Correction: Green Bay Packaging acquired Wisconsin Packaging in 2018. Copy has been changed to reflect this history. Fort Atkinson Online regrets the error.
By Chris Spangler
Green Bay Packaging Inc. is planning an expansion that eventually could add about 20 employees to the Fort Atkinson industry.
The Fort Atkinson Plan Commission on Tuesday approved a site plan for the expansion of the plant, located at 104 East Blackhawk Drive in the Gordon F. Day Industrial Park.
Green Bay Packaging’s 10-acre site includes an approximately 143,000-square-foot facility. The eastern side of the property includes an ingress/egress point from Blackhawk Drive for truck loading/unloading. Two access points farther west are for employee and visitor parking.
The proposed development impacts 3.7 acres of the far eastern portion of the property. Plans call for an 11,207-square -foot addition to the existing building and approximately 1.5-acre paved area addition to accommodate a new loading/unloading and parking area on the eastern side of the site.
Specifically, there would be a total of 10 new off-street surface parking spaces for employees and visitors, in addition to 13 new truck parking spaces.
Also planned are a new stormwater retention pond, a relocated access driveway, landscaping and exterior lighting.
The zoning designation of Medium Industrial Zoning District (Light Industrial and Office) will remain unchanged.
During the brief Plan Commission’s meeting, plant manager Kurt Wandrey answered questions about the company’s future workforce in the wake of the expansion.
“Immediately, I would say (the plant will add), seven to 10 employees, and hopefully, as our business grows, probably another 20, total” he said.
Wandrey, who has been at the Fort Atkinson facility for 13 years, said Green Bay Packaging currently has 72 employees there.
The city staff recommended approval of the site plan with a few conditions, including that the company provide the location and screening plans for a roof-mounted RTU for the office expansion area.
“I think it’s great that local businesses are expanding and making investments in our city,” Commissioner Eric Schultz said prior to the unanimous approval of the site plan.
Commissioner Roz Highfield was absent from the meeting.
A corrugated sheet plant, Wisconsin Packaging was founded in 1986 and sold to Green Bay Packaging, Inc., in 2018, Wisconsin Packaging founder Fred Negus recently told Fort Atkinson Online.
The company specializes in the design and manufacture of corrugated packaging and retail displays for clients throughout the United States.
In other business Tuesday, the commission:
• Approved an annexation request by Tip of the Spear LLC for two lots on the northwest corner of Campus Drive and Banker Road.
Specifically, the properties are located at W6490 and W6592 Campus Drive in the Town of Koshkonong.
The commission recommended that the city council perform two additional readings, adopt the ordinance annexing the territory and assign a zoning classification of SR-2 Single Family Residential.
• Approved adding a fishing boy statue along the downtown riverwalk on a raised platform located east of the walkbridge. It will include a bronze plaque reading, “In memory of Richard W. Milburn. Fort the fisherman, always a new horizon.”
Parks and Recreation Department Director Brooke Franseen told the commission that in May 2021, she was approached by a person wishing to fund a statue on the riverwalk or bike path in memory of her son, who had been an avid fisherman.
“We determined the fishing boy statue would be great on the concrete ledge of the condos on the riverwalk,” she said.
Franseen reported that the statue is from the Randolph Rose Collection, which has provided many of the 39 other pieces of public art around town.
“The fishing statue will not only be special to the family, but will serve the community as a whole by providing interest and attraction to the riverwalk,” Franseen said.
Commissioner Jill Kessenich asked whether the city and donor had looked into hiring a local artist to create the work.
Franseen said that when initially asked about possible statues, the donor did not have any specific design in mind. Thus, she directed the donor to the Randolph Rose website for inspiration.
She noted that perhaps in the future, if a person had a specific idea for a statue, a local artist such as Mark Dziewior might be considered.
Responding to concerns about possible vandalism, Franseen said the fish will be bolted to where the boy’s hand is, so it will not be dangling. In addition, the donor has agreed to pay the $250 to replace the fish should it be damaged or stolen.
“That was definitely a concern of ours when she picked this one,” Franseen said of the statue.
• Approved a certified survey for a lot at 1917 S. Main St., extraterritorial.
The commission reviews such requests for properties that are a mile-and-a-half within its borders.
This lot is adjacent to the city on three sides. It has water and sewer stubbed in on three adjacent streets.
City engineer Andy Selle said that the city wants to ensure that the property remains a residential community.
The commission unanimously approved the preliminary certified survey map with the4 condition that the final map for the city signature shows the proposed road rights-of-way noted on the city’s official map.
Fort Atkinson Municipal Building, file photo/Kim McDarison.
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As the founder of Wisconsin Packaging, I was delighted to read the article about Green Bay Packaging’s investment in Fort Atkinson.
However I feel the need to correct one detail in the article. It stated Green Bay Packaging acquired Wisconsin Packaging in 1988. Wisconsin Packaging started 1986 and sold to Green Bay Packaging in 2018. This time frame represents 32 years of hard work by my father and me to make the business successful for ourselves and the city of Fort Atkinson, not the 2 years your article states. In order to continue the growth of Wisconsin Packaging in Fort Atkinson,
we sought a buyer who would agree to continue to invest our city.