GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A group of Green Bay residents says its strongly against the city buying a property that would bring Bay Beach Amusement Park closer to their homes.
The East Shore Circle home, which can be seen prominently on Bay Beach’s original, eastbound, train route could soon belong to the city.
“It’s a great opportunity, they’ve offered us a wonderful, below-market price on it,” said David Charles of the Friends of Bay Beach, the park’s fundraising group.
“I’m totally against this purchase from the city,” said Marco Olson Guillen, who lives a few houses from the property the city is considering buying.
At Tuesday’s parks committee meeting, three neighbors of the home told city leaders they already have problems with Bay Beach visitors trespassing on their properties. They say the park is also a source of crime when it’s closed. They worry the city would tear down the home and bring the issues closer to them.
“We already worry about the safety of our kids with all the shady stuff that goes on at Bay Beach in the middle of the night that is not reported,” said Olson Guillen.
Commander Kevin Warych of the Green Bay Police Department tells FOX 11 he has a different view.
“Bay Beach is a very safe place in the City of Green Bay.”
Since the beginning of 2018, the Green Bay Police Department reports there’ve been 192 calls for service at Bay Beach. 43 percent of the calls occurred when Bay Beach wasn’t open.
Warych says a third of the calls were for crime prevention.
“More often than not, it’s an officer initiated call. Whether that be meet and greet kids, hand out baseball cards, or just be a visual deterrent.”
City officials say if the home purchase ends up happening, it would be a priority for them to work with the new closest neighbor to Bay Beach on an acceptable buffer between them and the park.
“What we would use this for is just general expansion,” said Dan Ditscheit, the city’s parks director. “So, we don’t have a specific use in mind.”
“You have all this land on the other side, why not go the other way?” said Olson Guillen. “Leave this beautiful property there.”
The city council could make a decision on the home at its meeting next Tuesday.
The city isn’t saying how much the homeowners are asking for the property.
A member of Bay Beach’s fundraising group says a combination of donations and park revenue would be used for the purchase.
