Green Bay committee approves street, marsh and community projects; green-energy outreach grouped for single vote

The Green Bay Improvement and Services Committee on Jan. 29 approved a series of permits, professional services contracts, grant acceptances and policy changes affecting streets, stormwater, branding in the Shipyard District and a city-supported solar group-buy outreach program.

The committee approved a temporary parking/loading concession for one Downtown YMCA employee with a disability; changes to the city's traffic-calming policy; a revision to sanitary sewer credit rules for billing of invisible water leaks; a revocable occupancy permit for a developer camera on the Cherry Street parking ramp; permission to install Shipyard District banners on city and utility-owned poles; professional services agreements for the East Mason Street rehabilitation and for construction oversight of the Fox River tank farm marsh remediation; a grouped set of sponsorship and outreach agreements to support a Grow Solar Green Bay program; and several routine purchases, contract awards and license filings.

Why it matters: the items approved fund near-term construction and restoration work, change a billing policy that affects customer credits for hidden leaks, and authorize outreach that the city says supports residential solar adoption without using city general funds. Several items will move next to the full Common Council on Feb. 4 for final action.

The committee heard public comment on the Shipyard District banner request from Taro Knight, executive director of Shipyard District Incorporated. Knight said the banners are intended to help the near west side business district '2identify ourselves to visitors' in time for the NFL draft and to 'connect the downtown to the stadium and the district' by creating a cleaner, well-lit corridor.

Major approvals and dollar amounts

- Revocable occupancy permit for a Downtown YMCA employee to park temporarily in a Jefferson Street loading zone (approved after staff recommendation; recurring request previously granted). Chris Gerdlat, operations manager, said the employee 'has some form of disability' and the city is 'recommending that it be approved again.'

- Amendment to the traffic-calming policy (procedural approval to move the previously council-reviewed change through committee; no substantive change from the council action was reported).

- Modification to the sanitary sewer credit portion of the Clearwater billing policy to limit credits for invisible leaks to the water-treatment portion of charges rather than including city transport/treatment charges (approved after staff explanation).

- Revocable occupancy permit for Newland Enterprises to install a small time-lapse camera on the Cherry Street ramp elevator/stair tower rooftop, subject to insurance and other standard conditions (approved).

- Permission for Shipyard District Incorporated to install street light pole banners on city- and WPS-owned poles in the near west side Shipyard District, contingent on a hold-harmless agreement and insurance (approved following public comment by Taro Knight).

- Grouped approvals (items 6, 8'13): sponsorship agreement with the Midwest Renewable Energy Association and several professional services and outreach agreements to support the Grow Solar Green Bay/Fox Valley group-buy and related community education. Staff said all outreach costs are funded through a previously accepted grant from the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN); no city general funds would be used for the outreach work (approved by one roll-call vote covering multiple packet items).

- Professional services agreement with Ayers Associates for design, bidding assistance and construction inspection for East Mason Street (Jasper to Bader) at a combined cost of $159,862 (approved).

- Acceptance of a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) construction grant for the Fox River tank farm marsh project and a professional services agreement with GEI Consultants Inc. for construction oversight and post-construction monitoring in the amount of $225,000 (approved).

- Authorization for the Department of Public Works parking division to purchase a single-axle 1-ton cab and chassis from Ewalds Automotive for $51,832 (budgeted replacement; approved).

- Reported award or recommended award (packet wording varied) of bridge inspection services to Ayers Associates for $36,594 (received/approved as presented).

- Baird Creek stormwater restoration project: bids returned higher than estimated; the committee amended the item to allow staff to award the contract at the staff level once final funding sources are confirmed (including ARPA funds) and to report the final award at the next committee meeting (amendment and approval recorded).

- Amendment to native vegetation maintenance contracts to add the Woods at Bear Creek pond to McMahon Associates' scope, increasing that contractor's total to $51,235 (approved).

Votes at a glance (selected items)

- Downtown YMCA parking exception: motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Alder Eck 'aye'; Alder DeLee 'aye'; Alder Presley 'aye'.

- Traffic-calming policy amendment (committee step): motion by Alder DeLee, second Alder Eck; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Sanitary sewer credit policy amendment: motion by Alder (motion recorded as by Alder X in packet; second Alder DeLee); outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Revocable occupancy permit, Newland Enterprises (camera): motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Shipyard District banners: motion to open public comment (Alder Eck), public comment received; final motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Group vote covering items 6, 8'13 (Grow Solar sponsorship and outreach agreements): motion to take grouped items with a single roll-call vote (Alder DeLee), second Alder Eck; final motion to approve (Alder Eck), second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Ayers Associates professional services, East Mason Street ($159,862): motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- DNR grant acceptance and GEI Consultants PSA for Fox River tank farm marsh ($225,000): motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee; outcome: approved. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

- Baird Creek stormwater restoration: motion to amend to allow staff-level award and then approve as amended (motion by Alder Eck, second Alder DeLee); outcome: amendment and approval carried. Recorded votes: Eck/DeLee/Presley 'aye.'

Discussion and directions

Committee members and staff framed most items as routine procurement, grant administration or procedural steps required before full council review. Staff repeatedly noted limited in-house engineering capacity as a rationale for hiring consultants for design, bidding assistance and inspection.

On the Grow Solar package, staff said the Midwest Renewable Energy Association would coordinate a contractor and the city would not procure the solar systems directly; outreach work would be paid for from a USDN grant already accepted by the city. Alex Galt, identified in the meeting as the city's clean energy connector, was present for questions.

For the Baird Creek restoration project, staff reported bids above estimate and asked to be authorized to finalize award at the director/staff level once the budget source is confirmed; the committee approved that approach and required subsequent reporting on award amount and funding source.

Public comment

Taro Knight, executive director of Shipyard District Incorporated, spoke in support of banners for the near west side, saying they would help identify the district to visitors and support revitalization.

Next steps

Most items approved by the committee will go forward to the full Common Council on Feb. 4; the committee's next regular meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26, 2025.

(Reporting: this article is based on the Jan. 29, 2025 meeting of the Green Bay Improvement and Services Committee.)