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ARBOR HOMES PLAN BLASTED … AND OTHER TALES FROM THE APC
Plenty of significant moves Wednesday for the Area Plan Commission …
ARBOR HOMES’ 306-HOME SUBDIVISION PLAN HITS A SNAG: Residents in the Rainybrook subdivision came out in force Wednesday, protesting and winning a delay for a 306-home subdivision Arbor Homes wants to build near the southwest corner of County Road 500 South and U.S. 231.
After neighbors across 500 South raised complaints about traffic, a tightly packed design and potential quality of the houses Arbor Homes proposed, the Area Plan Commission voted 7-6 against recommending rezoning the land from agricultural to residential use.
Nine votes are required to either reject a rezoning request or move it to the Tippecanoe County commissioners for a final decision. That means the Arbor Homes plan could be back before the APC as soon as its March 19 meeting.
The proposal has been roundly booed on social media outlets in recent weeks, in dozens of letters sent to the APC, in a petition with more than 600 signatures and with a standing-room-only crowd at the Tippecanoe County Office Building Wednesday night.
The plan proposes 2.76 homes per acre, with Arbor Homes paying to run water and sewer lines from Lafayette to serve the neighborhood, according to plans submitted to the APC. The plan showed an entrance to the proposed subdivision with nearly two dozen houses on larger lots, with the rest set back from County Road 500 South on smaller lots. Domonic Dreyer, land entitlement manager for Arbor Homes, said the homes would run from $350,000 to $400,000.
Neighbors said front-loading the subdivision with larger lots couldn’t hide the issues of so many homes designed throughout. (Rainybrook neighbor Marci Spitznagle called it “putting lipstick on a pig.”) Neighbors suggested that Arbor Homes ease the density concerns by using the entire property, including a section at 500 South and U.S. 231 that APC staff had been designated for a possible future business zoning request for a gas station. They raised issues about other subdivisions in Tippecanoe County that had used similarly tight designs and wound up with problems with crime and neighborhood issues. There also were concerns about whether TSC schools would be ready for the enrollment at Mayflower Mill Elementary and McCutcheon High School nearby.
Dreyer pushed back, saying Arbor Homes was adding a nice subdivision that would “provide opportunities for everyone in the area.” The APC was split on that, sending it back for another hearing next month.
FIRST TOWNHOMES UNDER NEW ZONING CODE ADVANCE: A proposed four-unit townhouse development at South Fifth and Cherokee streets, on land owned by the neighboring Lafayette Country Club, would be the first developed under a townhome zoning designation established in April 2024. The APC unanimously recommended RSK Property Management’s request for the rezoning on a property where a single house stands now.
Ryan Kennedy, who proposed the project, said the plan came from discussions started five years ago with city and county planners to create zoning for owner-occupied townhomes without having to go through a lengthier planned development process.
“Really just trying to provide a different housing type that we haven’t had,” Kennedy said.
He told APC members that the final design on size and parking were still being worked out. He said the townhomes would be between 1,200- and 1,500-square-feet on two floors and likely will be priced under $300,000.
The Lafayette City Council is scheduled for a final vote on the rezoning request March 3.
THE COTTAGES AT CUMBERLAND: A Cumberland Partners plan to build 10 four-story apartment buildings with a total of 320 one- and two-bedroom units on 9.2 acres along Cumberland Avenue, just west of U.S. 231, received a unanimous recommendation for approval. The project, at 2574 Cumberland Ave., would include room for 510 beds and amenities including a clubhouse, community patio, grilling areas, a fitness area, dog park and pickle ball courts, according to the planned development rezoning request. The zoning request is scheduled to go to the West Lafayette City Council at 6:30 p.m. March 3 at city hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.
ON HOLD, ‘THE APPROACH’ HIGH RISE ON SOUTH RIVER ROAD: A hearing on plans for a new high-rise project down the hill from Purdue’s campus were postponed Wednesday until the APC’s March 19 meeting. Patti Weida, owner of Weida Holdings, has proposed a maximum 12-story apartment complex, with a 268 units and a maximum of 655 beds, on 1.4 acres at the northwest corner of South River Road and Williams Street. According to an APC report, the project, dubbed The Approach, would be an increase of 187 units over the apartments standing there now. The buildings, as proposed, would stand 11 stories along South River Road and eight stories as it stretched to Salisbury Street. The APC is scheduled to take up the request at 6 p.m. March 19 at the Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette.
TSC PREPS NEWLY ACQUIRED LAND FOR THE FUTURE
What Tippecanoe School Corp. plans to do with 38 acres north of Teal Road, between U.S. 231 and Old Romney Road, didn’t come into in any closer focus Wednesday, when the APC unanimously recommended rezoning the land from agricultural use to general business zoning.
Jim Olds, an attorney representing TSC, said Wednesday that hadn’t been decided. The zoning, though, would clear the way for future school use. When TSC was considering buying the property in June 2024, Superintendent Scott Hanback said it eventually could be used to help relieve enrollment pressure the district anticipates on its schools in and just south of Lafayette. The move anticipated housing growth south of the city, as Lafayette works to extend water and sewer lines with capacity to open up about 4,000 acres for development to the southwest and to the southeast.
TSC has land scattered across the district, including near Wyandotte Elementary south east of Lafayette. In 2023, TSC worked a deal with Tippecanoe County to buy nearly 99 acres near the northeast corner of County Roads 50 West and 500 North, an area just south of Harrison High School that has seen a crush of housing development. TSC finalized rezoning for that land in early 2024, but the district has not announced immediate plans for it.
On the current proposal, according to the request, TSC asked for general business zoning because it “allows school uses plus other public and people services that offer an opportunity for local partnerships in service to the community.”
The rezoning request for the 38 acres along Teal Road is scheduled to go to the Lafayette City Council at 6 p.m. March 3 at city hall, 20 N. Sixth St.
‘FONZIE FLAT’ ZONING CODE CHANGE ADVANCES FOR RURAL TIPPECANOE COUNTY: With the fate of “accessory dwelling unit” zoning looking shaky in West Lafayette, the Area Plan Commission on Wednesday moved a similar but separate proposal that would allow so-called granny flats to the zoning codes for unincorporated portions of Tippecanoe County.
According to a presentation Wednesday, ADUs on unincorporated lots in agricultural zones would follow the same basic rules proposed for residential zones in West Lafayette.
Specifically: One of the residences on a lot would need to be owner-occupied, meaning both units couldn’t be rented out; the second unit would need to be no smaller than 400 square feet and no bigger than 750 square feet. It could be no larger than 50% of the ground floor area of the single-family primary residence; and the accessory dwelling unit couldn’t be used as a transient guest house, such as an Airbnb rental.
The proposed ordinance set out this definition: “An additional dwelling unit on a lot with an existing single-family dwelling that is independent of and incidental to the principal dwelling unit. This unit is equipped with kitchen and bathroom facilities. There are three types of ADU: internal, attached, or detached from the principal dwelling. If internal, the ADU must fit within the existing footprint of the principal dwelling unit. An Internal or attached ADU may or may not have interior access to the principal dwelling; however, the accessory dwelling unit must be independently accessible via an exterior door.”
County Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said the county has received a handful of requests to building a second dwelling of some sort on larger, agriculturally zoned properties.
The APC voted unanimously to recommend to proposed change to the zoning code. County commissioners will have the final say at 10 a.m. March 3 at the Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette. That same day, the West Lafayette City Council is scheduled to vote on an ADU proposal for residential neighborhoods. Here’s more on that: “West Lafayette ‘granny flats’ zoning plan likely dead,” BiL, Feb. 18.
THIS AND THAT/OTHER READS …
NAME, CONCEPT OFFERED ON RESTAURANT AIMED FOR PURDUE’S DISCOVERY PARK DISTRICT BARN: On Wednesday, you read about the $4.2 million plan to remake Squirrel Park as a public plaza and gathering space near the reconstruction of a 20th century barn in Purdue’s Discovery Park District. On Thursday, Cunningham Restaurant Group – the Indianapolis-based company Purdue Research Foundation brought in to manage the barn space – unveiled the name and concept planned for the 10,600-square-foot space.
They’re calling it The Lawrence, a tribute to the family of Sonny Beck, the Purdue trustee and CEO of Beck’s Hybrids who donated and moved the barn originally built in 1938. Beck’s given first name is Lawrence, the same as his grandfather’s name.
“We always start with the historic nature of the building we’re in. We need that connection,” Mike Cunningham, founder and CEO of Cunningham Restaurant Group, said in a release Thursday. “The PRF team sent us a list of 10 names and told us they had a favorite, but wouldn’t tell us which one. It turned out The Lawrence was everyone’s top. It was an easy call for us to jump on board and celebrate the Beck family.”
The Lawrence will be a farm-to-table restaurant, Cunningham said, and the second for the company in Greater Lafayette, following Bru Burger in downtown Lafayette. According to Thursday’s release, the project will include a proposed garden that could be managed with Purdue students and provide ingredients for the restaurant’s menu.
The restaurant is expected to open in fall 2025, according to Jeremy Slater, PRF vice president of capital projects and facilities, during a report Wednesday to the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission.
CORONER: COUPLE’S DEATHS WERE HOMICIDE, SUICIDE: The Tippecanoe County coroner on Thursday confirmed that the deaths of David and Marie Hoshaw were part of a homicide and suicide, based on results of an autopsy Tuesday. Coroner Carrie Costello reported that Marie Hoshaw’s death was a homicide, caused by multiple gunshot wounds to her head. Costello reported that David Hoshaw’s death was a suicide. The couple, in their 80s, were found in their home on Division Road, west of West Lafayette, by Tippecanoe County deputies sent to do a wellbeing check Tuesday. J&C reporter Ron Wilkins had more on the investigation here: “Autopsies confirm rural Tippecanoe County couple died in a homicide/suicide.”
NEGLECT SENTENCING IN 1-YEAR-OLD’S SHOOTING DEATH: Shatia Welch, the mother of a 1-year-old killed in July 2023 when her 5-year-old son found a gun in a Lafayette apartment and shot the child, was given a 12-year sentence Wednesday, including six in prison. Welch pleaded guilty just as her trial was starting in January. J&C reporter Ron Wilkins had more from what turned into a contentious sentencing hearing in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2: “Mother receives 6-year prison sentence for neglect in her son's death.”
DEL WATER GAP DATE ANNOUNCED AT ELLIOTT: The Purdue Student Concert Committee announced a March 29 date at Elliott Hall of Music for Del Water Gap. Opener: Jake Minch. Student presale tickets go on sale 10 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21. Tickets for the general public go on sale at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25. For details, here’s your link. For a taste, here’s a song:
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Kindof curious what may be being planned acrross the street from "The Approach" building on Tapawingo. There were for sale signs there for quite some time but seem to have been pulled down. Anyways, another high rise getting rid of those walkup apartments that blight West Lafayette is a good thing.