Monday notes: Massive ag rezone, Subaru and tariffs, CityBus fares
APC looks to rezone 16K acres to ‘select agriculture’ north, west of West Lafayette. What tariffs/counter-tariffs in Canada mean for Lafayette’s Subaru plant. CityBus asks for input on fare proposals
Support for this edition comes from Purdue for Life, readying for the Purdue Day of Giving. This Wednesday, Boilermakers around the globe will come together to give back to the old gold and black and make a difference on #PurdueDayofGiving. Learn more at dayofgiving.purdue.edu.
Support for this edition also comes from the 18th annual A Toast to Mental Health. The event will be Thursday, May 1, at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, and benefits Mental Health America – Wabash Valley Region, NAMI – West Central Indiana, and Willowstone Family Services. The event is organized and produced by Lafayette Daybreak Rotary Club, and features food catered by the Outpost, music by Kyle Bledsoe, an online and live auction, as well as a live program emceed by Jim Stone, featuring Kelly Russell of Artisan Auctions. Last year’s event was record-breaking with $77,500 net proceeds, and collectively the Toast to Mental Health has raised more than $650,000 over the previous 17 years. For tickets and to bid on auction items, check here.
MASS AGRICULTURAL REZONING PROPOSED FOR TIPPECANOE, WABASH TOWNSHIPS: Some 300 properties covering more than 16,000 acres in Wabash and Tippecanoe townships – north and west of West Lafayette – are being considered for a massive rezoning aimed at locking prime agriculture land.
The Area Plan Commission has proposed rezoning 9,225 acres in Wabash Township and 7,158 acres in Tippecanoe Township from an “agricultural” designation to “select agricultural.”
The move, which would affect 160 property owners in a process starting in May, stems from recommendations from the Wabash and Tippecanoe township land use plan, approved in 2024.
“One thing we heard during that township plan process was that people moved to the country for a reason,” Amanda Esposito, APC’s assistant director, said. “This will protect them more from development.”
According to the APC’s plan, the “select agricultural” zoning is based of soil quality and productivity, set aside for prime farmland most suitable for crop production. The zoning is reserved for a range of agricultural activities and associated residential uses.
The land included in the proposal is marked in light green on these township maps:
Here’s a look at the housing and commercial uses that would be allowed, along with which ones would require a special exception in the AA/select agricultural zoning designation, compared to the current A/agricultural zoning:
Esposito said the AA/select agricultural designation was introduced in Tippecanoe County in the 1980s but did not get foothold countywide.
She said property owners will be able to opt out of the mass rezoning.
What’s next: The APC’s Ordinance Committee will take public comment and consider the rezoning proposal at its 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 7, meeting at the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. If approved there, the proposal would go to the Area Plan Commission at 6 p.m. May 21. The Tippecanoe County commissioners would have the final vote, coming as soon at their June 2 meeting. For questions, contact: apc@tippecanoe.in.gov.
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TARIFF NEWS IN CANADA FOR SUBARU MODELS BUILT IN LAFAYETTE: News late last week the Subaru was looking to move production of some models to Japan to avoid new and potential tariffs on Outbacks and other cars aimed at the Canadian market had questions swirling in Lafayette, where 351,000 vehicles are projected to be built in 2025.
“It’s too early to know the potential impact,” Craig Koven, a spokesman at Subaru of Indiana Automotive Inc. in Lafayette, said Monday. “However, as previously announced, U.S. production of the Subaru Outback was already planned to end this year. This move is being made to accommodate the start of Subaru Forester production in the U.S. this fall, followed by the Forester Hybrid next spring.”
Last week, Automotive News Canada reported that in the wake U.S. automotive tariffs and retaliatory surcharges by the Canadian government, Subaru Canada planned to rearrange where it got its imports, including on some models also made at the Lafayette plant. The move, Automotive News Canada reported, would “help insulate the company from U.S. auto tariffs and Canadian counter tariffs.” According to Driving, an industry trade publication, Subaru sold 68,043 vehicles in Canada in 2024. Of those, 26% were made in the U.S., including Outback, Crosstrek and Ascent models.
In May 2024, Subaru announced that it planned to spend $64.5 million to retool lines to make gas and hybrid versions of the compact SUV Forester in Lafayette, signaling the end for the brand’s Legacy and Outback models at the plant along Indiana 38. At the time, company officials said production of Forester models start in fall 2025, with hybrid models starting in spring 2026.
CITYBUS PUBLIC MEETINGS ON FARE CHANGES: CityBus will hold a series of public sessions from May 5-9 to get feedback on a new fare system, including the first increases in a bus ride in the past 20 years. If approved by the CityBus board, the changes are scheduled to be phased in starting August.
Among the changes proposed, according to CityBus, would be an increase in regular fares from $1 to $2. One-day passes would increase from $2 to $4. A 31-day pass would go from $28 to $50. Semester passes would remain at $99.
CityBus also would allow a two-hour fare window, which would allow unlimited rides for two hours, with no need for paper transfers or extra charges for short round trips or connections. The current free youth fare for would be replaced by half-fare rides available for seniors, Medicare recipients, and people with differing abilities. CityBus also proposes “account-based ticketing,” which would allow riders to use a mobile app or reloadable smartcard to tap and ride, and fare capping, which would stop charging a rider so they never pay more than the cost of a one-day pass if they ride multiple times or the price of a 31-day pass if they ride multiple times in a month.
For more details about the CityBus fare proposals, go to: https://www.in.gov/citybuslafayette/-2030/fares/
Here’s the public forum schedule:
Monday, May 5: 9-10:30 a.m. and 5-6 p.m., Purdue Memorial Union mezzanine, near the food court.
Tuesday, May 6: Noon-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m., Ivy Tech Community College, Lilly Room, 3101 Creasy Lane in Lafayette.
Wednesday, May 7: Noon-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m., Northend Community Center, Vinton Room, 2000 Elmwood Ave. in Lafayette.
Thursday, May 8: Noon-1 p.m. and 5-6 p.m., River City Community Center, 2842 Old U.S. 231 South in Lafayette
Friday, May 9: Noon-1 p.m. and 4:30-5:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Public Library, 627 South St. in Lafayette.
MICAH BECKWITH’S CRACK AT THE THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE: Trying to line up his gig as Juneteenth speaker, perhaps, Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith made a splash late last week with his take on the Three-Fifths Compromise, a Constitutional Convention move that counted each enslaved person as three-fifths of a human being, saying it was a moved by the Founders “that helped to root out slavery.” In a video from his Statehouse office, Beckwith challenged as “DEI, radical revisionist history” historians’ takes that the Three-Fifths Compromise was appeasement to slavery that gave Southern states additional power in the new nation. The video posted to his social media feed came after debate on Senate Bill 289, which rolls back diversity efforts in schools and university campuses, labeling them as “unlawful discrimination. Democrats in the General Assembly had argued during debate over SB289 that the bill stepped legacies of racism and discrimination. Beckwith took exception to the Three-Fifths Compromise being raised as an example. In a statement Friday, a coalition from the Concerned Clergy of Indianapolis, the Indiana Chapter of the National Action Network and the Alliance of Baptists called out Beckwith and called on Gov. Mike Braun to denounce what they considered to be Beckwith’s own revisionist history. (From Ryan Murphy of the Indianapolis Star: “Faith leaders urge Braun to condemn Beckwith's remarks on Three-Fifths Compromise.”) The comments wound up in coverage by The Washington Post and Fox News, among others, as Beckwith argued on social media that “the Left is LOSING their minds because I dared to speak the truth about our nation's history.” This is the video that got it going:
Support for this edition comes from the 18th annual A Toast to Mental Health, coming Thursday, May 1, at the Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds. For tickets and to bid on auction items, check here.
Support for this edition comes from Purdue for Life, readying for the Purdue Day of Giving on Wednesday. Learn more at dayofgiving.purdue.edu.
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Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.
The 3/5 "compromise" isn't worth debate because regardless of the utility to one side or the other, it was wrong and evil. It has 0 merit as a tool for anything.
Micah Beckwith is the David Brent of Indiana government.