GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – On Thursday night, Green Bay’s plan commission recommended moving forward with a controversial veteran housing project that would bring affordable housing to the city’s east side.
The recommendation came after a public hearing that lasted around two hours with both supporters and opponents of the project voicing their opinions.
The project would create a planned unit development (PUD) so an organization called Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin can create 21 “tiny” homes for veterans in need of affordable housing. This would happen on an approximately 3.5 acre piece of land just off St. Anthony Drive.
Some of the homes will be 400 square feet and others will be 600 square feet. We’re told that veterans will go through a rigorous screening process before they can move into the neighborhood.
They said they will call it ‘Veteran’s 1st Cottage Court Village.’ It will also include a community center and mental health, job placement, and other services and will get built in three phases.
“I think that family aspect, the camaraderie it’s going to be huge,” said Kim Nohr who is the president of Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin. “A definite game changer.”
Several dozen veterans showed up at a special meeting for the plan commission on Thursday night to show their support for the project.
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“It’s just amazing what they plan for this community to help veterans that are in need,” said George Dexter who is a veteran.
“What greater duty do we have then protecting those who were willing to carry the burden of protecting and honoring us at one point,” said Jonathan Davis who is the vice president of Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin and a veteran himself.
Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin officials said there’s around 500 veterans in Brown County who are either homeless or don’t have a consistent place to stay. They said the need for affordable housing projects is great.
“We talk all the time about a housing shortage and if we’re serious about solving it we have to be creative about different ways of doing that,” said one of the speakers during the public hearing. “This is one of those ways.”
However, not everybody is happy about the project.
The project build site is near the Schmitt Park neighborhood and there were several representatives from the neighborhood association in attendance to voice their concerns about the project.
One gripe that came up multiple times is that the city seems to be allowing anybody to build whatever they want near their neighborhood. The county’s medical examiner office, juvenile detention center, a nursing home, and other veteran services are all there as well.
“We’ve opened our arms, we’ve taken on projects we’ve gone above and beyond as far as helping, doing our part for our city,” said Duke Brice.
Members of the Schmitt Park neighborhood association said they distributed a survey among their neighbors and the majority of people were against the project.
Veterans Manor, an apartment complex for veterans, is adjacent to the property where Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin officials want to do their housing project. People who live there called into the meeting on Thursday night to express their concerns about the project.
Some people feel like the project will make the neighborhood less safe and lead to more police calls. Officials with Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin said their staff would be in the neighborhood for most of the day and they would assign veterans to be the “leaders” of sections of the neighborhoods to keep an eye on things. They also said the Green Bay police department would have access to their security cameras.
Others are worried about a burial site that’s near where the project is supposed to go.
A few opponents even questioned the professional credentials and backgrounds of some of the leaders of the project.
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“I think going into we believed that we could,” said Kim Nohr when asked if he’s confident his team will be able to execute this project successfully. “In the last two months we’ve had some very strong people come aboard.”
Green Bay city planner David Buck said that Brown County officials conducted studies that backed up their belief that the homes could get built without upsetting any burial sites.
There were also discussions about having an archaeologist on site when the project gets going to make sure no burial sites get disturbed.
The plan commission’s recommendation to give the thumbs up on this project came with added conditions. These conditions addressed some of the concerns of its opponents and also laid out the plan if the project were to fail and Veterans 1st of Northeast Wisconsin abandoned it.
Thursday night the plan commission members recommended moving forward with the project. Ultimately though, it’s Green Bay’s city council that will have the final say on its fate.
