Rendering of a 600 sq. ft. cottage Veterans1st of NEW hopes to build as part of a tiny homes veterans village in Green Bay (Veterans1st of NEW)
BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — It’s been in the works for years, and despite approval from the city and county, the tiny home veteran village proposed by Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin is facing another setback as a result of project opposition by neighbors.
Gail and Kim Nohr with Veterans 1st have been working to make the village a reality for more than three years.
“Suicide is a huge thing we’re going after and trying to address, and we found out that housing instability is a big cause of veteran suicide,” says Kim, a co-founder of the organization along with his wife, Gail. “Then we did more research and found that the tiny home concept worked better because they had a place to retreat and they also had a place for comradery in the community center.”
The village, they hope, will be just off St. Anthony Drive near the Green Bay VA Clinic, on the former site of the Brown County Mental Health Center.
The project has been given the green light from the city and county. In 2023, the Brown County Board voted unanimously to approve the donation of some of the land for the affordable housing project.
While the project has garnered support from fellow veterans, it has also faced fierce opposition from neighbors.
“Housing is expensive,” said Michael Sheedy, a veteran from Suamico, at a Green Bay planning commission meeting for the project in May of 2024. “A lot of our guys don’t have a lot of money. Some place else these guys could go to be safe, to be secure, and to be around other veterans. Veterans are attracted to other veterans.”
“Nowhere else in this state is there a tiny home village in a residential area. Put it in some other place,” said a neighbor at the meeting who opposed the project.
There have been ongoing concerns about the development being near the county’s Potters Field Cemetery.
Despite Veterans 1st working with the Wisconsin Historical Society and local archaeologists, opponents of the project have insisted on a ground-penetrating radar survey of the site.
“They’re trying to make sure that there’s not people or things buried in the ground there,” says Brown County Board of Supervisors Chair Pat Buckley. “Back years ago, with it being the mental health center and the different cemeteries they had out there, there was some concern by the neighborhoods to what extent those burial grounds were.”
Buckley says Veterans 1st offered to pay for the ground survey, and this week, the county board passed a resolution for it to be done.
“We agreed to it because if didn’t agree to it, we’d be set back. So it was one of those things where we just had to go ahead with it,” says Kim. “And we’re working to get that scheduled,” adds Gail.
“The last thing we want to do is something good and then have something bad happen. So we’ve worked with the state historical society and archeologists, and you can never say there’s 0 chance of anything happening, but if there is, were going to have people on-site to manage that,” the Nohrs say.
Buckley confirmed that the county wouldn’t give approval for the land to be used if there was something, or people, buried underneath it.
“I think at the end of the day, this is just helping everyone’s mind be at ease that there’s nothing there,” said Buckley.
“It’s a little frustrating, but it’s just another step in the pushback,” Kim says.
Right now, the Nohrs says they’re unclear just how big of a price tag the GPRS comes with, and there is a possibility it could push their project timeline back from their goal of breaking ground in late spring.
But, they’re looking at the bright side.
“The community has just been amazing and every time we have a setback like this it seems to just bolster us people understand what we are trying to do here, they understand the problem and get behind us,” he says. “The longer it takes, the more donations and more people come forward so, it’s kind of a blessing,” Gail adds.
Buckley says Veterans 1st has been accommodating and cooperative with neighbors, and he’d like to see everyone come together in agreement.
“The biggest thing is this is for veterans that are homeless. Give them an opportunity to get a step forward,” Buckley says. “What they’re trying to do is a very important thing for the community. We have a lot of veterans who are homeless and if this helps a handful of them, it’s a very good thing. I hope we don’t lose sight of that through this whole process.”
Right now, Veterans 1st is awaiting a scheduling date for the GPRS, and for the City of Green Bay to approve engineering for the project. After that, and after proposals from contractors have been received, they’re hopeful for a groundbreaking in late spring.
Veterans 1st says the first eight tiny homes are being mostly funded by the VA center, and funding for the ninth and tenth homes have been secured, too. A fundraiser to fund the 11th home will be April 5 at 3 p.m. at the Duck Creek Pub in Green Bay. Information can be found on their Facebook page.
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