GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The efforts to relocate the coal piles along the riverfront in downtown Green Bay continue.
For those that live nearby it’s exciting news.
“Obviously they’re an eyesore. You drive past them everyday on your commute and you see them,” Astor Neighborhood Association president Ryan Pierce said.
Plans are in the works for the piles to relocate to the former Pulliam Power Plant property at the mouth of the Fox River.
Kristopher Purzycki is relatively new to the area. He didn’t know what the piles were at first.
“Recently found out they were coal when they unloaded a ship probably late fall, early winter. Ran actually on that side of the river to see what was going on and the smell sort of hits you. It’s like oh, that’s unmistakable.”
Pierce tells FOX 11 the biggest complaint he’s heard from neighbors is the general dirtiness of the piles.
“Seems like there’s a soot around that area, and depending on the weather and the wind, some of that dirtiness kind of comes into the neighborhood.”
Pierce says moving the piles and developing the property would be a plus.
“Maybe bring some sort of manufacturing jobs to the neighborhood or just to that local area. Just having a historic neighborhood, it kind of detracts from the neighborhood to see the coal piles in that area.”
Purzycki tells FOX 11 it’s clear the area is transitioning.
“You start to get a sense of the direction Green Bay is heading. And so a move like that is not surprising necessarily, but I do wonder if it’s a sort of signal of other developments that are going to happen along the river from here on up.”
Area officials want to remind residents that this project is a long process, and it could take a while to complete.
A few multi-million dollar grants are helping to pay for the project. The total cost is estimated at $25 million.
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