In existence since 1959, the Area Plan Commission of Tippecanoe County (APC) was reorganized in 1975.  Its membership now includes five citizens and ten elected officials from the Towns of Battle Ground, Dayton, and Clarks Hill, the Cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette, and Tippecanoe County. Shortly after its reorganization, the Governor designated APC as the Metropolitan Planning Organization.

In addition to its transportation planning functions, staff also performs comprehensive planning; zoning and subdivision functions; demographic, housing and economic projections and forecasts; park planning; floodplain management; hazard mitigation planning; and some GIS functions.

A comprehensive land use plan was developed in 1981 for all member jurisdictions and remains current by means of timely updates to key elements.  More recently, the revised Unified Zoning Ordinance was adopted, effective January 2, 1998. 

The APC supports multi-modal relationships with CityBus and the Purdue University Airport.  A bicycle and pedestrian plan was adopted in August 1997 and is in the process of being updated.

APC and its member jurisdictions adopted the Transportation Plan for 2030 in 2006; it was amended in 2007 for compliance with SAFETEA-LU.  Following adoption, all long range transportation plan elements are recorded; this action makes them officially part of the Comprehensive Plan for Tippecanoe County.

Because the statutorily constituted APC is the Policy Board and does not contain all the highest level elected officials, the MPO operates with both a Technical Transportation Committee and an Administrative Committee.  The Administrative Committee includes, in part, both mayors, the President of the Board of County Commissioners, the Chairman of the CityBus Board of Directors and the presidents of all city and county councils.

The Executive Director and four additional staff dedicated solely to transportation planning keep the APC and all member jurisdictions in compliance with transportation planning requirements.  Additional staff is used for some aspects of transportation planning as needed and in keeping with their expertise.