The Board of Park Commissioners met on Thursday, April 16, 2026 (2026-04-16) in Council Chambers, 400 La Crosse Street, La Crosse, Wisconsin. The minutes list a 5:30 p.m. call to order and a 7:22 p.m. adjournment; the supplied timestamp records 11:30:00+00:00. Seven commissioners were present (Eileen Kirsch, Jennifer Trost, Lisa Weston, Patrick Wilson, Robert Young, Tim Alberts, Todd Olson) and Sandy Cleary was absent. The board approved minutes, an e-bike/scooter ordinance, fundraising approval, leases, three beautification applications, and three memorandums of understanding.
Assistant City Attorney Ellen Atterbury presented the ordinance package, which updates multiple code sections, including park sections 34-67 and 34-68. She said the changes modernize outdated language, unify bicycle definitions, adopt state e-bike definitions, apply existing EPAMD restrictions to e-scooters/e-bikes, and prohibit bikes on natural-surface trails except those designated as open to bikes. She explained that e-bikes would be allowed with pedal assist but not with throttle engaged in areas such as Hickson Forest. She also said the ordinance would allow bicycles on Riverside Park sidewalks due to a downtown-definition update, although that use had previously been prohibited but not enforced.
Commissioner Olson asked about enforcement and was told reporting incidents to police was the main mechanism. Commissioner Kirsch said she opposed adult biking on sidewalks. Commissioner Young said he would not support the ordinance because he felt it vilified people using bikes, scooters, and e-motos for transportation. Councilmember Weston and the ordinance sponsor noted accessibility for elderly and disabled residents as a reason to support the compromise. Motion by Councilmember Weston, second by Commissioner Kirsch. The ordinance was approved 5–2.
Staff explained that a young resident, working with the Bluffside Neighborhood Association and its chair Jim Bagneski, requested approval to fundraise for basketball court lights at Bluffview Park, 2800 Jackson Street. The lights would be photocell-operated, shut off at 10 p.m., and used only in appropriate months. The department recommended allowing the fundraising and said hours could be adjusted administratively if neighborhood complaints emerged. Commissioner Alberts raised concerns about neighborhood outreach; staff noted flyers and online notices had been distributed and maintenance/vandalism questions would be handled with the association. Motion by Commissioner Kirsch, second by Commissioner Young; approved unanimously.
Parks and Recreation Director Jay Odegaard gave an informational update on the former Girl Scout building near Highway 16 and East Relic Park. The Girl Scouts are giving up the building; the city owns the underlying land and will take back the building under the terms of a 99-year lease that began in 1980. The building is in disrepair, the city has no capital funds for it, and demolition alone was estimated at a minimum of $75,000. The city will release a Request for Interest (RFI) to seek organizations that could reuse the building, with a possible future Request for Proposals; sale or demolition remain options. No motion was requested.
Recreation staff reported on recently launched technology and upcoming programs:
No formal action was taken.
The board approved a one-year lease extension for use of Copeland Field. Staff noted the term should read from June 1, 2026 through May 31, 2027. Motion by Commissioner Olson, second by Commissioner Kirsch; approved unanimously.
UW-La Crosse intern Ryan Fitzgerald presented his completed Adopt-A-Site program, under which community organizations and businesses would adopt park sites and perform litter pickup, weeding, and minor garden maintenance at least three times a year. He said discussions with the La Crosse Loggers were ongoing about becoming the first adopting organization. No action was taken.
The board approved a lease between the City of La Crosse and the U.S. Department of Transportation/FAA for an FAA communications site off Rim of the City Road. The site has been in place since 1953, and the lease was previously at no cost; the new lease provides $1,500 per year to the city. Motion by Commissioner Olson, second by Commissioner Kirsch; approved unanimously.
The board considered three beautification applications submitted by the same applicant.
Good evening. Commissioners Little John and Cleary are excused. Everyone else is here in council chambers. Do I have a motion? Commissioner Olson. Thank you. Motion to approve the minutes. Motion to approve by Commissioner Olson. Second by Councilmember Weston. Is there any discussion about the minutes? All right, then let's please vote. And that passes unanimously. Our next item of business is notices and discussions. Are there any notices and discussions? I do have a quick notice for everyone, park board and guests as well. We'll be celebrating Arbor Day as a parks recreation and forestry department next Friday, April 24th in Myrick Park. Believe this is our 36th year being designated as a tree city through the Arbor Day Foundation. So we'll have a tree planting ceremony in the park. Everything will start at 9 a.m. We'll have Mayor Sean Dell present as well to read a proclamation that morning. So we invite you all to attend and celebrate Arbor Day with us. Thank you. Any other notices or discussions? All right. So let's please move on to our first agenda item 26-037. An ordinance to repeal, recreate, create and amend various sections of the code of ordinances of the City of Lacrosse relating to electric bicycles, electric scooters, and other vehicle use. And I would call up Sammy Meyer, and then we'll hear from some other staff as well if that is what commissioners want. Sure. I will just give a brief overview of why this item is in front of you tonight. This item is, as the agenda states, um, has lots of different edits to current ordinance that exists right now. Um it's in before you because the ordinance and the edits um have effects in the park spaces that this board has purview over. So there is definitely some alterations that affects park spaces, um, but the proposed language has been curated to kind of clean some of that up, clarify definitions. Um, and we also have assistant city attorney Ellen Atterbury here as well to answer any specific questions related to the legislation, the verbiage, things like that. So I'd invite Ellen to join us um as well. So I just have a question about our discussion today. Are we in fact discussing the entire ordinance or are we only discussing the park relevant section? The entire ordinance is the agenda item. Okay, um, I guess. So that would be open to discussion if that's no, never mind. Park we would like to keep a park relevant today. Thank you for the correction. Okay, so just to be clear that we're only and then that would be let's see. What section? Anything that falls in chapter 34 would be the parks department ordinance section. Sorry, I'm looking here. Oh, 44. Okay, 34, because there's 44. Okay, so everything that's section 34-68. Is that what we're discussing? I believe there is um a document that kind of goes over some section specific changes.