PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
(WTAQ-WLUK) – Brown County is pitching a new option to move the downtown Green Bay coal piles.
In a press release, Brown County Board Chair Pat Buckley says the new option would include 12.7 acres of county-owned land that is adjacent to 3.7 acres of land owned by Fox River Terminals LLC, the parent company of C. Reiss – the owner of the downtown Green Bay coal piles.
Fox River Terminals also owns 32.9 acres of port land on the other side of Bylsby Avenue from the site Buckley is pitching to be the new home for the coal piles.
Brown County and C. Reiss have been unable to reach a deal to move the coal piles to the former Pulliam Power Plant site, which was purchased a few years ago with the intent of being the new home for the coal piles.
“We’ve expended a lot of time and struggle putting forth a good faith effort to strike an equitable deal for all sides involved,” said Buckley in the press release. “After exhausting all options at the former Pulliam Plant site, and after apparent failed negotiations between the City of Green Bay and C. Reiss over Alternate Site 1, we are now putting Alternate Site 2 on the table for consideration.”
The alternate site Buckley refers to between C. Reiss and Green Bay is city-owned land just southwest of the new site he wants to be considered.
“The Wisconsin Department of Administration has indicated it would like to see a deal acceptable to both C. Reiss and the County reached, or roughly $13 million in grant funding for Port development may soon be pulled,” said Buckley in the press release. “C. Reiss has since made unreasonable demands, knowing the County is in a poor bargaining position. However, I remain hopeful that the benefits of selecting this new option will be apparent to all parties, as it will provide for both Port development, and the removal of coal piles that have blighted our riverfront for over 100 years.”
The grant in question is nearly half of the approximately $33 million Brown County has gathered to expand port operations to the mouth of the Fox River at the Pulliam site.
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