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TO:

Honorable Mayor and Members of the Common Council

FROM:

Kelly Nieforth, Director of Community Development

DATE:

October 8, 2024

SUBJECT:

Res 24-546 Approve General Development Plan and Specific Implementation Plan for a Mixed Use Building at 1700 Oregon Street (Plan Commission Recommends Approval)

BACKGROUND

The subject site is a 0.64-acre property with frontage on Oregon Street and West 17th Avenue. The site contains a parking lot, one 30’x60’ garage, and a roughly 7,000 square foot mixed use building that was previously used as a tavern (with kitchen) and banquet hall; formally known as Witzke’s Bar Food & Banquet Hall. The second floor (above the tavern) contains one (1) apartment. In 2005, the banquet hall, kitchen, storage, and ADA bathroom were added to the existing building. In recent years, parts of the building experienced weather-related damages and has since been closed. The current owners have begun making necessary repairs to make the building safe and useable again. The surrounding area consists primarily of residential uses along with a few mixed use buildings within the immediate intersection of Oregon Street and West 17th Avenue.

ANALYSIS

The applicant plans to remodel the entire building to make it a functional tavern again and is proposing to convert the existing banquet hall into one (1) first-floor apartment. If approved, the property will have two (2) apartments and a tavern and the banquet hall will no longer exist. A neighborhood meeting was held on Thursday, September 5th, 2024 and three neighbors attended the meeting. No one had any objections to the proposed project.

Approximate calculations show the proposed new apartment to be roughly 3,150 square feet in size and the total ground floor area to be roughly 6,000 square feet. Per city zoning code, residential units on the ground floor of a mixed use building cannot exceed 30% of the total ground floor area and therefore a Base Standard Modification (BSM) is needed to allow for the additional apartment unit. Staff is supportive of a BSM to allow the additional apartment as it is consistent with the existing uses of other properties in the area and the minor increase in the number of residents should not negatively impact the surrounding area. Furthermore, the additional unit will serve in providing more needed housing in Oshkosh and, in comparison to the existing banquet hall, there should be less vehicle traffic with a residential unit in its place.

RECOMMENDATION

The Plan Commission recommended approval of the requested General Development Plan and Specific Implementation Plan at 1700 Oregon Street Avenue with findings and one condition on September 17, 2024. Please see the attached staff report and meeting minutes for more information.

Attachments

Res 24-546

GDP-SIP - 1700 Oregon St