Council authorizes up to $70,000 offer for 105 W. Winnecony for Commercial Street right‑turn lane after small business raises safety concerns

The City of Neenah Common Council on Sept. 17 authorized an offer not to exceed $70,000 for 105 W. Winnecony Ave. to facilitate construction of a Commercial Street right‑turn lane, after a nearby small business owner warned the project would make access to her store unsafe.

Jennifer Kornowski, owner of Saucy Kitchen, told the council during the public forum that the planned changes “are going to be significantly and negatively impacted” for her business and urged the city to provide assistance, including moving parking and allowing a new front entrance to reduce safety risks.

Kornowski said she learned only last winter how close the project would come to her building and described difficulties for large trucks to back up safely; she asked the city to consider creating a parking area behind her building or other measures to protect customers and deliveries.

Council members and staff discussed possible assistance and safety tradeoffs. “There’s certainly different loans and grants out there,” said Director Nyforth, noting the county revolving loan fund, a GOADC administered revolving loan fund and available CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) dollars that could be evaluated if the property owner participates.

Director Keiser summarized traffic engineering findings from an ICE report and said the planned right‑turn configuration should create more, though only marginal, gaps for Church Street traffic: “I think we’ll actually have a little better situation at Church Street in Winnecony, but we’re talking very, very marginally better.”

The special finance committee had removed language making the offer a jurisdictional offer and recommended authorization for an offer not to exceed $70,000; the council approved that recommendation 8–1. Alderman Steiner moved the authorization; Alderman Borchardt seconded the motion.

Council members emphasized that any financial assistance to a tenant would need coordination with the property owner. Staff said timing and acceptance windows for offers would be worked out with the city’s real estate consultant and the city attorney.

The vote authorizes negotiating and making an offer up to $70,000 for 105 W. Winnecony Ave. to allow the Commercial Street right‑turn lane work to proceed; any acquisition or funding details beyond that authorization will be subject to later staff recommendation and legal review.