The Tippecanoe County Drainage Board on a voice vote approved a modified petition to encroach and granted conditional approval for the full civil design package for a proposed Neuron semiconductor facility at 3800 Yeager Road in West Lafayette.

Patrick Stanton of Foresight Group, speaking for SL Architects, SKEP and SK Hynix, told the board the site would cover 133 acres with manufacturing, office and ancillary buildings and that the site is divided into three drainage basins. "We returned today to request approval of our full civil design package for the site," Stanton said.

Stanton described stormwater measures on the three basins, including dry detention ponds to the north and east and a southern wet pond that will tie into an existing system running under Yeager Road. Staff confirmed the petition before the board was a modification of an earlier encroachment approved in September; the change adds a second pipe at one location where the original approval had a single pipe.

County staff flagged a proposed second entrance off Cowbird Road, adjacent to an existing fire station, and said that entrance has not been approved by the city. "This entrance . . . has not been approved to date," staff said, and added that any driveway from a public road requires approval from the jurisdiction that controls that road (in this case, city approval would be required for the Cowbird Road connection).

An unidentified board member moved to approve the petition for encroachment "as presented"; the motion was seconded and approved by voice vote. The board then moved and approved conditional full-build approval for Neuron "from the Burke memo dated December 17," with the motion seconded and approved by voice vote. The Burke memo was cited by the motion as the basis for conditions attached to the approval; the memo itself was not read into the record during discussion.

The board's action on encroachment and conditional approval is limited to the county-regulated drain elements (discharge to the county drains and related stormwater control). County staff emphasized that internal site elements, including driveway access approval, fall under the jurisdiction of the city of West Lafayette.

The board did not record a roll-call tally; approvals were taken by voice vote. The board then moved on to other agenda items and adjourned later in the meeting.

Next steps for the project will include any required city approvals for the proposed entrance and implementation of the conditions described in the Burke memo.