GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – On Tuesday night, Green Bay’s common council approved a memorandum between the city and C. Reiss Company that lays out how the two entities will work together to get the coal piles relocated.
“I just want to thank you all for continuing to push this, and you made this happen,” said Green Bay Alder Kathy Hinkfuss. “It’s been a long time coming, thank you.”
Perhaps the most significant aspect of the memorandum of understanding is Green Bay’s commitment of $2.2 million to assist with the relocation of the coal piles.
According to common council president Brian Johnson, the money will help C. Reiss gets a concrete or asphalt pad for its salt piles that will relocate to the former Pulliam power plant site. Once those salt piles move off their current location at the Fox River Terminals site, C. Reiss can then move the coal piles in downtown Green Bay to the Fox River Terminals.
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“In all likelihood, it’s (the $2.2 million) probably going to come from TIF (tax increment financing), so reallocating TIF from an existing district or to expand a district to encompass the Mason Street site or the Pulliam site.”
The city agreed to pay for this because it was an unexpected expense that came up under the new terms of the site agreement that Brown County supervisors approved last week. Many of the original negotiations had the coal piles moving to the former Pulliam power plant site instead of the Fox River Terminals.
“I think this is the best path forward for the city to really participate in a meaningful way and address our primary concerns,” Common Council President Brian Johnson said regarding the importance of this memorandum of understanding.
According to the document, C. Reiss will be able to continue doing business using about 25 acres of their current coal pile site. They won’t be able to store bulk commodities like coal or salt there anymore, though.
City leaders say they will rezone the 10 or so acres of the current coal piles site closest to the Mason Street Bridge. This will open up the possibility that the city can build things like apartment buildings or storefronts there.
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“If you look at the core of our downtown, the city deck, the On Broadway District, that’s the kind of stuff we’d love to see,” Genrich said.
Green Bay officials said it’ll take several years before community members see the coal piles dwindling at their current site and new coal piles popping up at the Fox River Terminals.
However, over the last week, local officials have made several major breakthroughs to make moving the coal piles a reality.
“Without this (memorandum of understanding), the deal really wasn’t done, so it was a really important step for the city to take,” Genrich said.
In a statement, C. Reiss company officials said, “The steadfast and dedicated leadership of Mayor Eric Genrich has been vitally important to moving this landmark project forward for the Green Bay community. We appreciate the work of the Common Council as we partner together on this effort.”
“Oftentimes people run for elected office and you’re working through things like broken tree limbs and potholes,” Johnson said. “It’s only a small percentage of the votes that we get to take that are truly just community-changing, and this is one of those. Something that has been talked about for decades, and we finally reached a deal that will work for everybody.”
