La Crosse council committee says no to rezoning for office building and more parking for Mayo

A plan to rezone a north La Crosse office building for housing was turned down by a city council committee Tuesday.

The La Crosse Judiciary and Administration Committee rejected the rezoning of the Marine Credit Union building on Monitor Street by a 5-2 vote. City leaders were considering developing up to 30 apartments in the building.

There is opposition to the plan on different fronts — from neighbors who say that area already has too many apartments to objections that the building has been suggested as another possible site for sheltering the homeless.

The project could cost $9 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) relief funds.

Mayor Mitch Reynolds said that’s what the money is supposed to be used for.

The rezoning plan will go before the full city council next week.

The same committee also heard opposition to more parking lots. Some citizens oppose a plan to tear down a 70-year-old building owned by Mayo Clinic Health System for green space and possible parking, as part of the new hospital project.

Mayo says the land on South 10th Street could be used short-term for surface parking.

The $200 million, six-story hospital, now under construction, is being built on a former Mayo parking lot, and the health system said it will eliminate about 150 spaces as part of the project.

The committee voted 4-2 against the conditional use permit. This plan also goes before the full city council on Oct. 13.