By Lee Reinsch
Correspondent
DE PERE – The City of De Pere took another step toward making a decade-old plan for a YMCA a reality, but it doesn’t necessarily mean the project will break ground anytime soon.
On Tuesday, Oct. 19, the De Pere Common Council voted to extend a land purchase option with the Greater Green Bay YMCA for 20 acres of land located at 655 Rockland Road in the east industrial park.
The purchase option was extended from its original end date of Dec. 31, 2025 to Dec. 31, 2031.
The agreement was originally made in 2010.
The YMCA requested the extension because of the estimated finish date for the southern bypass and bridge moving to 2032.
The southern bridge will cross the Fox River, south of the existing Claude Allouez Bridge and north of the Wrightstown Bridge, with the purpose of reducing congestion on the Claude Allouez Bridge and facilitating more business and commuter traffic.
The land earmarked for the Y, which consists of two parcels, could accommodate a full-service indoor and outdoor fitness and recreation center, complete with fields and other outdoor areas for fitness.
Growing outside the box
De Pere could get a 142,000-square-foot expansion to Belmark’s Plant 2 on Commerce Drive.
The city approved the sale of 15.58 acres at $30,000 an acre in the east industrial park for the addition.
The city will also provide a grant in the amount of the purchase price, $468,240 at the closing of the land sale, as well as a project cost reimbursement grant of up to $1.33 million, divided out in annual payments from November 2024 to November 2042.
The $7.5 million facility will house the company’s folding carton division and offices, and would enable the company to eventually double its production.
Plans for the space include 130,000 square feet devoted to manufacturing and 12,000 square feet devoted to an office facility.
The project is located in De Pere’s Tax Incremental Financing District No. 17.
Other business
The board approved or accepted:
• A plan to manage phragmites, a long-lived perennial grass that spreads by rhizome.
• A $2,000 grant to the police department from the Wisconsin Public Service Foundation for the purchase of ballistic shields.
• A quote of $16,250 from Petroleum Equipment Service of Wisconsin to replace a fuel tank monitoring system.
• A change to De Pere Municipal Ordinance 21-26, Section 7-2, which makes anyone who falsifies information on an application for a liquor license ineligible to reapply for a liquor license for a year.
• A forest fire protection grant application to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources for the installation of a dry fire hydrant. Dry fire hydrants pump water from rivers and streams for firefighting instead of using the municipal water supply.