Southern Winds rezoning approved by Tippecanoe County Commissioners

TIPPECANOE COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI) - The Tippecanoe County Commissioners approved a request by a local developer to rezone almost 14 acres to build a new apartment complex.

The plan caused some controversy over the summer.

At one time nearly 200 people signed a petition against the project.

At Tuesday's meeting there was only one person there speaking against the plan.

The apartment complex is called Southern Winds, and will be built on the northeast corner of U.S. 231 and Veterans Memorial Parkway.

It will house 206 units.

Joseph Bumbleburg is the attorney for the developer, Brian Walker.

"[The apartments] will be nice, high-level apartments," Bumbleburg said. "[Walker] would love to be able to rent to faculty members or graduate students, folks who are going to stay a fair amount of continual time."

County Commissioner Tom Murtaugh said the spot is a good one for Southern Winds.

"With it being that close to a major highway is it going to be single family residences, probably not," Murtaugh said. "Multi-family does kind of make sense in that particular area."

The public was worried about two things the apartment complex may do.

First, they didn't want the housing to be subsidized.

Second, they didn't want it to access County Road 300 South, or Veterans Memorial Parkway.

Walked agreed to sign a legal commitment with the Area Planning Commissioners to promise to not do those two things.

"We're agreeing to do two things that we likely would've done anyway," Bumbleburg said.

The commitment is tied to the deed of the property, meaning no matter who owns the property the commitment must be met.

Right now there is no work on when the building start.