every year.
[9:08] So, yes, sir?
[9:11] I think it's useful.
[9:12] I think it's interesting.
[9:13] I think there's a lot of information here
[9:15] that can get used as a reference.
[9:18] And it may be a TDM, but I think it's good to go through.
[9:26] And maybe offer up an opportunity for discussions
[9:29] on related matters.
[9:31] Sure.
[9:32] Is that a motion?
[9:32] No
[9:35] Mr. Schuler I
[9:38] Wanted to pass along a comment. I passed along to Jared and Adam that
[9:44] We all realize this for kind of what it needs to be and it would be
[9:50] Really nice if we could somehow utilize this
[9:53] Effort in the future to get stuff that we could really really use on an ongoing basis because it presents an opportunity for a
[10:00] really great trend line information on several topics that seem to be important and I'm glad
[10:09] it's done because I know that it is a time sink for something that is one size fits all
[10:19] and it could be way more useful but so be it that they want this.
[10:25] With that I guess I will move to accept approve.
[10:28] Thank you.
[10:28] Whatever the proper.
[10:30] It's interesting you bring it up about useful information because Commissioner Beacom had
[10:35] some interesting ideas regarding housing affordability and some potential future things.
[10:41] Do you want to mention that, Mike?
[10:42] Yeah.
[10:42] It falls under this?
[10:43] I mean, to me, data is the key piece, and so, you know, there's a lot of numbers
[10:48] in here.
[10:48] People quote the Alice report all the time, they quote numbers in here, and data on
[10:54] its surface is just data.
[10:56] So it's not to say that anything in here is inaccurate, but I use the analogy all the time
[11:00] I can give you a hundred words on why Jordan Love will have a great game Thursday against the Lions and I'll use statistics
[11:06] And it'll be relevant and it'll be current and it will be compelling
[11:10] And I'll give you a hundred words on why you struggle against the Lions and I'll use statistics
[11:14] And they'll be relevant and it'll be compelling and you'll please feel struggle
[11:17] So statistics alone
[11:20] Don't mean anything. It's it's what's inside the statistics for example
[11:23] You have 52% of households for rent that are above 30%.
[11:28] I've talked to folks at United Way, and I've asked this question here.
[11:32] Do you have students in that data?
[11:34] United Way would say, if they live off campus, yes.
[11:37] I would say that that's problematic.
[11:39] Why? It's not that students don't count,
[11:41] but for the history of colleges and universities,
[11:44] 99% of students are going to be over 30%.
[11:47] We know that, so that skews the data.
[11:49] The other thing we don't know in this data is,
[11:51] What about choice?
[11:54] I think we look at this and we want to believe that the numbers that are over that 30% are single parents working two jobs struggling to get by.
[12:05] You know, you probably have people in there with a combined household income of $90,000 that are spending $3,000 on housing and that puts them into the data.
[12:14] But that's a matter of choice.
[12:15] And so finding out more about what exists in this data and then allowing us to drill down to who we want to help and
[12:22] That grayscale level. I think would be helpful. Okay, so
[12:27] The thought was putting a survey together
[12:30] and having commissioners
[12:32] Formulate the questions of that survey since we we can't talk about it this month because it's not really technically on the agenda
[12:37] But the affordability report is I'd like to add an agenda item for next month to discuss a survey
[12:44] regarding housing affordability. And I'd ask the commissioners to start thinking
[12:49] about questions that you'd want to see on that. What data would you find useful in
[12:53] the housing affordability genre of reporting? So think about it over
[12:59] Christmas when you've got nothing better to do than sit and think about work, and
[13:04] we'll have it on the agenda for next month. So we have a motion to accept
[13:07] the report and it's been seconded. Any further discussion there? I guess
[13:13] Just another comment, you know, we have a little discussion about housing here and on
[13:18] the planning commission and how to do it and generally I think we've been trying to acknowledge
[13:24] it, trying to do something, do a variety of things and low income and single family and
[13:31] multi-family and so I don't know if this is a place to discuss it but I do think,
[13:38] you know oftentimes we talk about it on specific instances you know does this
[13:45] apply or not but I it may be worthwhile to have a more general
[13:49] conversation are we doing well are we not doing well and this may be or your
[13:55] motion may be an opportunity to do that yeah that might be something we could
[13:59] talk about next month for the survey questions and how we're gonna use that
[14:03] data. Yes, Commissioner Schuler. To piggyback with Pete, the housing element of the Adopted
[14:11] Comprehensive Plan contains a lot of, well, information that was gathered at a certain
[14:17] point in time, but the whole point of the information was to be able to draw, identify
[14:22] issues and draw conclusions and your goals, objectives and policies are geared toward
[14:27] addressing those things. And it seems to me that taking a look at that chapter
[14:31] itself and trying to incorporate the information from the housing task force, the information
[14:37] from the household density discussion and this that we're talking about now, and the potential
[14:46] for soliciting additional information.
[14:48] It would be a great exercise and it wouldn't take a ton of time to do, but that would
[14:55] be a place where that discussion would be really well served.
[14:57] Okay
[15:00] Because I think people would appreciate if the comp plan chapter were up to date with the current thinking.
[15:04] And you can certainly update a comp plan any piece at any time. It's not an entire document as we've learned from the neighborhood plans that are coming through.
[15:14] That's a great idea. So maybe after we formulate the survey, get the results, we can incorporate that and have a housing summit that would focus just on housing and offer a more open discussion.
[15:26] Yeah. Yeah, I don't know that we'd have a public hearing, but again, we get pretty good turnout when we have housing discussions and what to do.
[15:35] And, you know, if we're looking at a guiding document, I don't know if a public hearing is a way to do that or a public presentation.
[15:45] But I do know that housing is a topic that comes up a lot and this is a part of it.
[15:50] And, you know, maybe we can get some discussions on how private we want to keep single family
[15:58] housing and how important it is multi-family.
[16:02] Good.
[16:03] All right.
[16:04] Any other questions on the housing affordability report?
[16:08] Then hearing none, all those in favor signify by saying aye.
[16:11] Aye.
[16:12] Any opposed?
[16:14] And that is approved.
[16:15] So item number five is a request to enter into a donation waiver agreement with the
[16:19] Wisconsin Department of Transportation for curb ramp replacement along Highway, State
[16:23] Highway 66 and U.S. Highway 10 East.
[16:26] To sum it up a little bit easier, the DOT is going to go through the corridor of Highway
[16:31] 10 and 66 and make sure that we are better utilizing our ABA requirements and putting
[16:40] in curb ramps at all the curbs.
[16:42] they need permission from us to use city property and do work on city property.
[16:48] So all this is doing is just granting that permission.
[16:50] I think this is a great thing for the city and the DOT is doing the work.
[16:54] So I, in addition to Director Bedouin, would recommend approval.
[16:59] And the point of this, sorry, I heard an inhale.
[17:02] You can go first.
[17:03] You excelled first.
[17:06] Something about that there normally would be a fee paid or?
[17:11] We still have the option of charging a fee.
[17:14] I wouldn't because this benefits the city and the citizens.
[17:18] Anytime there's a right-of-way access or use, we could do something like that.
[17:23] But isn't the agenda item to actually waive that donation?
[17:26] To waive that, yes.
[17:28] That's right.
[17:29] Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I didn't understand the question.
[17:31] Double check it.
[17:31] Yes.
[17:33] So yes, that's what my inhale was about.
[17:35] Is this a cost to the city at all, but this is DOT's spending?
[17:39] The only cost is our time.
[17:41] Right. Go ahead.
[17:43] So I need a motion.
[17:45] No approval.
[17:46] Thank you.
[17:47] Second.
[17:47] Great.
[17:48] Any discussion?
[17:51] Hearing and seeing none.
[17:52] All those in favor signify by saying aye.
[17:54] Aye.
[17:55] Any opposed?
[17:56] And that's approved.
[17:57] Sorry.
[17:58] I'm sorry.
[17:58] I'm slower here.
[18:00] Item number six is actually postponed.
[18:05] That was a request to enter into an easement agreement with Wisconsin Public Service.
[18:09] we had I had asked the director to find out some information regarding what the
[18:14] easements is actually required for because they traditionally keep their work
[18:18] within the city right-of-way and this is outside the right-of-way but we didn't
[18:24] get a good answer in time so we're just going to postpone action on this until
[18:28] next month so we'll move right into item number seven which is the July
[18:33] through September 2024 monthly reports director yeah I guess pretty self
[18:40] explanatory reports for constructions evaluations violations July August and
[18:46] September happy to take any questions if there are any so I'm sure the
[18:51] commissioners are used to seeing these reports we got a little behind with the
[18:57] transition.
[19:00] Okay, if not, I would ask for a motion to accept the reports in place of
[19:06] my file. Make a motion. Move by Beacom. Second by Shuler. Discussion?
[19:14] Hearing and
[19:14] seeing none. All those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Any opposed? And that is
[19:21] approved. Item number eight is the last directors report of 2024. Director?
[19:25] Director. Thank you very much, Mayor. Development updates. I guess I've outlined a couple as
[19:31] kind of run through in case there's any questions by any of the commissioners, but update on
[19:36] the bid, Forest Creek subdivision, TID-14. I guess that's maybe a notable one. We do
[19:42] have a few administrative corrections that we need to make per the DOR. Nothing substantial.
[19:47] Just, again, administrative corrections that would take minimal effort. We do need
[19:52] need to have a joint board of review
[19:54] to approve one additional item
[19:57] or a change to an existing item,
[19:59] so pretty minimal.
[20:01] Shopco site, Opera House, City Hall,
[20:05] the Oaks on Maria Drive,
[20:07] and some airport development that we're looking into.
[20:10] So that's it for general development.
[20:14] Happy to take any questions if there are any.
[20:16] Otherwise, just as a note,
[20:18] I will be out of the office
[20:19] that's the seventh through the 14th of December
[20:24] for a pre-planned vacation.
[20:25] Okay.
[20:27] Commissioner Schuler.
[20:28] I'm just wondering if there's any way
[20:29] to maybe expand or clarify the status of the opera house.
[20:35] I guess I wasn't part of that.
[20:36] I'll summarize that pretty quick.
[20:37] Okay.
[20:38] You're dealing with a 100 plus year old building.
[20:41] Every time you pull a board off,
[20:42] you find two new problems.
[20:45] Labor has been problematic.
[20:47] It's just taking a lot longer
[20:49] than anticipated, but I can tell you that it's also taking longer because they are doing
[20:53] the restoration and keeping the historic value intact, and that in and of itself takes more
[21:00] time than normally it would.
[21:02] So they've extended the developers agreement, it was set to be done, I think the most recent
[21:08] version was December 1st.
[21:11] They're moving along, there's always progress, it's just not as fast as some of us would
[21:15] like.
[21:16] But I gotta tell you, I'm in contact with the owner
[21:19] and I'm really looking forward to this thing being finished.
[21:23] It's gonna be spectacular.
[21:24] That's excellent.
[21:25] I just, the phrase that got my interest
[21:28] was solidify on submit state approved plans to the city.
[21:32] So based on the things they're finding
[21:34] and their need to kind of regroup
[21:35] and also figure out the people they have
[21:37] the time they can take,
[21:39] they need to get all those ducks in a row
[21:41] to get the plans to state approved by state.
[21:43] Right.
[21:44] Yeah, so being a commercial business and correct me if I'm out of line here being a commercial enterprise
[21:49] The plans have to get approved by the state. There are certain ones that we can do in-house, but they're relatively minor
[21:55] So then those plans have to get reviewed by the state. There's usually a significant waiting period there
[22:01] And then once they're approved by the state they come back to our approval a final approval
[22:07] Here's hoping their ducks can stay in a row. Yes
[22:11] I like to add in that it really ties in with the historic preservation plan and your kind
[22:19] of leading edge and kind of following through on what you're proposing, saying we're not
[22:24] just throwing this out there, we're following it and yeah there are annoyances but it's
[22:29] part of the process and dealing with it.
[22:32] And I feel compelled to remind everybody that that property was this far from getting
[22:37] torn down completely.
[22:39] It is only through a happenstance, really, that we found that support wall and realized
[22:46] that we didn't need to take down the entire structure because of the severe disrepair.
[22:51] I mean, ceiling trusses were cracked and not supporting anything, the roof was literally
[22:54] gaming in.
[22:57] So anything is better than the loss, but the fact that we found a developer willing
[23:02] to take that project on and return it to its original historic facade is pretty
[23:10] remarkable.
[23:12] All right I think that's it. Any other questions for the director?
[23:18] Then our agenda is exhausted. I want to wish everybody a happy holidays and we
[23:23] are adjourned at 6 23.
[23:31] A video of this meeting is available for viewing on the