Plan Commission advances South Main apartment parking and zoning amid alley safety concerns; sends alley access question to council
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Summary
The commission recommended rezoning and the GDP for 14 and 20 West 10th Avenue to allow an off‑site 30‑stall parking lot serving a nearby multifamily project, while forwarding neighborhood safety and alley access concerns (including a transportation committee recommendation to make the alley one‑way) to the Common Council; zone change passed 8‑0 and the GDP recommendation passed 6‑2.
The Oshkosh Plan Commission on March 3 recommended approval of a zone change and a general development plan (GDP) tied to an off‑site parking lot intended to serve a nearby multifamily project on South Main Street, but the commission and dozens of attendees spent much of the meeting debating alley access, safety and traffic routing.
Staff described the request: two TR‑10 lots at 14 and 20 West 10th Avenue would be rezoned to Central Mixed Use with a Planned Development overlay (CMU PD). The plan would demolish the 2‑flat on the eastern lot, retain the west 2‑flat, and construct an off‑site parking lot with 30 spaces accessed from the alley running between 9th and 10th avenues. Staff noted a pending base standard modification to allow the existing residential use to remain and a cross‑access agreement would be required to construct the parking lot over property lines.
Multiple nearby business owners and residents urged the commission to require ingress and egress from 10th Street rather than routing cars from 9th Street through the narrow alley. Jim Galenak, who said he owns seven adjoining properties near the site, told the commission the alley is a safety risk and recommended access from 10th Street or closing the alley to public through‑traffic. Business owner Michael Breed and others warned the proposed 9th‑Street entrance would be a "logistics nightmare" and could increase crashes; Nancy Schultz said the project could affect long‑term plans to widen South Main Street and asked the commission to consider the bigger picture.
Vicky Gomnick, citing experience in health and safety, said the alley is already used at speed and predicted that increased traffic could lead to serious injuries. Several commenters emphasized school pickup/drop‑off congestion at nearby Grace Lutheran School as a special concern.
Todd Hutchison of Wisconsin Redevelopment, representing the developer, said the team initially preferred access off 10th Street and is open to modifications, but warned the project is a low‑income housing tax credit (LIHTC) development with funding deadlines (he cited a requirement to be under construction by July) that could be jeopardized by extended delay. "We're definitely open to making those changes," Hutchison said, but added timing is a constraint.
Staff and transportation committee materials presented to commissioners showed the alley is about 15 feet wide and the Transportation Committee recommended converting it to one‑way north‑to‑south to improve safety; staff noted vacating the alley would be complicated by utilities and ownership questions and that details of landscaping and lighting would be addressed in the SIP process. Several commissioners advocated forwarding the item to council with the alley recommendation intact so the council can review the transportation committee's language and make a final determination.
The commission voted 8‑0 to recommend the zone change (CMU PD) and later recommended the GDP with the staff findings and conditions; the GDP motion carried 6‑2. Commissioners emphasized that the zoning action is separate from final site design, and that the one‑way recommendation and alley ownership/engineering questions will be considered by the Common Council and in the forthcoming site plan review.
