Oshkosh plan commission approves larger parkland dedications and higher fees

The City of Oshkosh Plan Commission on June 3 voted 8-0 to adopt staff findings recommending an increase to parkland dedication requirements and the fee-in-lieu schedule for new residential development.

Parks Director Ray Mower introduced the proposal and said the city engaged Ehlers & Associates to reassess both the per-unit land dedication and the fee schedule after a 2023 agreement. Mower told commissioners the impact-fee study is on hold but the parkland dedication and fee recommendations were ready for public hearing and action. "We are here tonight to have this public hearing for the fees in lieu of parkland dedication as well as the amount of land dedication," he said.

John Cameron, consultant with Ehlers & Associates, presented the analysis. He recommended increasing the fee in lieu for a single-family lot from $400 to $798 and for multifamily units from the current $300–$330 range to $665. Cameron also recommended raising the land dedication requirement from 1,100 square feet per single-family unit and 900 square feet per multifamily unit to a uniform 2,000 square feet per unit. "It's based... on a calculation of the average value of land per acre divided by the number of residents per acre of active parkland," Cameron said when asked about the precise fee amount.

Commissioner Margaret Propp (Plan Commission) expressed support for the analysis as thorough and overdue, saying it "gave us some reasons why we ought to do this." There were no members of the public who spoke during the hearing.

The Plan Commission motion to accept the findings and recommendations in the staff report passed by roll call vote 8-0.

Summary of key figures: single-family fee-in-lieu recommended $798 per lot; multifamily fee recommended $665 per unit; land dedication recommended 2,000 square feet per dwelling unit for both single-family and multifamily.