Master plan for Renard Island includes recreational activities for families

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WLUK) -- Renard Island is a 55-acre, man-made property near the mouth of the Fox River and Bay Beach Amusement Park.

The island was a place to get rid of toxic PCB sediment dredged from the bay harbor until the late 1990s, but it could soon be the home of Green Bay's next tourist attraction.

"It's perfectly safe for health and human use deemed by the DNR and that was one of the important pieces of us getting to this end-use plan as well," said Dean Haen, Brown County port director.

At Monday's Brown County Harbor Commission meeting the finalized master plans were announced to transform the island.

Last year, the public gave their input on the type of island it should be.

Suggestions ranged from an eco-island with a lot of natural habitat to an active island.

The company who came up with the design said people overwhelmingly chose the plan that offers a lot of activities.

The finalized plan for Renard Island includes a boardwalk, festival plaza space, fishing piers, trails, a boater beach and marina.

"This island is an effort to get our community to the water that we sit upon," said Haen.

Haen said now they're working on getting investors to back some of the plans for the island. The total cost is estimated to be $22 million.

"The boardwalk and the marina are a significant part of the whole cost," said Haen.

He says they don't need every penny to start working.

"Start off with some walking trails and fishing piers and eventually work our way up to the marina and boardwalk and those things, that’s the most likely implementation of the plan," he said.

Some concerns about the final plan were brought up during Monday's meeting.

Green Bay Parks Director Dan Ditscheit is concerned about the boater beach idea.

"The city will be building a swimming beach along the shore line of the bay at Bay Beach Amusement Park, so whatever we do we don’t want to end up with two swimming beaches there," said Ditscheit.

The city and the county say they plan to work together to make sure they're not offering competing services.

The island's success will rely heavily on traffic from Bay Beach. The plan shows different ways to get to Renard Island from Bay Beach including a possible connection bridge and a zipline. The proposal includes parking for up to 300 cars.

The final plan still needs full county board approval. That is expected to take place Wednesday.