Area planners OK zoning changes to make way for housing in Discovery Park – Journal & Courier

LAFAYETTE, IN — More housing developments within Discovery Park on the edge of Purdue University’s campus could be on their way after a unanimous approval for a change to Tippecanoe County’s zoning ordinance.
West Lafayette staff members requested a change to Tippecanoe County’s CBW zoning, or central business district of West Lafayette, to allow developments specifically within Purdue’s Discovery Park District to offer housing on the ground level, Area Plan Commission Assistant Director Amanda Esposito said. As the CBW zoning ordinance currently reads, all buildings in the zoning may have residential uses, but only above the commercial ground floor.
The language boundaries for ground-floor housing are similar to that of other zoning ordinances, such as NBU for neighborhood business or Lafayette’s own CB for central business, which is more commonly known as the Courthouse Proximate and Upper Main Street Area, a APC staff report said.
The 103 acres within the Discovery Park overlay, east of Airport Road and west of Martin Jischke Drive, were zoned to CBW in 2020. The CBW zoning had previously only been used for the Chauncey Village area, according to the staff report.
But officials with Purdue Research Foundation, which owns Discover Park, are interested in full residential buildings in that area, Esposito said.
Chad Spitznagle, director of housing for West Lafayette, said the issue of ground-floor housing came up during planning for the 3rd & West housing complex, 1401 Third St. on the western edge of campus. Although the complex was developed by American Campus Communities, the Purdue Board of Trustees agreed to master lease the building’s units until the end of the 2026-27 academic year to assist in the demand for more student housing.
The proposed amendment to the CBW ordinance would place the approval power of ground-floor residential builds there in the hands of the city’s administrative officer. In West Lafayette, that role is filled by Spitznagle, he said.
The approval moves the request to the West Lafayette City Council, which will meet next on April 6 at 6:30 p.m. in City Hall at 222 N. Chauncey Ave.
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@usatodayco.com.

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