State College Planning Commission pushes back on zoning change for Addison Court site
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Planning Commission voted 3-2 not to recommend the zoning height increase.
- Primecore sought to raise height limits from 45 feet to 65 feet at 120 E. Beaver Ave.
- Staff said council placed the parcel in a four-story, 52-foot zone.
The State College Borough Planning Commission voted against a height increase Thursday for the controversial development plans of a downtown low-income senior housing complex.
The commission voted 3-2 not to recommend that the Borough Council approve a zoning text amendment that was requested by PrimeCore developers to increase the height limitations from 45 to 65 feet for the property at 120 E. Beaver Ave., where low-income seniors currently live at Addison Court.
Ed LeClear, borough planning and community development director, said the reasoning behind the recommendation was to remain consistent with the council’s explicit direction for the zoning rewrite that is aimed at expanding housing options for long-term residents while preserving downtown’s character.
He said the council intentionally rezoned the area where Addison Court currently stands, to be four stories and 52 feet. That area is currently limited to 45 feet.
“We specifically asked council about the Addison Court parcel,” he said during the meeting, adding that council members “did not want to provide additional entitlement and additional rights that may make it so economically feasible that it’ll be torn down and Addison Court will become a student housing building.”
He explained that the council’s intention is to avoid the economic pressure to demolish the Addison Court building where a height increase would raise development value and make demolition for student housing seem “attractive.”
LeClear said the proposed text amendment, if passed, would also raise height limits for the parking lot next to Addison Court because it falls within the 200 block of South Allen Street, where the amendment seeks increased building heights. The lot — the borough owns one half and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church the other half— was designated in a lower height area in the zoning rewrite where council is considering developing their side for housing in the future, he added.
“The borough is potentially redeveloping that site for housing or for some other uses in the future, so there’s a recognition that it may not always stay a parking lot,” LeClear said.
Before the vote, Planning Commission member Ethan Dean asked developers if a height increase would add units to the building, to which they said it would only allow more structural efficiency and shallower parking excavation.
“It wouldn’t add, it would just change the configuration, there would be less depth in the parking facility in the ground, so it’d just be more efficient in design and in structure and esthetic,” PrimeCore CEO Ara Kervandjian said.
Commission member Curtis Shulman voted in support of the text amendment, which he didn’t see as harming the council’s focus to increase housing density because it would make the development ten feet shorter from what it is now.
“My opinion is I support the height. I don’t think it hurts anything, considering the fact it’s technically lower than it is now, I don’t see a downside to it,” he said, adding how the parking lot would not be severely affected since the borough owns half of it.
Commission member Peter Aeschbacher also voted in favor of the text amendment and emphasized how the commission’s recommendation does not determine the height increase.
“I’d like to just reiterate that we are making a recommendation to council, and it is council which currently makes a decision about changing,” he said.
A handful of residents spoke during the public comment period to support the commission’s decision not to recommend the height increase.
“If you were to give an out to that, all it would essentially be doing is increasing the benefits for one property owner at the expense of the collective communal interest embodied in the comprehensive rewrite,” borough resident Silas Smith said.
Developers presented their plans to convert the low-income senior housing complex into student housing earlier this year, prompting opposition from residents and community members concerned about displacing seniors who have lived there for decades.
Last month, developers announced plans to preserve Addison Court as affordable senior housing and fully rehabilitate the building if they receive approval for Low-Income Housing Tax Credits.
The borough will hold a public hearing on the amendment before council considers final approval at a meeting in mid-July, LeClear said.
