Rezoning request has been filed for land formerly proposed for a Menard's site

The owners of property along Old Stage Road are asking the City of Decorah to rezone it out of F-1 floodplain and into C-4 shopping center.

The City of Decorah has received a formal request from property owners Allan and Patricia Dahlen to rezone property in the Freeport floodplain. In 2018, this property was proposed as the site of a new Menards building.

The request by the Dahlens would take the property on Old Stage Road out of the floodplain and would allow commercial development on the land.  As part of the application, the Dahlens are offering the City of Decorah a right of first refusal, which would allow it to purchase the property at the same price offered by a commercial developer.

A hearing on the rezoning request will be held at 7:00 p.m. Monday, December 14th, at Decorah City Hall. It could be a heated public hearing.  One neighboring family of the Dahlens, Gail and Bill Keefe, already have submitted a letter to city officials about the application, asking simply, "What has changed in a year regarding the potential for flooding?"

The Decorah Planning & Zoning Commission in 2018 voted 4-3 against a request by Menards to rezone property along Old Stage Road from "floodplain" to "shopping center commercial."

Menards, Inc. proposed building a 209,500 square foot store, with 140,000 square feet of the building to be dedicated to sales space and the rest to be dedicated to storage of large items, office space, and other uses.