Marinette Plan Commission votes against Garfield Elementary rezoning change

MARINETTE – On Wednesday, Nov. 6, the Marinette Plan Commission met to consider and possibly recommend the Common Council amends the Zoning District map to change the zoning designation of Parcel Number 251-04929.000, formally known as Garfield Elementary School, located at 1615 Carney Blvd., from R-2 One and Two-Family Residential District to RM-2 Multiple Family Residential District, which would allow potential buyer Anything You Want LLC to build a 22-unit apartment building and eight townhouses.

After hearing public comments from 26 Marinette citizens, the Plan Commission voted 5-0 to decline the request, which will now be considered by the Marinette Common Council.

The meeting began at 3:30 p.m. and opened for public comment at 3:34 p.m. A total of 26 citizens shared their opinions on the potential rezoning, with 23 against it, two for and one neutral. Most residents expressed strong opposition, citing concerns about increased traffic, crime, lack of transparency from the school board and the historical significance of the building.

The potential buyer, Alex Yanik, was present at the meeting alongside his real estate agent and lawyer Al Meister of Town & Country Real Estate of Luxemburg, Wis.

Yanik has been in the business of property development for 40 years and owns 12 different development companies. His main office is located in Los Angeles.
Yanik told reporters he owns other properties in Wisconsin.

“I have purchased two hotels in Wisconsin. I fixed them. One of them very famous, the Carson Hotel,” he said.

When asked about the opposition from the public, Yanik said he would remain persistent.

“I will never give up,” he said, “If I need to, I’ll buy it and keep it 10 years.”
“I’ll be okay. I’ll fight,” Yanik added. “And by the way, I’m Armenian, and I am a Holocaust survivor. This is nothing.”

Yanik also addressed citizens’ concerns about a potential increase in crime, saying “I’m not going to invest millions and millions of dollars and then let that going as a crime. No way.”

“We’re looking for the clients such as lawyers, doctors and nurses,” Yanik’s agent Meister added. The citizens present for public comment reacted with loud displeasure to his comments.

“We’re also looking for factory workers who have good paying jobs,” Meister said, “So everybody was talking about crime and rape. That is not what Alex is looking for. Alex is looking for very good quality people living in the community. And with him adding the gymnasium as a community center, he felt that he wanted to have community and neighborhoods be more intertwined.”

Ultimately, despite the developer’s assurance that the project would attract high-quality tenants, the commission voted against the rezoning, citing criteria not met and the project not being in the public interest.

The school board had received a full-price bid for Garfield Elementary in the amount of $299,900 from St. Thomas Aquinas Academy in February of this year, which it rejected. Several citizens argued the rejection of the bid was due to a fear of competition with other schools.

The school board voted 6-2 to accept an offer of $265,500 for the Garfield property in July. The only information provided about the buyer was their company name, Anything You Want LLC, which claimed to be a Wisconsin developer, and that they planned to collaborate with Alliance from Appleton.

“We’re a district right now that has a declining enrollment,” Marinette School District Superintender Corry Lambie told Fox News in February. “If it was owned by another entity that provides these similar services, more dollars could go to that entity, which then has an adverse impact on our taxpayers.”

Many of the citizens in attendance seemed aware of these comments and addressed them.

“You don’t deny a full bid because you’re afraid of competition from a Catholic school who has been here over 100 years,” Eric Grenier said.

Jan Wilke pushed back at the idea that competition would hurt the school district.

“Isn’t competition good? Doesn’t it make you a better person, a better school?” Wilke asked.

The citizens gathered in the meeting room responded to Wilke’s comment with applause.

Laurie Desmond, who has lived at her current address in Marinette for 45 years, said she may be for the rezoning if more information was made available.

“I live kitty-corner from Garfield school. My kids went to school there, I substitute taught there. It was once a beautiful building,” Desmond said. “There are many repairs that are needed in that school. I am for – depending on the plans or the type of income requirements needed for a multi-family living space; I would want to know that before making this decision – but I am for moving on and creating living space. I live in the area. I wanted to improve the looks of the area.”

Russell Johnston shared he felt the school board made a mistake in rejecting St. Thomas’ bid.

“I feel we wouldn’t even be here today if the school board would have done the right thing and sold it to STAA for the full price offer,” Russell Johnston added.
Several citizens also felt the school board was not transparent with the public about the bid from St. Thomas, and rejected it without public input.

“The school shouldn’t be made into subsidized housing – whatever they plan on doing, the citizens shouldn’t have to suffer for the school board not being transparent to what they were doing,” Grenier said.

One citizen expressed her frustration that only those living within 200 feet of the Garfield property were notified and invited to the meeting.

“I believe that the entire city should have been invited to this meeting, not just 200 feet within the school,” Sarra Johnston said.

Another commenter felt the city’s children were being treated as a second priority.

“I don’t think that our children’s education should suffer for Marinette revenue,” Richard Wagner said.

Several of those in attendance were concerned about the potential of increased crime if an apartment complex was built

“Making this an apartment building, I feel, would invite more crime to the neighborhood,” Sarra Johnston said. “My parents are retired. They don’t need that. Someday, I might be moving back with them to help them out when they age.”

County Board member Tim Pelzek shared his concern about illegal immigrants overwhelming the school district and police department if the proposed apartments used federal housing programs.

“I’m very, very concerned that if the zoning request is granted, the property will eventually be used to house some of the millions of illegal aliens, most of whom we know nothing about. More importantly, an influx of illegal aliens could result in massive increases in crime, which would result in the need to hire additional police officers and burden the courts,” Pelzek said.

“Many small cities throughout the country have been invaded by illegal aliens, some being members of gangs who wreak havoc on the cities that they are in and also bring with them poisonous drugs such as fentanyl,” he added.

Some attendees were also concerned about the money going into keeping the former school building heated and lit.

“The school district took a loss of income by waiting for a second bid. And also it costs $6-7,000 per month to keep up that school with heating for the pipes and the lights on. Now we’re inviting vandalism there because it’s been empty too long, but we’ve never been told who the buyer is,” Joanne Vieth said.

“Hopefully we’ll have some clarity on that,” Mayor Steve Genisot replied. “I’m sure some of the commission members will have some additional questions when we start the discussion.”

Contrary to Genisot’s prediction, the commission members had few questions in the discussion portion of the meeting.

The first four of the seven criteria were met with silence from the commissioners, which led one citizen to ask, “You’re all just going to sit there and not say nothing?” The lack of motion on each of the four criteria means the items were denied.

The last three items each received a motion and a second, and were approved by the commission.

The Marinette Common Council will hold a public hearing in early December.

The city shared the meeting date and time with the press, but did not grant permission for it to be published by the Peshtigo Times deadline.