APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The City of Appleton wants to hear from its residents on the future of their community — specifically, what residents would like the city to focus on improving.
On Tuesday night, more than a hundred community members gathered inside ThedaCare Regional Medical Center to share their thoughts.
Lindsey Smith, principal planner for the City of Appleton, said, “This is our first public open house for this project, so I’m just excited to see all the individuals showing up, wanting to provide their input for what the vision and what the future of the city is for the next 20 years.”
Appleton Mayor Jake Woodford told us he’s heard from many community members about issues within the city.
FOX 11 asked Woodford what he’s heard from residents.
“They’re the issues that we’ve all been talking about for a long time,” he said. “Whether it’s around housing affordability, homelessness, concerns about mental health, access to resources.”
Residents at the meeting agreed that housing, or lack there of, is a serious issue.
“Appleton used to be a really affordable place to live, and now it’s increasingly less and less affordable,” said resident Kate Moody. “I still need somebody to explain to me how that works, because as far as I understand, the population hasn’t gone up by all that much.”
John Gosling added that the homeless population in Appleton is also a concern. “Numbers in the hundreds of people, who, including children, who are unhoused in our area. They need a permanent place and a temporary place to stay.”
Woodford said specific projects like the planned apartment additions to the Valley Transit Center are mentioned in the comprehensive plan, but the plan itself isn’t that direct.
“The Comprehensive plan doesn’t necessarily say, ‘This is the spot where this thing is going to happen!’ It more often says, these are the kind of things that are important for a transit center, for example,” Woodford said.
You can visit the city’s website to offer your opinion.
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