Wausau Planning Commission Votes to Send Proposed Amended Plan to Add More Parking for Downtown YMCA to City Council

Thursday, February 22nd, 2024 -- 10:01 AM

(Thomas Schumacher, WSAU) The Wausau Plan Commission voted on Wednesday night to send a proposed amended plan to add more parking for the downtown YMCA to the City Council.

According to Thomas Schumacher with WSAU, the vote came after city staff did not recommend approval of the plan which included raising the buildings located at 404 Franklin Street, which sit directly across from the Landing at the YMCA.

City staff instead recommended that officials with the YMCA explore other options such as more shared parking spaces or adding more on-street parking along McIndoe Street.

President and CEO of the Woodson YMCA, Brian Baily, spoke about the project saying, “This is not a parking lot and a design, it’s all in one cause it doesn’t make sense for us to do without us fixing our dedicated parking situation for our vulnerable population.” Residents in favor and against the amended plan spoke at the meeting.

One resident who was against the plan stated, “The plan to raise a structure that is still useable to provide 29 parking spaces for a program that is growing by leaps and bounds is short-sighted and a very poor use of resources and when looking at the design of the place, it includes only two designated parking spaces for the disabled not to mention the actual net gain is 19 spaces whereas the property only has ten spaces available.”

According to the Y membership at The Landing has ballooned from 3,588 in December 2021 to 5,523 last December. That represents a growth rate of nearly one thousand members per year. The City Council will formally vote to either decline or approve the plan on Tuesday, March 12th.

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