City Hall

City of La Crosse, Wisconsin

400 La Crosse Street

La Crosse, WI 54601

Meeting Minutes - Final

Neighborhood Revitalization Commission

Wednesday, July 10, 2024

6:00 PM

Council Chambers - City Hall - 400 La Crosse St.

Members of the public will be able to attend the meeting in person in the Council Chambers at

City

Hall located at 400 La Crosse St in La Crosse or online via video conferencing with the links

below.

Join Zoom Meeting:

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Participate by phone: 1-312-626-6799

Call to Order

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm.

Roll Call

9 -

Present:

Absent:

Ralph Geary, Will Kratt, Jim Bagniewski, Larry Sleznikow, Jennifer Trost,

Jessica Stanton, Sean Hurtubise , Robert McDonnell,Greg Clark

2 - Steve Nicolai,Steve Nicolai

Approval of Minutes

Approval of the May 1, 2024 meeting minutes.

Larry Sleznikow moved to approve the minutes. Greg Clark seconded. The

motion passed 9-0 by voice vote.

Agenda Items:

24-0498

Discussion: Off-street over-parking, review of previous NRC work on

off-street parking requirements, options to eliminate or reduce off-street

over-parking, community outreach role for each Commissioner.

CM Jennifer Trost provided a presentation on existing parking and how

over-parking has affected land use and development. CM Trost stated that the

more parking that is provided, the more people will choose to drive and park.

Additionally, CM Trost pointed out that many times these parking lots are not

full. McDonnell stated that he picks up garbage in the neighborhood many

days during the week and is constantly noticing what a waste of space some of

the parking lots shown are. Clark stated it would be interesting to see the

number of houses that we've lost/could be in place of the parking lots.

Hurtubise asked about the correlation between the commercial parking lots

and the current conversation revolving around residential parking. CM Trost

stated that this land use is part of a system. She also stated that this is why they

started with eliminating requirements for commercial zoning. CM Trost

continued on to show examples of residential parking with underutilized

parking lots. Geary stated there is a story behind every business and their

decisions. Kratt stated that it is important we also look at single-family homes

and what that does to the equation. Kratt stated that even if half the block is

parking and the other half is a multi-family apartment building it is still most

likely a much higher density than a block of single-family housing.

CM Trost opened it up for the public to make a comment. Sam Deetz spoke

and stated there are still parking minimums for hospitals and universities.

Deetz also stated that a lot of the properties were built before regulations were

eliminated and display the impact of having parking minimums. Bill Bonadurer

spoke saying when he went to UW La Crosse there were approximately 17

bedrooms and four parking spaces at his residence and it never was an issue.

One of his roommates originally brought a car and decided to leave it at his

parents house after the first week of living there. Bonadurer said if this building

were ever to get rebuilt it would be impossible to provide the same amount of

housing with the required parking minimums. Ryan R. spoke saying any

housing that gets demolished for parking is not good.

CM Trost stated that this is about looking at pro-housing land use reforms that

the Commission can recommend. Hurtubise asked if they could feel out where

everyone is at with the reducing or eliminating the minimum parking

standards. The Commission went through the 2024 Updated Parking

Deregulation Options. Seven commissioners were in favor of option one

(eliminate all off-street parking requirements). One commissioner was in favor

of option two (reduce all off-street parking requirements). No commissioners

were in favor of option three (eliminate parking requirements except for

bounded area). Commissioners stated they would be open to discussion on

option four (eliminate for eight units or less and reduce requirement for larger

developments).

Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 7:20 pm.

Notice is further given that members of other governmental bodies may be present at the

above scheduled meeting to gather information about a subject over which they have

decision-making responsibility.

NOTICE TO PERSONS WITH A DISABILITY

Requests from persons with a disability who need assistance to participate in this meeting

should call the City Clerk's office at (608) 789-7510 or send an email to

ADAcityclerk@cityoflacrosse.org, with as much advance notice as possible.