Development is carrot on a stick for getting boundary agreement by La Crosse council

Shelby needs boundary agreement to move on with high-end development

The plan for many on the La Crosse city council might seem pretty smart.

And that’s to withhold approval on a new town of Shelby neighborhood to help ongoing boundary-agreement negotiations between the city and town. 

City council member Ryan Cornett, on the boundary agreement task force, agrees with the strategy.

“If they want to really make a change, and do an agreement here that has some real substance … they would want to move forward with this. I think it’s going to be a very fair agreement,” Cornett said. “If we move forward with this agreement and get thing solved sooner than later, we will streamline this system, where we won’t have to deal with this every time something like this comes up.”

Last week, the council rejected an application from the developer for the high end Irish Hills development in Shelby. The city has zoning jurisdiction over the development because of its proximity to city limits.  

And that may have seemed like a shot across the bow to Shelby from the council, but it may actually help boundary agreement negotiations.

Cornett sees the two sides making progress on boundary talks.

“I guess I’m more of an optimist than most people,” Cornet said. “I’m still young. If we do this right, both groups can benefit.”