Tippecanoe County Commissioners unanimously voted against rezoning a 25-acre parcel of land in Lauramie Township on Monday - stopping an effort to turn the land into a rodeo and concert venue.
Benito Munoz petitioned for the change, which he said would help him attract jobs and paying customers to the area. Munoz had already held concert events at the site last year, which neighbors complained were too loud and crowded for the small neighborhood to handle.
Munoz brought neighbors, community members, and businesspeople to speak in support of his plan.
“I’m not here to fight with nobody,” he said. “I’m here to do something good for Lafayette and bring another business to Lafayette.”
Munoz’s sons also addressed the commissioners. Miguel Munoz’s youngest son, one of three who spoke, introduced himself as Munoz’s “best-looking son.”
“Ever since I was a kid I’ve been going to these rodeos. They’ve been nothing but fun and a safe place for me to be,” he said. “I think it’s important for the city of Lafayette and the community of Hispanics we have growing for us to have this.”
Specifically, Munoz requested a rezone of the property from AA agricultural land to A agricultural land, which would have allowed him to request a special exception to hold rodeo and concert venues at the site.
The change from one type of agricultural zoning to another was something that David Hittle, executive director of the area plan commission, said he supported.
“Staff's recommendation is approval, and again, and at this point, we’re completely agnostic to the rodeo and concert center,” he said.
But many neighbors with houses close to Munoz’s event site were opposed to the rezoning, complaining about the noise from concerts and the traffic along the roads.
Diana Garcia is a member of the neighborhood who spoke in favor of the change. She labeled the noise complaints and opposition to the rodeo as “Karen comments.”
“A person stood up here and said, without even attending the events, that there was a lot of bad people at these events,” she said. “That it was going to be traumatizing to my neighborhood, the street that I live on, because some people of color were listening to Spanish music, dancing, eating tacos, and riding horses half a mile from where we live.”
“My windows did not shatter, my children did not cry, the nights of the events,” Garcia added. “I hope you do the right thing, because I think some bigotry is hiding behind some of the complaints that you have received.”
Resident Matt Bowers spoke against the rezoning.
“I actually support his goals and ambitions to bring concerts to the area,” he said. “We only have one disagreement and that is the concerts.”
Bowers seemed to take issue with the implication that noise complaints were racially motivated.
“I have two biracial sons and I adopted a child at two days old from foster care. I am not racist, I have no issues,” he said. “I grew up a big Van Halen fan… and if they could raise Eddie Van Halen from the dead and bring him out for a concert it wouldn’t matter… I don’t want Van Halen in my backyard.”
Commissioners, including Tom Murtaugh, ultimately agreed with residents who opposed the change. Murtaugh said Munoz had previously attempted to establish a concert venue elsewhere in the county - with similar pushback.
“Quite honestly it was a little frustrating that now we’re at a second site, and I wish he had taken time to ask questions prior to purchasing a second site and it wouldn’t have gotten that far,” he said.
Murtaugh said he hoped that the Munoz family and their supporters did not perceive ethnicity as an influence on the commission's dismissal of the rezoning effort.
“In this day and age that topic comes up in a lot of things we face,” he said. “I want to assure the Munoz family and their supporters that in this particular case it had nothing to do with that. It was previous complaints in regard to the events and these events he’s had at this particular location. Believe me… on Monday after the event we knew it happened.”
During his testimony, Munoz said if the rezoning failed he would move his events to Frankfort.
