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Packers plan to expand storage building to heat Clarke Hinkle Field

By Kevin Boneske
Staff Writer

ASHWAUBENON – The village’s Site Plan Review Committee and Plan Commission approved a site plan Tuesday, Oct. 1, for the Green Bay Packers to construct a 20×25-foot addition on an existing storage building to be able to heat Clarke Hinkle Field along Oneida Street.

Building Inspector Kyle Pederson said the practice equipment storage will be moved to the new addition and the existing building space will used to house a new boiler to heat the practice field adjacent to that building.

Craig Cornell, facility manager for Ziese Construction, which is building the addition, said the entire building will have metal wall panel with joints 42 inches apart.

“When we originally drew this, we didn’t add the concrete block unit on the bottom, because this finish is so attractive…,” Cornell said. “It’s nice and clean with panels, but we don’t have the time or luxury to go through a variance. We’d love to, but we just don’t have the time. We have to build this in November.”

Community Development Director Aaron Schuette said the village’s ordinances require a minimum of a 3-foot masonry wainscoting on the bottom of the building.

Cornell said the Packers will select a color for the wainscoting.

Being that the storage building is located south of the Don Hutson Center and adjacent to the Soap Products Co. structure to the east, Trustee Gary Paul said he doesn’t have a problem with constructing the addition behind the existing building because some people won’t even notice it’s there.

“It isn’t like trucks or cars are going to be back there,” Paul said.

The plans submitted to the village also show a piping system to be installed underneath the field for heating.

Aaron Popkey, Packers director of public affairs, said the heating will allow the field to be used later in the year.

“This is overall field upgrade work we’ve been working on the last few years and continuing into the future…,” Popkey said. “We’re replacing the (outdoor practice) fields with the same surface we’ve had at Lambeau (Field).”

The other practice field to the east of the Don Hudson Center, Ray Nitschke Field, already is heated.

Popkey said Clarke Hinkle Field will have the heating system installed underneath when that field is replaced to also extend its use later into the year.

“We’ve had it on Nitschke Field for several years, so the guys can work outside late in the year, and we’re going to do the same thing with Hinkle, just so we’ve got a couple of options there,” he said. “So we’re replacing both practice fields, the surface, with the same type of surface.”

Popkey said the building addition project is necessary to add a boiler to be able to heat Clarke Hinkle Field.

Because the project is located in the village’s Sports & Entertainment District, Schuette said the site plan requires final approval from the village board, which has its next regular meeting set for Oct. 22.

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