West Lafayette Rezones Land for Chip Plant Facility

The West Lafayette City Council has voted to rezone land in the city, allowing a chip manufacturing plant to be built on the site. The vote was 6-3 in favor of the proposal, despite nearly six hours of public comment that was overwhelmingly against it.

Council members Laila Veidemanis, Kathy Parker, and David Sanders were the no votes. Michelle Dennis, Colin Lee, Larry Leverenz, Stacey Baitinger Burr, Iris O'Donnell Bellisario, and James Blanco voted in favor of the proposal.

The rezoning petition was filed by the Purdue Research Foundation for the project, which aims to spend more than $3.8 billion to build an advanced chip-packaging facility in West Lafayette. The site is located north of Kalberer Road between Yeager Road and Tippecanoe County Road 50 West.

The area is currently zoned R3 for single-family, two-family, and multifamily residential use, but SK hynix is asking for a change to I3 for industrial development. According to West Lafayette government documents, the land is currently zoned as residential, while the proposed zoning would allow for industrial activity.

A Tippecanoe County document defines I3 as "To provide areas for industrial activity, contracting, warehousing and wholesaling, that are heavy in impact because more than just loading activities are conducted outside –and associated retail and service establishments and agricultural activities as identified in the Permitted Use Table."

Residents have expressed concerns about the potential risks to their health and the environment if land zoned for residential use is rezoned for industrial purposes.

SK hynix originally planned to build the facility on a site bordered by Tippecanoe County Road North 100 West/Yeager Road, and Kalberer Road. However, the company now wants to use a larger piece of land across Yeager Road, which has better road access to minimize traffic.