It's TOO Tall

It's too tall.

The proposed Chauncey Annex rezoning described in Ordinance #46-2025 is too tall.             

The APC describes building heights in "Block 21" of the West Lafayette Downtown Plan as anywhere from 3 to 10 stories.

Which would make this 15 story proposal somewhere between 5 and 12 stories too tall.

That's a lot.

I was surprised to see that this proposal in its current form made it onto the November 3rd. council agenda.

I would have thought that someone early on would have made clear to the developer and their attorney that this proposal was not to plan. That such a massing of buildings on State St. was not acceptable. That given the history of the controversies around downtown development the City Council was unlikely to pass such a proposal. That we have learned there is always some other project which will follow this.

Most of you will be familiar with the story. Purdue changed its business model and West Lafayette was blindsided. (It was not all that long ago that Director of Develpoment Chandler Poole was walking what was then "The Village" plotting a revival of its history.)

So, Nick Deboer, sitting in what is now Nick Schenkel's chair, would yell "the rents are too (damn) high". He argued that we needed to build as many commercial dormitories as big as we can as quickly as we can. Then I would argue, sitting for eight years in what is now Larry Leverenz's chair, that this place has little or no character and we ought to preserve what we have.

There was a compromise inside the Democratic caucus and with the Mayor as the State Street Project unfolded.

We would "go ugly early" south of State Street. Build "Trump Tower" if needed; just as long as Purdue's student pilots won't hit it!  Perhaps we would get lucky; preserve Tommy Johnston Park and then finagle some other green space.

North of Fowler, we would work to preserve a multi-generational near campus residential neighborhood.

BETWEEN STATE AND FOWLER THE BUILDINGS WOULD STEP DOWN.

The transition would allow for the Sullivan bank, Morton School, old fire station #1 and the new library to be seen. A festival space could be imagined. We would have an architectural buffer between the two residential scales. I would argue that is still desirable.

Let me also remind the council that it has shortened buildings before. The developer does have the ability to reduce the height and modify density.

Does anyone remember "Boiler Cribs"? It was set to tower over Mackey Arena on Northwestern Ave. Nobody liked that idea. It would be downsized and become The Fuse. The Muinzer Building at the corner of Northwestern and State was to loom over the Miller Building. It got smaller. A large apartment project was proposed for the corner of Northwestern (Allen St.) and West Stadium. It never happened. 

You also need to be alert to the fact that developers in every generation find some blandishment that would allow them to proceed without changing the scale of their project.

First there was the promise of some incredible ground floor retail. Then the thought was that some new construction might not be just another student dormitory, but rather up-scale apartments for the elusive young urban professionals. Most recently high rises would be built with apartments "below market value." Now we have "below market value's" cousin, the appealing promise of "affordable housing".

These are not philanthropies. So it will important to determine what index is being used, which federal programs might be involved, and what state and local incentives are anticipated to make the rent controls profitable and durable. Unless "affordable housing" means only what the developer determines to be "below market value."

Mayor Easter is certainly correct to note that building size and "affordable housing" are separate issues. One ought not to be used to extort the other.

Finally, there is also the matter of the city's reputation regarding zoning/planning. It took a hit when one administration's SK Hynix site "a" suddenly lost favor with the next administration. Is the city reliable when it comes to urban planning?

This zoning change will be back before the council in December.

It will still be too tall.