Appleton council advances Trout Museum's plan to relocate to Ellen Kort Peace Park
APPLETON - Elected officials narrowly decided Wednesday to proceed with studying the Trout Museum of Art's proposal to relocate onto public property at Ellen Kort Peace Park along the Fox River.
The Common Council voted 8-7 to continue with a site analysis, despite numerous pleas from residents to stop the process and protect the Peace Park from private development.
A conceptual site plan unveiled prior to the vote shows a new 30,000-square-foot museum and its parking lot situated at the southwest end of the 6-acre park. About half of the building would feature a walk-on green roof, including a quilt garden, that would be accessible from the park.
The museum development would consume 19% of the riverfront park. The remainder would be developed in accordance with the city's master plan for the park.
Council member Nate Wolff voted to proceed with the process. He planned to share the site plan with residents who earlier voiced concerns with the museum's proposal.
"This is very similar to the original (park) design, and I think that they'll like it," Wolff said.
Council member Vered Meltzer voted to stop the process based on the feedback he has received from residents.
"Sometimes things can be very, very beautiful and still not be the right fit," Meltzer said.
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The council agreed to engage in talks with the Trout Museum in August.
The move came after the Trout Museum announced in July that its board of directors unanimously decided to build a new museum on a different site instead of renovating its existing building at 111 W. College Ave. It evaluated 10 sites in or near downtown before selecting Ellen Kort Peace Park as its preferred location.
Executive Director Christina Turner estimated the cost of the new museum at $10 million. Monroe and Sandra Trout contributed $5 million to the Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to support the project.
Representatives of the Trout Museum outlined the reasoning behind their plan during Wednesday's meeting.
The existing museum next to Houdini Plaza was built as a furniture store in 1922 and needs nearly $2 million in repairs to modernize its mechanical systems. The building wasn't designed for art exhibits and classes, its elevator is too small to carry art or a class of children, and it has no loading dock, bus zone or onsite parking.
Building at Ellen Kort Peace Park, they said, would keep the museum in Appleton and create a riverfront destination for the city. Placing an art museum along the water has proven successful elsewhere, notably the Milwaukee Art Museum on Lake Michigan.
"We see this opportunity as an extension of the park and not something that would compete with it or be a drawback," said Eric Bauman, a project architect with The Boldt Co.
Residents opposed to the Trout Museum's plan have been active and organized. A Save Ellen Kort Peace Park Facebook group has 270 members, and signs saying "Save Ellen Kort Peace Park" have been displayed at community events and along city streets.
Prior to the presentation, 19 people spoke in opposition to the museum's plan.
Kerry Williamsen, one of Kort's daughters, encouraged the city to honor her mother's legacy by completing the development of the park in accordance with the design that was previously approved by the council.
Kort was a literary giant of the Fox Cities who served as Wisconsin's first poet laureate (2000 to 2004). She died in 2015.
"We do not agree to this," Williamsen said of the museum's plan. "I ask the Trout, 'Do you want your legacy to be you taking away someone else's legacy?' Because that's what's going to happen here."
Elisa DeGroot described the Trout Museum's proposal as "an elite sweetheart deal with no market competition."
"I don't care how neat the building looks," De Groot said. "I care about my neighborhood park, and I live in that neighborhood, and I care about what little of it will be left of its award-winning design — that design that was lovingly created by Ellen Kort's four daughters.
"This is not a co-location," DeGroot continued. "This is not a partnership. It's a creative acquisition of an unavailable waterfront property."
Council members who voted to continue the process with the Trout Museum were Wolff, Chris Croatt, Israel Del Toro, Chad Doran, Sheri Hartzheim, Alex Schultz, Joss Thyssen and Katie Van Zeeland.
Those who voted against were Meltzer, Kristin Alfheim, Denise Fenton, Brad Firkus, Vaya Jones, Bill Siebers and Maiyoua Thao.
The Peace Park is nestled between the Fox River and West Water Street west of the Oneida Skyline Bridge. The master plan for the park calls for lighted trails, two circular gathering lawns, a peace ring, sculptures, a peace pole, a poet's garden, a quilt garden, a butterfly garden, a gazebo, a pavilion with restrooms, and a curved, pile-supported walkway extending over the edge of the river.
In October 2020, the Appleton council unanimously authorized a nonprofit group to begin raising money for a sexual assault survivors monument at the park.
Last fall, Appleton transferred $750,000 from the David and Rita Nelson River Crossing to pay for the first phase of the park development, which is ongoing.
Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.
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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton advances Trout Museum's plan to relocate to public parkland
