The Walmart store at 2292 Main St. is in Bellevue except for its southwestern corner in Green Bay. Its parking lot is in Green Bay except for its northeastern corner in Bellevue.

Across the street is Green Bay's first multi-generational neighborhood development on 26.5 acres of land donated by food company JBS, entirely within the city except for about 3.5 acres under Bellevue's authority.

These awkward straddles will disappear and the border between the two municipalities redrawn after the Green Bay City Council directed city staff in a Sept. 16 resolution to begin property transfers that the city and village believe to be "in the best interest of both communities," the resolution read.

Following Wisconsin's law governing the detachment and reattachment of territory, Green Bay would cede its portion of the Walmart parking lot and its part of the store to Bellevue, placing the Walmart entirely under the village's authority. In exchange, Bellevue would transfer its portion of the JBS neighborhood development to Green Bay: a stormwater facility, a chunk of the planned grand boulevard, and a parcel owned by Green Bay's Redevelopment Authority that the city says is equivalent to three household lots.

"Some people like to call it a 'cleanup,'" the city's principal planner, David Buck, told the RDA on Sept. 11. "I don't really like to call it a cleanup. I just like to call it a 'correction.'"

The efficiencies gained by having one development under one authority were noted in the documents attached to the adopted resolution. The inspection process in building new homes at the JBS neighborhood would be streamlined. The Walmart's future development would be better managed. The responsibility for road maintenance would be clearly defined.

The resolution mentioned, but did not elaborate on, "growing concerns" over the Walmart's border straddling, which confused Buck who said, "Typically, you can't even build over jurisdictional lines, so I'm not even sure how that was constructed."

The border straddle has caused headaches ever since the retail chain announced January 1992 it would build its second superstore in the area on top of the Green Bay-Bellevue border. One of Buck's predecessors, Dale Preston, told the Green Bay Press-Gazette in June 1992 of the "potential for a lot of confusion."

City and village officials, however, collaborated to accommodate the awkward straddle, and hashed out tentative understandings of who would respond to fires, who would nab the burglars, and who gets the taxes.

Both municipalities understood that Green Bay would assess the Walmart's southwest corner for a share of the store's taxes, according to the June 1992 article. It was agreed that Bellevue would respond to fires as Green Bay's fire hoses couldn't thread onto the town's hydrants. The Brown County Sheriff's Department would handle calls from within the store and parking lot, while Green Bay officers could handle crashes on the surrounding roads.

Officers were still left unsure of which department had authority on the property by the time the Walmart opened in fall 1992, according to a Press-Gazette article at the time.

And plans to expand the building in 2008 required approvals from both municipalities, as well as a Planned Development District made to accommodate zoning regulations of both communities, according to a Sept. 23, 2008, Press-Gazette article.

To avoid future inconveniences, the proposed land swap has broad support from the village, the city, the Redevelopment Authority and Walmart.

Parallel processes in the city and village will begin the detachment process with formal notices, petitions and ordinances through respective Plan Commissions and Village Board or City Council before final approval by the Wisconsin Department of Administration.

Jesse Lin is a reporter covering the community of Green Bay and its surroundings, as well as politics in northeastern Wisconsin. Contact him at 920-834-4250 or [email protected].