GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (WFRV) – Local officials cleared another major hurdle in the process of getting the Green Bay coal piles relocated.
At a special meeting on Wednesday night, Brown County board supervisors unanimously approved a 14-point agreement with C. Reiss Company to relocate the company’s coal piles. Supervisors went into closed session for about 45 minutes before coming back into open session to vote.
“Both parties are extremely committed to what this project means to the community,” Brown County executive Troy Streckenbach told reporters after the vote.
Under the terms of the agreement, C. Reiss Company will lease out part of the former Pulliam Power Plant site from the county. The lease is for 60 years and C. Reiss can terminate the lease if they give five years’ notice. The yearly cost of rent is $350,000, with opportunities for slightly reduced rent each year based on how settling issues affect the salt stockpile height.
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C. Reiss’s coal currently sits on the banks of the Fox River near the Mason Street Bridge.
Under the terms of the agreement, the coal will eventually go to the Fox River Terminals. This site currently stores C. Reiss’ salt piles. To make room, the salt will move to the former Pulliam Power Plant site, which will now be developed and built out to support salt storage.
The agreement that the county board passed on Wednesday evening also lays out the design plan for the former Pulliam Power Plant site. It was built on a framework of a deal that C. Reiss and county officials agreed on last June.
“What we’ve just went through over the last number of months, ultimately got both parties comfortable with where we’re headed, so it is a good deal,” Streckenbach said.
The new agreement allows the county to expend grant funds and begin construction at the Pulliam Power Plant site. County officials said there was some urgency to get the agreement approved by the board this week, with deadlines quickly approaching on some of the grants they had secured to fund the project.
“(Taking the next step to move the coal piles is) a huge benefit because the coal dust that is out on the houses and some people who said they’ve had medical issues come up because of the coal,” supervisor Emily Jacobson said. “This is a win for everybody in our district.”
Supervisor Jacobson represents the folks who live near the coal piles.
County officials said construction at the former Pulliam Power Plant site will begin shortly. However, they say it will take several years to get it ready to store C. Reiss’ salt piles.
When construction is done on the former Pulliam Power Plant site, C. Reiss could move its salt piles there. Their salt is currently at the Fox River Terminals and when it moves from there, this creates space for the coal.
However, county officials said that the coal won’t be trucked or shipped over all at once. C. Reiss will use up all the coal at this site and then bring new coal to the Fox River Terminals.
County officials floated 2029 as a potential year for when this could get done. They also have plans for the section of the former Pulliam Power Plant site that isn’t part of C. Reiss’s lease.
“We have another part of the site that we will also be developing,” county board chair Patrick Buckley told reporters. “We will be leasing that out to another provider. We haven’t gotten to that yet. But as soon as this gets done, we’ll be moving onto the next provider.”
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Brown County administrators, Buckley, and supervisors Kevin Gannon and James Pyle were part of the county’s team that negotiated with C. Reiss.
County officials say that they’re still working on a few more details of the lease. They have a March 5 deadline to finish the lease.
The City of Green Bay and C. Reiss continue to work on a separate agreement to redevelop the company’s Mason Street coal location into a mixed-use development once the coal is gone.
C. Reiss Company sent the following statement to Local 5 News after the vote on Wednesday night:
“Tonight’s County Board vote is an important step forward in the effort to expand capacity at the Port of Green Bay and advance the redevelopment of the former Pulliam site. C. Reiss has proudly served the Green Bay community for more than 100 years, and we appreciate the work of Brown County, the City of Green Bay, and state partners as we move toward finalizing and executing the lease.”
