GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Preliminary development plans were publicly unveiled Thursday night for Renard Island.
What to do with 55-acre island, near Bay Beach, has been a topic in Brown County for more than a decade.
In the past three days, all the ideas talked about over the years were put to paper.
Dean Haen, Port of Green Bay Director says…
“We’re hoping that this plan creates a lot of buzz and there are public entities and private entities that want to partner to fulfill this plan.
Mark Walter, Business Development Manager for Brown County Port and Resource Recovery, tells FOX 11 the plan includes three options.
“On one end, you’ve got an undeveloped, kind of habitat area. The other end you’ve got a very active recreational use island. In the middle, it’s a little bit of both.”
Possibilities for the island include an observation tower, walking, and biking trails, a marina, fishing piers, and kayak and paddle boat opportunities.
Haen tells Fox 11 retail shops are also possible, however, any structures would likely need to be built on the island’s perimeter, to avoid extra engineering costs.
“One of the designs has like a fisherman’s wharf, boardwalks, you’ve got a place you can rent rollerblades, paddleboards, kayaks, ice cream.”
One point to stress is these options are all drafts. A final master plan must receive full county board approval.
“We’ll actually have a finished plan that will go over permit ability of the ideas that we have, the cost, the return on investment, the idea that we’re maybe going to have multiple lessees out there doing multiple activities,” said Haen.
“It’s great to think you can, but at the end of the day, if we can’t put it in here without spending millions of dollars, we’re not going to do it. It just doesn’t make sense that way,” said Walter.
The county hopes to have a final master plan for Renard Island ready to vote on in February.
The county must maintain ownership of the island.
Renard Island was constructed in 1978 as a place to put contaminated, dredged sediment.
A clean cover of dredged material was put on the island to protect human health and the environment.
