Green Bay City Council approves downtown high-rise, holds off on tiny homes for veterans

GREEN BAY - The Green Bay City Council considered two contentious housing proposals during its meeting Tuesday, but approved only one.

Concerned neighbors of both projects provided close to three hours of passionate comment to the City Council during a meeting that turned the spotlight on the region's need for thousands more housing units at almost every price point.

"I'm personally and professionally aware of the housing crisis in this community and country," Mayor Eric Genrich said at the meeting's start. "My hope is we do what we can tonight to meet that need."

The council approved New Land Enterprises' plans to build an eight-story, $55 million high-rise in the center of downtown Green Bay and pledged to work with stakeholders in the building next door to resolve their concerns.

But it asked city staff to resolve some unanswered questions before it acted on Veterans 1st of NEW's request to build a "cottage court" of 21 tiny homes for veterans in an east-side neighborhood whose residents strongly oppose the plan.

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New Land can proceed with its plan to convert the city-owned surface parking lot at 221 Cherry St., commonly known as the Adams Street parking lot, into an eight-story high-rise building complete with enclosed tenant parking, first-floor commercial space for a restaurant, and a package of high-end amenities that includes a third floor rooftop pool.

The group plans to build a J-shaped building oriented toward the Fox River with a mix of apartments that includes eight townhouse-style units along Cherry Street and eight multi-floor penthouse units. The city agreed to sell New Land the property for $1 and provide at least $8.5 million in tax incremental financing assistance to the project.

New Land encountered several concerns during community meetings including the loss of 120 parking spaces close to downtown businesses and the building's impact on its closest neighbors. Members of Spring Lake Church and the housing nonprofit Gateway Collective, two owner-tenants of Baylake City Center, the building next door to the parking lot, said the luxury high-rise would force them to undertake costly renovations to move their entrances.

Discussions between key stakeholders and city officials leads to hope for 'win-win-win'

On Tuesday, Spring Lake Lead Pastor Jack Guerra said recent conversations between city officials and Baylake City Center tenants had identified "ways we can work together" to get answers to the tenants' concerns and address issues like parking spaces for people with disabilities. And city staff said they've already started to review plans that would see Baylake City Center tenants reorient their entrances away from what will be a large building wall and toward Adams, Washington or Northland streets.

"I believe there is a win-win-win in this. Our goal, as your goal, is to bless downtown. Let's work work together to make downtown Green Bay better," Guerra said.

The City Council did add one condition to the development agreement before approving it: New Land would be required to provide an easement to the city for the five feet of the property it doesn't plan to build on. The aim is to ensure New Land, Baylake City Center and the city can partner on a plan to activate the space between the two buildings.

Supportive housing cottage court for veterans delayed to get answers to 'real legal issues' after late clarification from Brown County

More than 20 people spoke about Veterans 1st of NEW's request to develop a cottage court of 21 tiny homes on 3½ acres in the 2800 block of St. Anthony Drive in the Schmitt Park neighborhood. One resident said the proposal had "torn apart" the neighborhood association's board and damaged an outstanding neighborhood in five months' time.

Opponents continued to question everything from the qualifications of Veterans 1st of NEW to the legality of Brown County's December vote to donate the land in question to whether the site overlaps with a potters field of unmarked graves from the 19th century.

But the council decided to refer Veterans 1st of NEW's request back to city staff to get legal clarification on a couple of issues, including a late clarification from Brown County's attorney that said the county-approved land donation to Veterans 1st for a project that exclusively provides housing and services for veterans, not veteran-preferred housing as previously discussed.

"I'm not suggesting the county has put us in a bind with that last bit of news, but it creates some real legal issues that are unclear to all of us," Genrich said. He later added the city, county, neighbors and Veterans 1st need "clear understanding" of the county's explanation.

Council members also said they hoped doing more work on some of the issues, including the location of the potters field, might get more support from the neighborhood.

Contact Jeff Bollier at (920) 431-8387 or jbollier@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JeffBollier.

This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay City Council approves one of two contentious housing plans