GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — If a deal isn’t in place by May 30 to move the coal piles out of downtown Green Bay, the state has said it will be rescinding a $15 million grant it awarded three years ago.
Officials from Brown County, Green Bay and C. Reiss recently met to go over two new proposals.
“Hopefully we can build off of it and get this done,” said Pat Buckley, the chair of the Brown County Board of Supervisors.
Buckley wouldn’t provide details of the proposals — only saying one is to lease land at the county-owned former Pulliam Power Plant site and the other is to lease about 13 acres of county-owned land next to the Fox River Terminals, which is owned by C. Reiss’ parent company.
Buckley says he thinks there’s a good opportunity to have a deal in place by the 30th.
“At least enough to move the goal posts a little bit. We’re not going to have all the details. There’s still a lot of smaller details that have to be worked out, but if we can at least get the higher level issues agreed upon, I think we can make this all work,” said Bukley.
A spokesperson for C. Reiss said the company does not have comment at this time.
However, county supervisor Pat Evans says he received positive feedback from C. Reiss CEO Keith Haselhoff about the recent meeting.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich issued this statement on the recent negotiations.
The City continues to be an active partner in productive discussions with Brown County and C. Reiss Company. With an agreement deadline fast approaching, we are encouraged by the constructive dialogue that’s taken place recently. As I’ve said before, failure is not an option. Together, we can and will seize this opportunity to grow our port activity, ignite additional waterfront revitalization, and build a vibrant, sustainable future for generations to come.
The $15 million state grant is almost half the $33 million the county has secured to expand the port to the Pulliam site.
Studies have shown the current land the coal piles sit on could garner about $150 million in new development.
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