MARINETTE — The Marinette County Infrastructure Committee is learning that the fate of the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay, Marinette Campus cannot be decided in one meeting.
The committee voted to send the issue back to a special county board meeting, which will take place Tuesday, May 21, at 9 a.m. at the Marinette County Courthouse.
This is after the county board decided to send the UW issue back to the Infrastructure Committee last month. The issue, in particular, examined whether the county would transfer all the buildings to the City of Marinette.
The county board’s instruction was to hire a consultant to do some work and bring the same, different or more research back to the whole, said County Administrator John Lefebvre.
Lefebvre updated the committee on some crucial developments that have taken place since the county board’s action, said Lefebvre at the meeting on Wednesday.
He said that hiring a consultant may take longer than previously thought. The new redevelopment grant funds, made accessible to UW through Senate Bill 518, are not ready yet, according to a conversation he had with an official at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation.
“The process - the application - and the process for acquiring those grant funds has not yet been developed,” Lefebvre said.
One, he stated there was no rush in hiring a consultant, and WEDC does not reimburse previous expenses. Therefore, the county must wait until the grant opens up to start any hiring process, as it has no money to pay for the consultant without the grant.
Two, the Greater Marinette-Menominee YMCA also contacted the county as part of its facility improvement projects on the Menominee campus.
“It’s in their due diligence to include and research the feasibility of moving that campus that’s in Menominee, Michigan, over here into Wisconsin, specifically to this property, the fieldhouse property,” Lefebvre said. “The Y is interested in investigating the feasibility of bringing their business over here and abandoning that facility if this is more feasible for them.”
Three, Lefebvre was invited with alderperson Ken Keller to attend the Great Lakes Inter-Tribal Council meeting. This entity encompasses 12 tribes, 11 of them from Wisconsin.
“They expressed that they may have an interest in the property as well, the UW campus property,” Lefebvre said. “They actually took a tour of the property with me and Ken Keller.”
The group toured the fieldhouse and the UW campus.
“They followed up that meeting with a request: if they could have the floor plans for all the buildings,” Lefebvre said.
He said the county obliged and gave them the floor plans so the group could do its due diligence on deciding whether the building meets their needs.
Lefebvre said he received numerous requests, one from the City of Marinette and one from Shore Drive Development LLC, which owns the former Bay Area Medical Center property.
“The city is interested in Runnoe Park, in acquiring it, maintaining it as a park,” Lefebvre said. “They want to keep it in perpetuity a community park.”
Mayor Steve Genisot, alderpersons Rick Polzin and Doug Oitzinger and the developers were present at the meeting. Committee members discussed rezoning the main campus for local shopping, which caused Oitzinger to get up and speak again - the second time at the podium that day.
“All we’re going to end up doing is dragging this out for many, many months, which I’ve heard there is a concern,” Oitzinger said. “I’m sitting next to a developer who is about to say, ‘I’m going to put my energy into some other projects I’ve got because this can’t get this resolved this year.’ That doesn’t help our tax base, it doesn’t help your tax base, it doesn’t help the community.”
Oitzinger said there are ways to move things forward, but progress is not happening right now, and people are at “loggerheads” with each other, hitting his fists together.
“Somebody wants to stick $30 million into our community, and we’re concerned with, ‘What’ll happen with that easement for a storm sewer that’s been in there for 50 years?’” Oitzinger said.
He asked the committee to cooperate.
“The city council has no interest - none, zero - in taking all of the hospital property,” Oitzinger said. “The city council has only been on record to ask for one thing: Runnoe Park. Not because that’s going to make us money. It will cost us money. We do it because it’s in the public interest. It’s in the public interest of the residents of Marinette County to keep that a public part.”
Lefebvre followed up by addressing the committee.
“What the city is telling you is they are not going to rezone this for anything,” Lefebvre said. “I wanted you to hear that so you can pass that on to the county board if you bring this forward. There is no chance you are ever going to see that property rezoned, so you better figure out what to do with it. I’m telling you the city needs to step up and take the property, and whether they want it or don’t want it, now is the time to do it, and it all goes away.”
Lefebvre said Oitzinger was at the city council meeting when an alderperson said the city was interested in the property. He said they all nodded their heads.
“That’s what I heard, Doug, at the same meeting that you were at. Nothing formal out of the council, but that’s what I heard, and correct me if I’m wrong there, did I hear it wrong?” Lefebvre said.
“No,” the mayor said and continued talking before he was asked to come up to the podium.
The mayor said they formally asked for Runnoe Park because the county and city expressed interest in keeping it as a park.
“I understand that the property is going to need a lot more discussion. I don’t think anyone is comfortable what we’re going to do with it,” Genisot said.
He asked the committee to forward some of the ideas on possible partnerships and best use cases to the board.
“The developer would like to get going,” Genisot said. “I think there’s options, but we’re not going to decide what happens to the university today, so we would like to at least move forward with the development. Putting a shovel in the ground is pretty timely.”
Stan Gruszynski, a county board supervisor who was in attendance, said that while the discussion was difficult, it was necessary and was what the board members should be doing.
“This is long overdue,” Gruszynski said. “It’s our job.”
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