Neighborhood meetings are next as State College’s updated zoning ordinance moves forward

State College Borough Council voted June 15 to advance drafts of a new zoning ordinance that has been years in the making, though members voiced concerns about provisions that could fuel more student developments downtown.

The council will continue discussing the draft ordinances over the next few months and public hearings are tentatively scheduled for November before a final vote. Four neighborhood meetings are planned for July and August:

• Highlands and Vallamont neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, July 15 at 7 p.m., at the Municipal Building
• College Heights neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, July 22 at 7 p.m., at the Paterno Catholic Student Faith Center
• Holmes Foster/Greentree/Orchard Park neighborhood meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m., at Corl Street Elementary
• State College South/Tusseyview/Nittany Hills/East Pennfield on Wednesday, Aug. 12 at 7 p.m., at Foxdale Village

To view the draft, visit www.statecollegepa.us/225/New-Zoning-Ordinance.

FULL STORY: How should State College’s zoning overhaul address student housing? Council debates

Here’s what to know about the zoning draft and last week’s meeting:

• The proposed downtown map would rezone key blocks near Penn State, including Hiester Street, to allow larger mixed-use buildings. Language in the draft would cut minimum parking requirements in half or require off-site parking to incentivize higher-density projects.
• Council member Susan Venegoni voted yes only on the condition of further changes, warning the ordinance lacks sufficient incentives for workforce and middle-income housing. “What we’re going to get is a bunch of happy developers and more student housing,” she said.
• Council member Gopal Balachandran said the downtown rezoning would empower large student-housing developers and private equity firms, predicting the Hiester Street plaza and businesses like Manny’s would be redeveloped into purpose-built student housing.
• Council President Evan Myers pushed to move forward, citing a housing crisis: “I think it’s past time for us to move forward. Will we have to revise this at some point? I suspect so, but it’s time,” he said.
• Buildings along College Avenue downtown could reach up to nine stories under the plan, with seven stories permitted in parts of the West End. The ordinances are tentatively scheduled for a public hearing in November.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The full story in the link at top was reported, written and edited entirely by journalists.