APC board approves townhouses ordinance, apartment revamp and amendment to township plan
LAFAYETTE, Ind. — The Tippecanoe County’s Area Plan Commission approved the creation of a new zoning ordinance that will allow developers to build owner-occupied, single-family townhouses in Lafayette and West Lafayette.
The board also rezoned a rental property across the street from St. Boniface Catholic Church and added an amendment to the Wabash and Tippecanoe townships' land-use plan in hopes of addressing concerns highlighted by residents.
Townhouse ordinance approved by APC
Earlier this year, Ryan O'Gara, assistant director of the Area Plan Commission and his team, began working on a new zoning ordinance that would allow developers to build townhouses within the county.
This new ordinance's goal was meant to address the county’s “missing link” needed to improve the area’s housing market.
The ordinance would define a townhouse as “a single-family dwelling unit that is part of a row of two or more attached single-family dwelling units, where each unit is located on an individual lot under fee-simple ownership, served by public water and sewer, and shares at least one common wall with an adjacent single-family dwelling unit.”
This new ordinance would be replacing the county’s “residential 1 – Zero Lot Line Zone,” which was established in 1998 but never utilized by developers.
The Tippecanoe County APC board unanimously approved the townhouse zoning amendment.
Revamping apartments at 400 N. Ninth St.
The petitioner, 4th Offset LLC, filed a rezoning request with the Tippecanoe County APC’s board in hopes of rezoning 400 N. Ninth St. from a residential 2 to a planned development residential development.
The property sits north of St. Boniface Catholic Church, and it became dilapidated before the new owner purchased the property.
The owner, Joshua Thiel, hopes to turn it into a desirable rental option near the church. He plans to revamp the interior of the property and turn it into a four-unit, multi-family apartment complex.
The property will be divided into two one-bedroom and one-bathroom units, and two two-bedroom and two-bathroom units, each with their own parking garage attached to the property, Thiel told the board.
Thiel shared with the board that before his ownership, one of his high school friends had owned the property, and she planned to restore it before she developed cancer.
“It was her dream," Thiel said. "She got married in the church next door. (She planned) to renovate this building and return it to some glory.
“We’ve tried to restore it," he said. "You have all of the original 114-year-old oak doors inside and outside restored and going back in and the countertops will be reclaimed wood from the actually structure itself when we did demolition.”
Thiel also shared how the nuns from St. Boniface Church recommended that he install some old Catholic stained glass to match the church across the street. Thiel said that he took their advice and traveled around the state and collected unused stained glass from old churches.
He plans to install the glass in hopes of matching the theme of the street and returning it to its former glory.
The Tippecanoe County APC board unanimously approved the zoning request.
Amendments to the Wabash/Tippecanoe townships' land-use plan
Since 2022, the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission has worked on a new comprehensive land use plan for both Wabash and Tippecanoe townships and after two years of work, the APC revealed its plan to the public.
“Really, the main issue with this plan, in my opinion, it’s fairly conservative, (but) there’s this tension between agriculture preservation and residential expansion. And this plan is trying to thread that needle to accommodate both,” O’Gara said.
“We have very rich agricultural land in the township, and we also have a high demand for housing.”
In hopes of addressing many of the concerns highlighted by residents of these townships, O’Gara recommended that the APC board approve a new amendment to the plan’s vision statement.
“Growing Wabash and Tippecanoe townships will retain their appealing rural-suburban-university character by strategically preserving their agricultural heritage and history, expanding greenspaces with more parks and trails, developing carefully planned new housing while strengthening existing neighborhoods, and maintaining thoughtfully zoned commercial districts," the statement reads. "Dedication to excellence in schools, fire and police protection, transportation, and other public services will ensure that Wabash and Tippecanoe Townships remain a great place to live.”
Noe Padilla is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. Email him at Npadilla@jconline.com and follow him on X at 1NoePadilla.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: APC: New townhouses ordinance, apartments and amends township plan
