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Tippecanoe APC fails to approve or reject New Chauncey Neighborhood Plan

The future of the New Chauncey Neighborhood Plan remains in limbo. It failed to get a majority vote for or against it from the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission (APC), so the panel will reconsider it next month.

Most of the comments at Wednesday night’s meeting were from New Chauncey residents in opposition to the proposed guidelines, including Rick Thomas. He calls the plan a long-term recipe for urban development that relies on cycles of deterioration followed by urban renewal with a focus on business and commercial development.

“This business and commercial development in turn creates a new cycle of deterioration in homes adjacent to the business and commercial development, and over the long term, leads to the eventual elimination of the neighborhood.”

He and others urged the steering committee that developed the plan to meet again to work out a proposal that does more to encourage single family, owner-occupied homes.

Chandler Poole, development director for the city, told commission members there was a lot of compromise, so not everyone got what they wanted.

“The public meetings we had – we had three or four of them – were fantastic. The items and discussion that were brought out were very insightful. The steering committee has done a great job of taking the public input and creating a land use plan that’s a great start to taking responsibility for our community’s future.”

However, New Chauncey resident Zachary Baiel says the steering committee charged with creating the document had too many members representing commercial interests.

“And it’s very hard to have any compromise when the residential interest, the neighborhood interests are in the minority. The commercial interests have no obligation to barter with those people.”

Even with APC approval, the plan must go to the West Lafayette City Council for a vote.

You can see the proposed New Chauncey Neighborhood Plan HERE.

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