Controversial zoning issue tabled at Tippecanoe County Commissioners meeting

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - A rezoning issue leaves dozens of people frustrated after it's tabled at Monday's Tippecanoe County Commissioner's Meeting.

Residents of West Lafayette's Hawthorne Ridge neighborhood oppose a plan for a nearby rental duplex development on County Farm Road.

"It simply does not fit into our R1 agricultural area," Hawthorne Ridge Neighborhood Association President Tom Fackelman said. "It just stands out and is so dissimilar. 100 percent of the neighbors are in agreement, it just doesn't fit."

Scheumann Properties is asking for the land to be rezoned from residential one to residential two.

The new zoning would allow the development of 300 dwelling units.

Neighbors said they're worried about increased traffic, and they said the low-priced rental units do not fit with the traditionally single-family-home area.

"There are plenty of avenues in West Lafayette that have apartments, and rental units," Fackelman said. "That is appropriately where they should be, rather than in the middle of the R1."

An issue that popped up during the meeting was the mention about where the duplexes would be built.

APC Executive Director Sallie Fahey said she reviewed a plan in which the homes would be built on multiple lots, using public roads.

However, at the meeting, Dan Teder, an attorney representing Scheumann Properties, said the duplexes would be built on one big lot. Fahey said this change could make the zoning R3.

"Now you have, for example, 100 buildings, each containing two units. That one lot would now have 200 dwelling units," Fahey said. "Multi-family zoning is required for three or more dwelling units."

"We're really confused and disappointed in the process, and with what happened [Monday]," Fackelman said. "We will be back."

Teder said there is no plan to make the zoning R3.

Fahey said she is confident there will be an answer on whether the plan should be R2 or R3 by Oct. 15, the day the commissioners will tackle the rezoning request again.