Pot, liquor and Lakeshore's sale: Oshkosh Common Council's busy Tuesday meeting

OSHKOSH – What do weed, liquor licenses and a 32-acre chunk of public land have in common?

All are on Tuesday's Oshkosh Common Council agenda.

It's a busy meeting as the council seeks to add two new liquor licenses near a new arena, weighs its marijuana laws and considers the details of selling a chunk of Lakeshore Municipal Golf Course for a new Oshkosh Corp. headquarters.

Here's a cheat sheet:

Sawdust District

You can't really have an entertainment district in Wisconsin without booze.

So the city of Oshkosh is seeking a special designation that could bring two more liquor licenses to the so-called Sawdust District, near the Menominee Nation Arena. It's a move city officials hope will help pave the neighborhood's pivot from a place for industry to a place for fun.

The city wants the state to consider 39.36 acres roughly along South Main Street as a Premier Entertainment District, a designation enacted by the state Legislature in 2016 that allows cities to issue two extra liquor licenses within the district.

To earn this designation, the district must be less than 40 acres and must have $20 million or more in assessed value.

The latest assessment of the district, in 2017, found $6.9 million in value, but a city assessment estimates that new development — including the new Menominee Nation Arena and a redeveloped Granary — could push the value of the district to $28.3 million.

State law limits cities to one such entertainment district, and the measure must pass council by a two-thirds vote.

Marijuana policies

The council is seeking a Goldilocks solution for the city's marijuana policy.

A petition to change the city's laws first forced a divided council to deal with the issue last fall. At council's direction, staff drew up two new proposed changes to the city's marijuana possession ordinance.

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One proposal would slash the city's fine for pot possession. Another simply trims it. The city could also reject the measures, keeping the city's $350 fine unchanged.

On Tuesday, the council could decide which option feels just right.

Here's what each of the new measures would do:

The first would lower fines to $50 for a first-offense possession of less than 7 grams. Possessing between 7 grams and 28 grams of marijuana is a $150 fine.

Another would lower the base penalty for first-offense marijuana possession to $200.

Last fall, a group of advocates collected some 4,500 signatures on a petition to lower Oshkosh's marijuana fine. The group argues the petition forces the city to adopt the proposal or put it up for a binding referendum on the spring ballot. City Attorney Lynn Lorenson, in a memo to council, argued the petition would do no such thing.

Despite voting on Nov. 29 to simply file the petition — which could halt the measure — the council vowed to float changes to the city's pot possession law.

Meanwhile, there's a chasm of common ground on council about how to treat the drug.

Councilor Caroline Panske spoke in favor of lowering the city's marijuana penalties on Dec. 12, just hours after she was sentenced to probation for marijuana possession in a Waushara County court.

Mayor Steve Cummings, however, has come out as a staunch opponent of reducing the city's fine.

"I will not support this, period," he said during the Dec. 12 council meeting.

Golf course sale terms

The city will also consider particulars of a plan to sell part of Lakeshore Municipal Golf Course for an Oshkosh Corp. headquarters.

The company and city mapped out at 32.8-acre section of the golf course to suit a new company headquarters, which the city expects will be worth some $19 million. Under an overture to the company passed in early November, the city agreed to sell the land at $100,000 an acre.

The company will pay $3.2 million for a chunk of Lakeshore that overlooks the Fox River. Oshkosh Corp. has agreed to pay 5 percent of the total sale price, or $175,000 up front, according to city papers.

Oshkosh will hold on to most of the money it gets from the sale for now, though $350,000 will be applied to some $6 million in infrastructure work needed to connect the headquarters to Oshkosh Avenue.

In addition to ripping up the former Lakeshore clubhouse, the city will be tasked handling an archaeological site at the golf course. The city will keep artifacts found at the site and will give them to the Oshkosh Public Museum, according to city documents.

The council will also meet in closed session Tuesday to discuss a tax incentive for the company. The plan, up for council's consideration Jan. 23, would give the company a $6 million incentive to build at Lakeshore and commit the city to spending an additional $6 million on infrastructure work.

Stay tuned: There's plenty more to come as the city plots a new direction for the century-old golf course, and makes way for Oshkosh Corp.