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Heritage Preservation commission wants ability to intervene in historic La Crosse buildings up for demolition

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FILE - The "Marble Works" building, on the city's Top 10 endangered list, was demolished in March of 2021.

The city of La Crosse’s Heritage Preservation commission could be given more power to intervene in plans to demolish historic buildings.

The Judiciary and Administration committee Tuesday approved an amendment to give binding authority to the commission on some actions involving older buildings.

The vote came less than a month after a building on 3rd Street, formerly the Pizza Villa, ranked as one of the 10 most endangered in La Crosse, was torn down after years of neglect.

Laura Gooden, on the commission, was recently on WIZM’s La Crosse Talk PM discussing this and other matters dealing with the city’s historic buildings.

Senior city planner, Tim Acklin, said several other Wisconsin cities already require a “certificate of appropriateness” before a historic structure can be demolished.

“With changes to this ordinance, we are requiring a certificate to appropriateness,” he said during the meeting. “So, there’s more binding authority in what the preservation commission allows them to do or not. It still does allow for an appeal to the council.”

The commission is also working on a 2021 Top 10 most endangered buildings list.

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.

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1 Comment

1 Comment

  1. R head

    December 1, 2021 at 9:21 am

    Maybe the city should use a antique bulldozers to take down these eye sores in town

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