GREEN BAY. WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County is still going to purchase a prime piece of downtown Green Bay property, despite the county executive recently vetoing a deal that was agreed to last month.
It is the former Bank Mutual site on Monroe Avenue, which is across the street from the county’s Central Library.
When Brown County’s board of supervisors voted to buy the former bank property last month for $1.2 million, it received criticism for not having a plan for the land beyond parking for the library.
Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach vetoed the deal, but not because he didn’t like the idea of the county taking ownership of the land.
“In that time of due diligence, we found the cost of abatement superseded what we thought the cost should be,” said Streckenbach.
Another reason for swiping the site without a plan was to prevent development that included a gas station, which potentially would have sold alcohol, across the street from the library.
In the month since the original approval to purchase, county officials devised a tentative plan to build a central kitchen and dining area there for the Aging and Disability Resource Center. It is a project the county board already approved $3 million of sales tax money for.
“It’s been a vendor-based service where we contract with somebody to actually make the meals,” said Devon Christianson, the ADRC’s director.
For 42 years, the ADRC has been running the program. It currently serves about 600 meals a day, mostly to people’s homes. The goal is to increase that to 1,000 meals a day amid the exponential growth in the demographic served.
Long-term, the county also sees the possibility of moving the ADRC’s central operations on Adams Street into the Central Library building.
“We’re already partnering in great ways, but there are other opportunities,” said Christianson.
“This is a perfect example where county government is making an investment, but ultimately creating savings for the taxpayers,” said Streckenbach.
Despite the possibilities, some county supervisors remain skeptical.
“This is going to be an expensive piece of property to put a kitchen and parking lot in,” said Patrick Buckley, the chair of the board of supervisors.
With the ADRC kitchen projected to take up just 14% of the property, county officials plan to gather proposals to develop the rest of the site.
The county board voted 20 to 4 to buy the property for $1.1 million, $100,000 lower than the deal that was vetoed.
For the purchase, the county is using money that was earmarked in the budget for central library renovations.
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