One Year Later, Champions Centre is Still a Bad Idea

One year ago tomorrow, at their very first meeting of 2008, the West Lafayette City Council voted to rezone a small strip of land, located in the backyards of some homeowners on Carlisle. Three of the seven City Council were new members, casting one of their first votes ever. Unfortunately for the neighborhood located just south of City Hall, they voted to re-zone this small strip of land.
Why should anyone care about a small strip of land, adjacent to a couple of houses? Why would that vote be noteworthy enough to write about a year later? Well, since I live in that neighborhood, I feel I have the expertise to fill you in!
This small strip of land had been designated R1, for residential use only. There were no structures on the land, but it served a very important purpose as a buffer between a hotel and the homes adjacent to the back of that property. Since the 1960's, many developers had tried, and failed, to have that little strip rezoned--at least 4 City Councils (in their infinite wisdom) had voted to maintain the R1 designation. Then, last January, a developer named Gary Spillers asked the City Council to rezone this strip of land, so he could proceed with his "Champions Centre" project. He needed this land to be rezoned so that he could proceed with his 7 story parking garage/condominium structure--if he had "X" amount of land, his building could be "X" stories high. He planned to build parking spaces on this strip of land--parking that was required by the Area Plan Commission. The neighbors were, of course, not in favor of this rezoning, and were definitely not in favor of the Champions Centre project. Why were we so opposed? As explanation, I offer what I wrote as a Guest Column to the local newspaper:
"The CEO of Champion’s Centre has done a terrific job of selling his project to the city of West Lafayette, and to the media. But there is another side to this story, and it’s my intent to outline it here for you.
Fact: this is a proposed $61 million dollar project. It includes a 7 story condominium/parking structure, a 4 story hotel, and a restaurant.
Fact: it will be built in a 50 year old, stable neighborhood of one-story homes.
Fact: the physical address is Northwestern Avenue.
Fact: the proposed buildings sit so far back on the site that they are IN the neighborhood, just as surely as my home is in the neighborhood.
Fact: this developer has worked for a company that has success building condominiums in urban areas close to football stadiums filled with dedicated fanatics.
Fact: this will be the first project built by this developer on his own, it will be built in a residential area, and will be over a mile from a stadium that never sells out.
Fact: this developer wants to target the condominiums to wealthy alumni, who will most likely use them a few weekends a year.
Fact: a 7 story building will tower over the neighborhood, but no one knows for sure what will happen if the 100+ condominiums don’t sell.
Fact: the condominium building will be 7 stories, including 4 stories of parking garage, and the hotel will be 4 stories.
Fact: at least 7 homes on Carlisle, and at least 5 homes on Windsor Drive will not have sunlight for the entire afternoon. The impact on these homes is unknowable, for there has been no investigation by the city into this (other cities, such as Boulder, CO have enacted ordinances which speak to shadows on residential dwellings), but what is known is that these homes will first have to replant their gardens, for no sun-loving plants will survive.
Fact: over 100 condominium units, 100 hotel rooms, and over 400 parking spaces will be built on this site.
Fact: there will be increased traffic in the area, and the population density will increase in this neighborhood—that is, if the units are sold and the hotel occupied.
The West Lafayette City Council reached a few milestones in its’ vote on Monday night. First, they ignored the wisdom of at least 3 previous City Councils, who voted against rezoning this property from R-1 to PDMX. This should make every homeowner in West Lafayette nervous, for there is no reason to assume that this Council will not vote to rezone a parcel of land in your neighborhood from R-1 to Planned Development Mixed Use.
As a result of their vote, for the first time, there will be a 7 story structure in the city of West Lafayette. And, this structure will be in a neighborhood. As a point of reference, not even the new hospitals go above 6 stories. What does this mean? For at least a 3 block radius, any child playing in a fenced-in yard can be observed by people standing in the condominiums or hotel rooms. How will this impact my neighborhood? I invite you to tell me how you would feel if you knew your children were being watched every time they were out in your yard.
Because of their vote, for the first time, residents on all adjacent streets will breathe in who knows what during demolition, be subjected to home-rattling vibrations as piles are driven into the earth to support the 7 story structure, and then be dealing with the dust, noise and construction traffic for at least 2 years. How will this impact this neighborhood? If the residents don’t sell their homes now, certainly they will consider it as their foundations shudder, or as their health is impacted. For the first time, a West Lafayette City Council voted to build a 4 story parking structure right in the backyards of residents. How will this affect my neighbors? We don’t know—it’s never been done in this city before. The City Council did not consider this, as they asked no questions during the meeting about the impact this project will have on people. As a matter of fact, I’ve been told by Council members that this project will have NO impact on my neighborhood.
Finally, I caution you to organize a Neighborhood Association to protect yourselves from the West Lafayette City government. My neighborhood didn’t, and we are paying a very steep price."
I was most disappointed by the votes of two on the Council in particular: Ann Hunt and Peter Bunder. Mrs. Hunt, because she had known about the proposed project, and its implications, for months before the vote, AND, even though we had a very cordial relationship, had not talked to me about any of it. Mr. Bunder, because he lives in an area of the city with a dense population, and could most appreciate the problems such a project would bring to our neighborhood.
Anyhoooooo, it's one year out, and I neeeeed to go talk to the Council again. This is what I plan to say:
"To the members of the West Lafayette City Council:
One year ago, at your January 2008 Council meeting, you voted to re-zone a small strip of property adjacent to homes on Carlisle, despite objections from over 70 neighbors. Your actions allowed developer Gary Spillers to proceed with his planned development, the Champions Centre project.
I thought I would come to the meeting tonight to let you know what has happened in our neighborhood since your vote last January. I am speaking before you tonight because I’m not entirely sure you’ve received my e-mails—not one of you has responded to me—not my Council Representative Vicki Burch, and not even Council member Peter Bunder, who always received a response from me when I was on the School Board, and he was a frequent correspondent. But I digress.
When Mr. Spillers spoke at the meeting last January, he proposed an aggressive timetable for development of the property, beginning in March with the demolition of the Family Inn, breaking ground in August for the 7 story parking garage and condominium structure, and opening the Champions Centre hotel and condominium buildings by August 2009—in time for the football season. He was confident last January that he would be able to sell his over 110 condominiums to alumni and alumni only; indeed, he took offense at the suggestion that any of his units would be used as “kiddie condos”.
It was April when the ceremonial demolition of the Family Inn building was held, and demolition continued through much of April and May. In late May, we got water in our basement—I should point out that our home is across the street from the development site. We got a little clear water in the basement-- less than ½ an inch covered the floor; to us it was more of an annoyance than damaging. We were told a lift station at the end of the street had failed, causing this problem. Shortly after this happened, my neighbor, whose property is directly adjacent to the Champions Centre site, began to have severe mold problems in her basement. She built this house nearly 40 years ago, and had never had a problem with mold in her basement—it cost her close to $3,000 to have it removed. The water in my basement and mold in hers were not isolated incidents; other neighbors were experiencing the same sorts of problems too. The explanation for the cause of the problem arrived via a letter from the City Engineer on July 30th. Our neighborhood was experiencing problems because the Champions Centre crew neglected to plug a sanitary sewer pipe during demolition of the Family Inn. The letter from the City Engineer told us to seek restitution through one of two insurance companies if we had suffered any losses. Now here’s the kicker: my 87 year old neighbor, who had spent close to $3,000 on mold removal, DID seek restitution. She was told it was a pre-existing problem, and she would therefore not receive any compensation for her loss. In June, Champions Centre opened its Sales Office on Windsor Drive, complete with a model condo unit. Neighbors, curious about what one of these units might look like, stopped by. The salesperson proudly told them he had had over 30 inquiries (hard to tell how many sales), including one sale to a family who was buying a unit for their child, who would be attending Purdue. I really don’t have to remind you that, by definition, that would make that unit a “Kiddie Condo”.
On August 14th, bulldozers destroyed up to 50 trees on the Champions Centre property. They were healthy, 30 to 40 year old trees that did not present any apparent safety issue; they were just in the way. It’s hard to determine why they were in the way, as they were at the back of the property, and construction had not yet begun on anything. Indeed, as of today, there has been no groundbreaking for any structure on the Champions Centre property. Right now, there is a large hole at the front of the property, lots of mounds of dirt, and fencing surrounding the property. This fencing is coming down in places, so is not serving as a safety barrier—if indeed that is the intended purpose. I dread to think what will happen if we receive a large amount of rain this spring—the large hole will be an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
So here we are in a new year. The economy is in a serious state of disrepair, and it’s no surprise Mr. Spillers is having problems selling his condos. I’ve heard he is having problems finding a hotel chain to manage his hotel as well. Last year, Councilperson Bunder assured us this neighborhood would not be destroyed if the Champions Centre project went forward. That might be true, but the project has had a major impact on the neighborhood: to recap—loss of residential land, water and mold in basements, trees destroyed, and the very real possibility that there will be “kiddie condos” in yet another neighborhood of single-family homes. If you’ve learned nothing else as a Council this year, I hope you’ve learned “Buyer Beware. NOTHING is as good as the developer makes it sound."
What I really want to say is that I'm still mad as hell, AND I was right! I was right!