School district outlines timeline, clean-energy plan for new Hogan-site elementary

The School District of La Crosse presented plans and a timeline on June 3 for a new neighborhood elementary school to be built on the Hogan site at 803–807 East Avenue South and 1739 Winnebago Street.

"We're really going to make this a special school... it will have solar, it will be geothermal, we will have no natural gas going to the building and be all clean energy," the district’s facilities director, Joel Edvena, told the committee. He said the building design will be three stories at the highest peak and that the district is working with neighbors on setback and shadowing concerns.

Edvena said the project is in the design phase, with plans to finish design over the summer, put the work out for bid in October, award a contract in late November and, weather permitting, begin construction early next spring. "The first school year would be August of '27," he told the committee.

The district said it has met with neighbors, revised setbacks after shadowing studies and will host an open house at the existing Hogan administrative building before demolition. Committee members representing the nearby neighborhood expressed strong support, saying the new school will restore a local neighborhood school and reduce travel distances for students.

The rezoning ordinance that would transfer the property from a residential district to public/semi-public for school construction was listed for public hearing, recommended for approval by staff and unanimously approved by the committee to go to the full council.