GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) - Green Bay officials are taking steps to better connect Bay Beach Amusement Park with the water around it. On Wednesday night, the city's parks committee unanimously voted to accept a $2.4 million grant from the Environmental Protection Agency that will help them make improvements to the shoreline around Bay Beach Amusement Park. Specifically, city officials said the grant will help them build a 420-foot wildlife viewing platform into the bay and make improvements to the path that runs along the water. "It just makes sense," said Green Bay alder Joey Prestley who represents the district that includes Bay Beach Amusement Park. "I think it's good for tourism, it's good for people who want to go on a walk, it's good for bird observers and people who are at the park and just want to get a way a little bit."  Wisconsin Department of Transportation officials opens discussion on future of Mason Street Bridge in Green Bay He said that most of the feedback he's gotten from constituents about the project was positive. However some people had concerns about the cost of the project, water quality, and crowding. The project costs $4.5 million in total. The EPA grant will take care of $2.4 million of the cost. City officials said they have another $200,000 in grant funding for the project and the rest of the money will come through bonds "People want to interact with the water, they want to see the wildlife, they want to put their feet in the sand there's lots of opportunity and we can provide that at Bay Beach," said Dan Ditscheit who is the Parks, Recreation, and Forestry department director with the city of Green Bay. Distscheit said the last time the city did a master plan study on Bay Beach Amusement Park, the two most common requests from the public was to keep costs low at the park for the rides and to find a way to incorporate the water. There's also a phase two of the shoreline improvement project at Bay Beach Amusement Park. We're told that Phase 2 is in its preliminary stages and nothing is official right now, but that it would create a public beach. Love says his knee is improving as Packers remain mum on QB’s availability for Sunday City officials said that they've done testing on the water and believe that this area "can be a swimmable beach." For now though, city officials said they're focused on phase one of the project. "There are a lot of things that we can showcase here at Bay Beach amusement park as it relates to the lower bay," said Ditscheit. "The bay of Green Bay is vital to the city and the region as a whole."  Distscheit said the bidding for the project will being this winter. He said they plan to begin construction next fall. Green Bay's full common council will need to approve the grant before the project can begin.