By John McCracken
Correspondent
BELLEVUE – At its May 12 meeting, the Bellevue village board unanimously approved a planned development district for a large storage unit facility on Lime Kiln Road.
MCR Rentals, LLC, a Green Bay storage solutions company, is constructing a multi-unit storage facility at 1353 and 1363 Lime Kiln Road, across the road from the east side JBS plant.
This project is more than 130,000 square feet, and the creation of a planned development district is necessary under village ordinance for projects larger than 80,000 square feet.
MCR Rentals will construct 15 buildings, nearly 115,000 square feet, for the first phase of the project.
Buildings inside the complex would hold 10 to 54 storage units.
The second phase involves MCR Rentals’ acquisition and future demolition of a home on the second parcel (1363 Lime Kiln), making way for more than 13,000 square feet of storage facilities.
Upon the first review of the project, trustee Adam Gauthier said he felt there were enough storage facilities in Bellevue, but this project was unique because of the location.
“This is a good transitional property for something like this that otherwise might sit vacant for a very long time because of the railroad tracks, WPS, the wetlands and the location of adjacent businesses,” said Gauthier.
There are currently between 10 and 15 storage unit facilities in the village, including Lok-Safe Storage, Storage Hub and Mesa Storage just off of Lime Kiln.
The future of Lime Kiln will also see continued development due to the recent donation of land from JBS to the City of Green Bay.
City of Green Bay Director of Community and Economic Development Neil Stechschulte presented potential development plans and solicited feedback from trustees.
Of the 26 acres donated to the City of Green Bay, roughly 2.5 acres are inside of the Village of Bellevue.
“Even though it is a small part of the property, it is an important part of the property due to its location,” said Stechschulte.
When he asked the board about concerns they have for development along this newly acquired stretch of land, construction took center stage.
“We’ve had a lot of concern with Guns Street with traffic,” said Gauthier.
Guns Street has a major update planned with road and sidewalk construction and culvert replacement.
“I’d hate to put a brand-new road in and have it ruined by heavy equipment,” said Gauither.
Stechschulte said the city plans to coordinate construction timelines to avoid congestion and ease headaches for municipal staff on both sides.
Looking into the future, Stechschulte and village trustees spoke about how the land could be used for housing, recreation and park facilities, a new Brown County Library system location, and other developments.
“[It’s an] exciting opportunity,” said Village President Steve Soukup.