Local News
Kwik Trip demolition permit decision gets a delay
The dance around whether to tear down a little house on Losey Boulevard in La Crosse will continue for another month, at least.
Kwik Trip wants to demolish a house it owns next to its Losey store. The city has pushed back on the plan, so far.
Gary Padesky, who represents that area on the city council, likes the idea of waiting for those talks to happen before deciding anything.
“Obviously we don’t want to go to war with Kwik Trip and we don’t want that house to sit there and rot,” Padesky said. “If we could find a solution in 30 days that would be nice for everybody.”
Kwik Trip has hinted if it’s not allowed to demo the home, the company intends to let it remain vacant until the city orders the house get razed.
So the city council decided Thursday night to put off a decision on the matter for another 30 days. It’s something that city council president Martin Gaul agrees with.
“This is kind of still a work in progress,” Gaul said. “We have a difference in opinion on how to proceed with this — not only amongst ourselves but with Kwik Trip itself.”
Kwik Trip has said it simply wants to demolish the house at 1003 Losey Boulevard for green space.
“They did not have any plans for store expansion or car wash or anything like that on the site,” city planner Jason Gilman confirmed. “And, that their intent was just to have it torn down for green space and a fence.”
So far, the city has been reluctant to grant Kwik Trip the demolition permit because of the current shortage of homes available to buy in the city and because the company has refused a city demand that property taxes continue to get paid on the property after demolition as if the house was still there.