GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The Green Bay City Council was supposed to decide Tuesday night if the city should stick money into a plan that would end the 70-year drought of swimming at Bay Beach.
The estimated cost for adding a swimming beach, boardwalk, bathhouse, and a 450-foot pier is $5 million.
City staff has proposed bonding $3 million for the project and using grants and fundraising for the remaining $2 million.
Last week, the city’s parks committee recommended raising $1 million to put toward the pier before bonding for the rest of the project.
However, some aldermen say new information has changed their minds on that idea.
“What’s unique about the beach is that there are federal, state grants that are available if you have your funds.”
Alderman Chris Wery spoke to FOX 11.
“That’s a unique situation that I don’t think we were aware of.”
Mayor Jim Schmitt says the council should show commitment to the plan.
“I think we should take this as a whole project. I don’t want to go out and raise money and come back to this council and have them not support it.”
At the parks meeting, a consultant working with the city on the project said testing shows the water is safe for swimming.
However, there are additional tests being conducted that some say they’d like to see completed before moving ahead with the project.
Staff admits the beach would likely be closed several times per year for E-coli and algae blooms.
However, staff says the closures would be in line with what is experienced at other beaches along Lake Michigan.
City staff has said the DNR has indicated it will issue a permit for the project. A 30-day public input period for the permit process expired last week.
The goal of staff is to start construction on the beach next year.
In July 2017, the Friends of Bay Beach unveiled a plan to donate $2.1 million for a new Ferris Wheel that would be installed near the swimming beach.
The Ferris Wheel is not contingent on the beach project and is expected to be ready when Bay Beach opens for the year in 2019.
The council’s six-year debate of what to do with the deteriorating pool at Colburn Park, on the city’s west side, will last even longer.
No vote was taken on Miron Construction’s low bid to redo Colburn Pool, at a base cost of $5.6 million.
City staff estimates the total cost, including previous engineering work, would be about $6.8 million.
In July, the city council unanimously approved replacing the pool as long as the total budget for the project did not exceed $5.5 million.
City staff says that means $2.5 million is needed to bridge the cost between Miron’s bid and what the council agreed to spend.
Under the plan, the pool would include eight 50-meter lap lanes, a deep well, and a zero depth entry with a few play features.
The park’s bathhouse would also be renovated with new enclosed bathrooms and a new centrally located concession stand.
A new 46-stall parking lot and storm water management area would also be installed to the west of the existing pool.
In December 2016, Mayor Jim Schmitt vetoed a $6.8 million plan for a new pool at Colburn Park.
At the time, Schmitt said 20 years of interest payments and operational costs would have upped the price tag to $11.2 million.
Private donors contributed $1 million for that project. Park committee meeting minutes show $825,000 of that money is still available for the current Colburn Pool replacement plan.
