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Residents tell Tippecanoe County ordinances left purchased floodplain home unusable; request disclosure and relief
Summary
Two members of the public told commissioners their Lafayette property at 5515 Stair Road was sold without clear disclosure that utilities could not be reinstated because of floodplain rules; they asked the county for help, potential hardship relief, and mandatory disclosure requirements.
Two members of the public urged Tippecanoe County commissioners on Jan. 21 to address what they said were failures in disclosure when properties in floodplain areas change hands.
Jeremy Dillmani said he purchased 5515 Stair Road in Lafayette at an auction for $80,000 and later discovered utilities could not be reinstated because of floodplain-related restrictions, making the property unusable. He asked commissioners for help and for a county-level disclosure requirement to prevent others from facing similar losses.
Dillmani told the board: "This property, located in a flood plain, is now unusable because utilities cannot be reinstated, a fact that was not disclosed at the time of sale." He said the loss has harmed his health and finances and asked the county to consider "an exception, to make a financial solution" or mandatory disclosure so future buyers will be warned.
A second public commenter who identified herself as Zenith Holmes described the impact on her husband and their seven children and said that local real estate attorneys, title agents and realtors she contacted had not previously encountered the county rule she says affected the property. Holmes said the family searched county records without finding an explicit, easily located statement that utilities cannot be turned back on after prolonged vacancy. "After hours of looking at the site, I didn't find anything that specifically said you can't turn on the power after a property has been vacant for 12 months," she said.
Meeting exchanges and clarifications
During questions from the board and staff, Dillmani said the property sale followed a sheriff's sale and the bank had turned the power off before his purchase. A county official noted that some local floodplain ordinances include time thresholds for vacancy; in the meeting an advisory reference to a one-year period was discussed during Q&A (a speaker said "a year"). One staff exchange noted that participation in federal flood-insurance programs typically requires local ordinances addressing floodplain management, and that enforcement and local implementation can vary.
Dillmani and Holmes requested the board consider options including a hardship variance, monetary relief or a formal disclosure requirement to be signed before closings in floodplain-affected properties. No motion or formal action addressing the requests was recorded in the meeting minutes.
The petitioners said they sought direction on legal or grant resources and said they had been referred among county offices before coming to the commissioners. The record shows no county commitment to compensation or a specific follow-up timeline recorded at the meeting.
