UW-Green Bay Marinette Campus. PC: Fox 11 Online
MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The Marinette County Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday to postpone the transfer of the vacant UW-Green Bay Marinette campus to the city of Marinette.
Residents and county supervisors alike had reservations about the deal.
The former campus has sat empty for about two years.
“The site is an asset. It is not owned by the supervisors. It is owned by the people of Marinette County. It is an asset that is a part of the commonwealth, the commonwealth of the county,” Marinette resident Tom Schwaba said.
The vote comes after the city decided last week to proceed with a memorandum of understanding with the county. Some worry without solid plans in place, the property could end up in the hands of a private developer.
“It is a regional, important cultural center,” Kim Brooks of Wausaukee said. “It’s an unbelievable property for a community our size, and I urge you not to do anything without making sure that its future is secure.”
“In my opinion, there really was not a plan. We were just trying to move this along, and that’s not the best way to do things. You need to make sure that what you’re doing has a reason and a good outcome for it,” Marinette County Board Supervisor Connie Seefeldt said.
Seefeldt put forth the motion to postpone the transfer. Part of her motion includes developing a committee with various groups, including people in the county and city, to come up with a plan for the property.
A common idea that came up Tuesday is to use part of the campus as a cultural center.
Meanwhile, Marinette Mayor Steve Genisot is disappointed with the county board’s decision.
“I’m not sure the reason for postponing, since they’ve been working on it for two years. What this is going to accomplish, we need to kind of start moving in a direction to make some decisions. The city would like to be part of that, and that was the goal of the memorandum of understanding,” Genisot said.
Genisot said the city wants to see the campus theater and park preserved, as well as repurposing the field house.
There has been some discussion about the Greater Marinette-Menominee YMCA acquiring the field house. Genisot said the YMCA has a letter of intent with the county, but he is unsure where plans stand with that.
Moving the Stephenson Public Library to the campus has also been discussed, but again, there are no solid plans in place. Genisot said he doesn’t want to see the library moved out of its historic downtown location. Some community members and supervisors agree, and would like to see more research done on the overall project.
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