By Lee Reinsch
Correspondent

DE PERE – The West Business Park in De Pere will soon be laying the groundwork for an expansion.

On Tuesday, Jan. 5, after a brief public hearing where one resident spoke, the De Pere Common Council voted unanimously to rezone 10 lots near American Boulevard, totaling just over 105 acres, from Single-Family Residential to Industrial Business 2.

The area, although previously zoned Single-Family Residential, has long been earmarked for business park use.

The 2010 De Pere comprehensive plan and future land uses map listed the area as potential space for future business park expansion.

Resident Scott Borley, who lives in the 2400 block of Tullig Place, asked if the developer would consider including some form of sound screening, such as a tall berm or trees, to screen the residential neighborhood from the business park and cut down on noises and light pollution.

He also said marketing by the developer gave the impression space was available in the park for a million-square-foot building.

“It was concerning to me that they would be willing to build something the size of five Walmarts,” he said.

His home, for the time being, overlooks a cornfield.

Another area of De Pere will also see a change.

The council voted unanimously to block off traffic permanently on a curved area of road encompassing the 200 block of South Wisconsin Street and part of the 500 block of Charles Street.

It’s the next step toward making way for the future Mulva Cultural Center, which will be centered in the vicinity.

In spring of 2019, De Pere natives Jim and Miriam Mulva launched plans for the cultural center, which now has a price tag close to $70 million.

To make room for it, several parish and school buildings in the vicinity were razed and replaced.

Buildings on the grounds of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church were removed and rebuilt, as were two schools, the old Notre Dame Middle School, 221 S. Wisconsin St., and St. Mary Elementary School, 100 S. Huron.

The new Notre Dame School of De Pere, 137 S. Superior St., a combined pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade school, was built in the area where the old St. Mary playground stood.

The council approved vacating the road, contingent upon several tasks being accomplished.

Those include:

• Creating a utility easement on Charles Street from the alley to Wisconsin Street.

• Relocating utilities on Wisconsin Street to allow easements within the right of way.

• Creating an 8-foot easement for snow storage.

• Creating a 20-foot walkway easement on the north side.

• Relocating the Charles Street sanitary sewer and storm sewer lateral to St Francis Xavier Church.