PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The clock appears to be ticking on whether another tenant could be considered for land that’s been reserved to be the new home for downtown Green Bay’s coal piles.
A county committee decided to give the coal piles’ owner one more month to strike a deal before potentially opening up the site to other interested parties.
The decades-long desire to move these coal piles out of downtown Green Bay picked up steam in recent years when Brown County purchased the former Pulliam Power Plant, two miles away, at the mouth of the Fox River. The site isn’t just a spot to move the coal piles to, but also to expand and enhance all Port of Green Bay operations.
While about $30 million has been secured for the project, the plan hit a snag a few months ago when the expansion project wasn’t selected for a $25 million federal grant.
Brown County Supervisor Ron Antonneau says more companies should now be considered to be part of the project to ensure the port and economic growth still happens.
“I’ve had other businesses talk to me and say, being on the Harbor Commission and the board, they said we would like to have an opportunity to bid on and potentially lease that property,” said Antonneau. “We’ll pay taxes, we’ll pay a lease agreement or whatever and we’ll create jobs.”
Antonneau says the owner of the coal piles, C. Reiss Coal Company, didn’t seem as interested in providing those things initially, but has become more engaged since the idea was raised of opening the port property to bidding from others.
“Only a poor business would just hand it over and give them kind of exclusivity,” said Antonneau. “It’s got to be a really good deal and development to give them exclusivity.”
Antonneau was asked: “Wouldn’t another company have to come in and really blow the county away to say we’re going to give it to you instead of having this be a place for the coal piles?”
“They don’t need the whole thing for coal piles,” said Antonneau. “They can’t expect it to be given to them just because we want coal piles moved. That is part of the proposal, but it’s not the end all. We’ve got to consider everything from port growth development, economic development, job creation and the type of revenue that might be derived from it.”
If a deal can’t be reached with C. Reiss over the next month, Antonneau says the county board could agree to take bids from others on what they’d do with the port land – perhaps finding a partner who could lease the land and close the funding gap to finish the port expansion project in full.
“Brown County continues to negotiate with C. Reiss and the City regarding our shared goals of expanding the port and developing the waterfront,” said Port Director Dean Haen in the statement.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich said there are no updates on the city’s end.
Haen says the county intends to use the $30 million already secured to start the port expansion project. He says there is money to construct 800 feet of dock wall, out of a desired amount of 1,700 feet, raise the site grade, and put in stormwater infrastructure.
The hope is to start construction on the first phase of the project next spring.
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