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The difference between the two is location: The first would be at Ninth and Grove streets, while the second — which the City Plan Commission forwarded with no recommendation to today’s Judiciary and Administration Committee meeting — would be at Main Street and West Avenue.
Commission member George Italiano expressed concern the project would allow student housing to further encroach into an area that once was single-family homes in what could be historic buildings.
“We need to contain this. I don’t mind a few here and there,” he said. “This is getting to be too much.”
If approved, the Main Street project would remove two red brick buildings on that corner. The Gerrards promised to take care of those buildings a few years ago when given approval to build the nine-unit structure that now stands next to them on Main Street, commission member John Satory said.
He produced at least a dozen photos of the two houses that showed broken screens and windows and derelict yards, and accused the Gerrards of breaking their promises.
But Phil Addis, the Gerrards’ attorney, countered that the properties have been kept up to code, occupied until now and never cited by the city.
The two proposed projects would continue with that tradition, he said. Both would be three-story, 12-unit structures, each housing 36 people. Rent would be $325 to $425 a person.
The Main Street project would comply with the proposed multi-unit housing standards city planners have been working on for two years. The Gerrards also would bring its existing nine-unit building on Main Street into compliance with the proposed standards, Addis said.
Those proposed standards cover about 15 broad areas, including parking, green space, exterior lighting and building design.
Under those standards, the existing and new Main Street buildings would need just 28 parking spaces for its 69 combined bedrooms, and the Gerrards would provide 29.
So few spaces would add to the area’s existing parking problems, said several landlords who own property in that area.
The Gerrards want to provide a test case for the proposed standards, Addis said. Landlords have told city officials nothing could be built under the proposals, but the Gerrards think it’s possible, he said.
“If it doesn’t rent because of parking, I guess we made a mistake and we’ll have to suffer through it,” Addis said.
Kate Schott can be reached at kschott@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8226.
TO: Parking Standards wrote on Jul 4, 2007 10:40 AM: