Plans for new clubhouse at Forest Hills are being downsized

Around this time last fall, the La Crosse Parks Board endorsed plans for a new clubhouse at the Forest Hills Golf Course.

The clubhouse project is still in the fundraising phase, and the plans have been reduced a bit, according to project leaders.

The downsizing is intended “to make it more usable for the golfers,” Jim Flottmeyer, facilities manager for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, told the board Thursday. “Bring the scope more within what that project budget should be.”

The plan had been for a $3 million clubhouse to replace a former building, which was demolished a decade ago.

The group, Friends of Riverside Park, is raising funds for the project. It hopes the building will be open by next summer.

“Quite candidly, we weren’t having success with raising the kind of money we needed to do that project,” Dave Clements, treasurer for the Friends group, said. “Therefore, we’re forced to scale it back.”

Project backers hope to know by early next year whether the clubhouse will move ahead on schedule.