The Brown County Board approved lease terms for the design of the port development site in a special meeting Feb. 11 to help relocate the coal piles from their 125-year home along Mason Street.
Brown County leaders announced they had come to a design and lease agreement for 16 acres of the former Pulliam Power Plant with C. Reiss Co. in a press conference Feb. 10.
The County Board unanimously approved the terms of the agreement after a 45-minute closed session special meeting Feb. 11. Supervisors Ron Antonneau, Kathy Lefebvre, Kevin Gannon, Terry Rentmeester and Dixon Wolfe were not at the meeting.
The agreement comes eight months after the county, city and C. Reiss agreed on a tentative deal to store the coal piles at the Fox River Terminals site, 1400 Bylsby Ave. As part of the deal, Zenith Tech will construct the port development site so C. Reiss can store its salt there. C. Reiss Co. currently holds the salt at the Fox River Terminals.
Once salt storage is relocated, existing coal piles would get slowly depleted and new coal storage would be stored at the Fox River Terminals.
On Feb. 11, the County Board approved a set of terms for the design of the county-owned former Pulliam site and agreed on a majority of the terms of the final lease.
“This is epic for Brown County and this is a big, big vote for you,” said Patrick Evans, a County Board member.
What are the terms of the agreement between Brown County and C. Reiss?
The County Board approved a 14-point agreement Feb. 11 that largely focuses on the design of the port development site and builds on the 10-point framework the parties agreed on in June.
“This is a critical component,” said Troy Steckenbach, Brown County Executive. “It’s probably the most important piece of the puzzle.”
This week’s agreement includes the following:
While a majority of the lease has been ironed out, Streckenbach said the county still needs to work out the final legalities of the lease with C. Reiss. Brown County and C. Reiss must execute the lease by March 5 to avoid using arbitration.
“Tonight’s County Board vote is an important step forward in the effort to expand capacity at the Port of Green Bay and advance the redevelopment of the former Pulliam site,” C. Reiss said in a statement. “C. Reiss has proudly served the Green Bay community for more than 100 years, and we appreciate the work of Brown County, the city of Green Bay, and state partners as we move toward finalizing and executing the lease.”
What are the next steps?
Streckenbach and County Board Chair Patrick Buckley said it was key for the County Board to vote on the agreement Feb. 11 before Zenith Tech starts construction on the site next week and to be in compliance with a state grant that said an agreement had to be approved before money is spent. The agreement had to be in place before the contractor could order steel this month for the new dock wall.
“It hasn’t been an easy negotiation – there’s been a lot of back and forth,” Buckley said. “I appreciate the time and energy that went into this.”
Zenith Tech will start setting up construction efforts of the former Pulliam site next week. The company would start moving equipment and trailers onto the site and start initial demolition work once the site is set up.
Construction of the site will include filling in the site and its boat slip, creating a new dock wall and stormwater pond, paving much of the C. Reiss site in asphalt, and dredging the Fox River.
County officials said the goal is to get the former Pulliam site ready for salt storage by 2028 or 2029.
The county would also have to find someone to lease the rest of the 37-acre former Pulliam site, but it’s still too early to tell what the rest of the site will be used for. The county put out a request for proposals but will move onto that part of the project once the coal piles project is finalized, Buckley said.
“I think a lot of people have held back in terms of showing further interest because they weren’t sure we were actually going to be building anything,” Streckenbach said. “Now we know we’re going to be building something.”
How we got here
Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Brown County Board approves lease design terms for coal piles move
Reporting by Benita Mathew, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
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