Aug. 27, 2025
VIROQUA, Wis. – After months of discussions and massaging a reconstruction plan for Center Avenue that is due to start next month, the Viroqua City Council and Nelson’s Agri-Center reached an agreement on a design for the project that everyone was happy with at the council’s Tuesday night meeting.
The city is about to undertake a major renovation of Center Ave. that runs north and south from Vernon Memorial Hospital to the Viroqua Food Co-op. The city has said the total reconstruction is badly needed for several reasons. Utilities, including sewer and water systems are old and many are at the end of their life and will be upsized to meet increasing demand. Road surfaces, curb and gutter and sidewalks will all be replaced, and some decorative lighting will be replaced.
The sticking point in the project came with the two blocks of Center Avenue that runs between Nelson Agri-Center and Vesbach Oil and Gas. The difficulty with this area is that its current layout is not a “conventional” street design or layout. There is no curb and gutter on much of the area, and some of the parking spaces on the west end of the Nelson parking lot hang over into the street right-of-way. There is no sidewalk on the east side of the street which results in a situation where pedestrians might be traveling behind vehicles. That raised safety concerns for the city and engineers.
The city and the engineering firm they hired to design the project, Vierbicher and Associates wanted to bring back more of those conventional design elements to the area. Using curb and gutter to manage storm water better and adding sidewalks to both sides of the street. The original design also called for the elimination of the five parking spaces that were in the city right-of-way to address those pedestrian safety concerns. To compensate for that loss of parking the design called for the addition of parking on the street.
Nelson Agri-Center representatives voiced concern over that plan for a number of reasons, including loss of parking, and they said the addition of curb and gutter, and more street parking would result in a narrower lanes of traffic that they felt would be more congested, and limit truck traffic.
Beginning last spring, city staff, council members and Nelson representatives continued discussions to find solutions to the plan that met the needs of the city and their business. Potential solutions began to emerge at the Public Works Committee meeting last week when the Nelson’s Co-owner Jacob Kanis discussed options and possible layouts.
You can read our previous story about that discussion here.
At the Council’s meeting on Tuesday, City Engineer Sarah Grainger presented various design change options that had been discussed at the Public Works Committee. The Council ultimately chose an option that would allow Nelson’s to keep the five parking spaces and to change the design on the east side of the street from conventional curb and gutter to a “mountable curb” that will allow for storm water management while still allowing vehicles to pass over.
The plan allows parking on the east side, with a “wait and see” approach for parking on the west side. The motion coming out of Public Works was for no parking on the west side, but the council decided not to include a strict no-parking restriction, instead opting to monitor how things work out and adjust if necessary. While the design shows possible parking spots for reference, there is no intention to mark individual parking stalls on the street.
The council emphasized flexibility, allowing for future adjustments to parking, curb cuts, and sidewalk placement as the project is built and as needs become clearer.
Mayor Justin Running praised City Engineer Sarah Grainger for working with the businesses to find alternatives and solutions that meet the needs of the businesses and the city. Running said the parking can be monitored and adjusted even after construction to identify problems if they arise and find solutions that meet everyone’s needs.
“We’re not necessarily painting parking stalls,” said Running. “We’re just going to kind of see how things shake out, and then if something becomes a hazard, we’ll all work together to identify, hey, that’s a hazard. Like, we need to abandon that one spot, or we need to move this or that or the other thing.”
Following the meeting and the decision to adjust the plan, Nelson Agri-Center Co-owner Jacob Kanis said he was happy a resolution could be worked out that met everyone’s needs.
“We feel the motion set forth by the City Council meets the needs of our business as well as the needs of the community,” said Kanis. “We understand the importance of implementing the multi-use trail, and we are appreciative of the Council for addressing our concerns as well.”
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