Racetrack property development placed on hold in La Crescent

The uproar over a new housing project outside the city of La Crescent may quiet down for a while.

City officials have stopped working on the planned ‘Racetrack’ development at this time, according to La Crescent city administrator Bill Waller.

Waller told the La Crescent City Council on Monday that part of the racetrack property has been declared a wetland.

“As of right now,” Waller said, “there’s no agreement between the developer and the property owner, and the city engineer is not working on any plans and specifications for either the subdivision development or the County Road 6 utility extension project.”

That reduces the number of residential lots, which could be built on the former horse track land, and there is no agreement yet on selling the property to a developer.

Waller says the city engineer has stopped working on the project, which would include extending sewer and water to the area beyond city limits.

Some neighbors of the Racetrack land have opposed the development, because extending sewer and water to that area would require homeowners to annex to La Crescent within a number of years.

The declaration that some of the property is wetland has reduced the number of possible housing lots on the land from 47 down to 31.