Second La Crosse committee calls for 30-day delay on King Street housing

Two La Crosse city committees have now voted to refer a zoning change for a King Street housing project for another month.

The judiciary committee Tuesday followed the lead of the city plan commission’s action on Monday.

Developer Kevin Biondo believes he’s ready to go with a four-unit project, scaled down from 16 apartments.

“I feel that the goalposts keep moving, and I keep moving with the goalposts,” Biondo told the committee. “And I’ve never worked so hard to build two duplexes in my life. Please don’t move the goalposts on me again.”

Some neighbors on the block say they prefer to have just single-family homes in that area.

La Crosse landlord Jessica Olson thinks the project would be a better fit closer to the campus area.

“It’s certainly good to have a local family businessman managing a rental property in this town,” Olson said. “But it really belongs a few blocks to the north — north of Main Street, State Street — where other similar density housing’s placed.”

Biondo has been revising the project plans since an original delay was approved in June.

The judiciary committee also recommended a delay on an expansion plan for the Bethany Lutheran nursing home on South 7th Street, near Gundersen Health System, which would also include an increase in parking for the facility.