By Lee Reinsch
Correspondent

DE PERE – UnitedHealth Group is a few paving stones closer to moving to De Pere from Howard, after the De Pere Common Council’s unanimous approval of a developers’ site plan Tuesday, Dec. 17.

With a few caveats, the council voted in favor of a site plan for the project in the 2100 block of Innovation Court, northwest of the intersection of Innovation Court and Southbridge Road.

The site is surrounded by undeveloped/conservancy land to the north and east; vacant business park property, which is zoned for corporate and executive offices, to the south; and, to the west, Interstate 41 and land in the Town of Lawrence zoned for agricultural and commercial use.

The plan is to divide the land into two pacels (one of 13.1 acres and more than 1,000 feet of frontage, and the other of 17.86 acres and more than 400 feet of frontage) and two outlots.

There’s no immediate proposed plan to develop the first lot, but UnitedHealth Group officials hope to build an office building on the larger of the two parcels.

The conditions the board added to the agreement include the developer must:

• Meet all other state and local regulations.

• Add a missing utility easement along I-41.

• Add an easement across the property to connect electricity to a city-owned sign, northwest of the second lot, and provide an easement for the city to access the sign.

• Allow the city to use the outlots on each lot for “storm water management or to create public walkways, paths, trails and recreational related facilities and structures.”

Developers talked about their plans last month at various city committee meetings to build a $35 million, 174,000-square-foot corporate headquarters for UnitedHealth Group.

More than 1,000 employees would be transferred to the new location.