WEST LAFAYETTE, IN — Rural West Lafayette residents within portions of Wabash and Tippecanoe townships have until Aug. 11 to optionally have their property zoned AA (Select Agricultural) in an effort to bring parts of the unincorporated areas into the recently adopted county Land Use Plan.
The AA zoning, according to the APC website, will provide areas identified within the adopted comprehensive plan for the county as having either highest or a combination of high and highest potential for agricultural use. The areas identified to within the parameters for AA zoning are also areas where no urbanization has occurred, the AA definition states, and would be reserved for the wide range of agricultural activities.
Ryan O’Gara, executive director of the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission, said the AA zoning in comparison with the county’s A (Agricultural) zoning is more of an agricultural preservation effort.
“The AA has less kinds of ag-related businesses permitted in the zoning compared with A, so for example a large animal hospital would be permitted with A, but not AA,” O’Gara said. “But in AA zoning, it is more reserved for row crops and pasture animals, not necessarily a building with a parking lot.”
By opting into the AA zoning ahead of the Aug. 11 deadline, O’Gara said the APC will foot the $500 bill typically associated with a land rezone request. This decision wouldn’t prevent the land from being rezoned by the current property owner or a future owner, O’Gara said, but it would preserve the ag-marked land in the present.
“Our data, which is drawn from the USDA, indicates these areas are highly productive farmland, so placing it within that AA zoning district would keep that primary usage,” O’Gara said. “This zoning is really for folks who have a heart for wanting to preserve and protect their ag land for its intended future use.”
If property owners do not opt into the AA rezone before Aug. 11, O’Gara said they will still be able to in the future, just not on the county’s dime.
Property owners with questions regarding the rezoning effort are encouraged to call 765-423-9242. To view the the map of properties identified for potential AA zoning and to read more about the Wabash-Tippecanoe Townships Plan, go to tippecanoe.in.gov/1309/WabashTippecanoe-Township-Rezone.
Jillian Ellison is a reporter for the Journal & Courier. She can be reached via email at jellison@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Wabash, Tippecanoe township residents encouraged to opt into agricultural rezone by Aug. 11
Reporting by Jillian Ellison, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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