Jeremy Ervin|jervin@jconline.com
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. —A skyscraper by local standards, the Rise at Chauncey mixed-use development has raised questions about how West Lafayette should pursue the future.
Rise at Chauncey would stack about 675 bedrooms across 300 units— maxing out at 16 stories tall. It is planned to standacross from Chauncey Hill Mall at the corner of State Street and South Chauncey Avenue. The project received a rezone recommendation from the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission earlier this month. Now the West Lafayette City Council must vote whether toapprove the recommendation.
But not every member of the council is equally enthused about Rise at Chauncey. When the project went before the APC on Feb. 15, District 2 council member Peter Bunder requested the commission decline to recommend the rezone, citing concerns over green space, historic preservation and use of tax funds. District 1 council member Nick DeBoer spoke in favor of the high-density project— seeking to combat high rent costs in his district and throughout the city.
Bunder said the narrative isn't against progress or development in general. Back in fall of 2016, the 10-story mixed-use apartment The Hub sought the same approvals from theAPC and the West Lafayette City Council. Bunder voted to approve rezoning theland. But the apparent trend of taller buildings continued from there.
"My question is: are we ready to do this as a city?" Bunder said. "Are we grown up enough to be able to handle stuff at this scale? I think it happened too fast."
Bunder said residents of District 2 have concerns about how Rise at Chauncey will affect green space, historicpreservation,use of tax funds, crowding and other issues. While located in District 1, Rise at Chauncey will tower over the many single-family homes in Bunder's district.
Disctrict 2 contains New Chauncey, the city's only historicdistrict. Bunder wants more public officialson the record about which of the city's landmarkswill be preserved, and which could be redeveloped.
"If not a historic district, OK— then everybody say out loud what they say in private about what they're going to keep," Bunder said.
His short list includes Morton Community Center, Fire Station No. 1, the Miller Building, Varsity Apartments and thePurdue State Bank Building designed byLouis Sullivan.
Green space and parks have also come up as an issue. For some residents looking to maintain and expand the city's parks and recreation facilities, the increasing population and urbanization presentchallenges.
One way to tether development to parks funding is to implement something like a recreational impact fee. Thisfee could be charged on new developments to offset the increased usage by more people living in West Lafayette, without charging existing property owners. Discussion about a possible recreationalimpact fee began last fall, the J&C reported in September 2016.
Recreational impact fees are an item of agreement between DeBoer and Bunder.
"If we were to do it, I think the most obvious way to handle that would be a fee on new development, so not to focus on current land holders," DeBoer said. "I don't want to expand taxes on the current base, but if we do need additional development in the area, the additional development can provide that revenue stream."
Being able to capitalize on this wave of growth is key, according to Bunder.
"We have the hugest projects that we are ever going to have in front of us," Bundersaid. "If we don't get the impact fees off of these buildings, what are we going to get them out of? A new Starbucks on the Levee?"
But DeBoer and District 1 residents have some other concerns. Rent is high in West Lafayette, especially in the core neighborhoods around campus. Many single-bedroom apartments cost more than $1,000 a month. In a meeting with the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission on Feb. 15, Dan Hrankowsky of CA Ventures said renting one bed in a four-bed apartment at Rise at Chauncey could cost $750 to $800 per month. Rent for a one-bed unit could be $1,450 to $1,500 per month, he said. This is in line with similar student housing developments around campus.
Assuming arent of $1,150 amonth, a resident would need to make more than $41,000 a year to live in a one-bedroom apartment and spend only one-third of their income on rent.
"That's money that's not going into anything else in my district," DeBoer said. "It just goes into that black hole, and you never see that money again — it's not even an investment."
To DeBoer, a big part of the solution is increased density. In his view, an increase in housing supply willhelp decrease or stabilize rents and draw demand offstudent rentals in the areas around campus— including New Chauncey.
While Rise at Chauncey would likely enter the high-end section of the rental market, DeBoer said it could still help reduce rents throughout the city.
The idea is that when a hot new thing like Rise at Chauncey goes up, it will impact the entire market. Somewhere in the food chain, a high-pricedrental is knocked down to anupper-mid-pricedrental; and so on.
DeBoer described the south campus area as a "blank slate" on which the city can chart its course. The densification of sections of West Lafayette is part of that future, in his view.
"This is not an accident," DeBoer said. "The entire work we've been doing for the past 10 years— from annexing Purdue, to getting them on board with State Street, to coming together with the Joint Board, finding the funding, getting all the stakeholders aligned from Mitch Daniels to John Dennis to the city council. All that was done so this could occur."
Both council members are looking toward the future while trying to balance the concerns of their constituents. One of the fundamental differences between the two districts is transiency. Many District 2 constituents are permanent residents. Many District 1 residentsare students who will likely leave town within a few years. Both council members see Purdue University graduates playing an important role in the city's future. But to increase their connectivity to the community beyond college, there must be jobs for them.
DeBoer said people should not be surprised by development south of campus or the general direction of the city.
"I feel like going into the future, we're going to see an acceleration of the trend we've seen right now, where there are going to be cities that are going to win, and smaller cities that are going to lose," DeBoer said."That the economic concentrations you get, you get by having a lot of intelligent people in an area. Those people produce good jobs which then support theseservice industries— that I'd also like to be good jobs in the area. You just can't get that when the city is smaller, or when it's shrinking."
Bunder expressed concerns that Greater Lafayette could increasingly become anexurb commuter community, where many of the city's workers commute in from urban centers like Indianapolis or Chicago. Retaining West Lafayette's historic areas and public spaces would be an important componentalongside newjobs and economic progress for the community's future, in his view.
"I would rather we had our own identity," Bunder said. "But in order to do that, we need to find a way to employ the people we graduate."
The next meeting of the West Lafayette City Council is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on March 6 in the Morton Community Center at222 North Chauncey Avenue in West Lafayette.
Contact J&C city and county government reporter Jeremy Ervin at 765-420-5393. Follow him on Twitter @ErvinJeremy.
