The State College portion of the Centre Region's sewage facilities plan is expected to be returned to the Centre Region Planning Commission by the State College Borough Council at their regular meeting next Tuesday.

After reviewing an evaluation of the draft by borough engineers at a work session Monday night, borough council members agreed to send the draft back for revisions.

Centre Region planners must gain approval from municipalities affected by the plan and submit a final draft to the state's Department of Environmental Resources by the end of February.

"The DER is insisting on a tight schedule, so we're going to do our best to get the plan in on time," said Centre Region Planning Director Robert Bini.

Municipalities affected by the plan include College, Harris, Patton and Halfmoon Townships.

Region planners are working with both township officials and Gannett Fleming, an environmental consulting firm which is drafting the plan, to come up with a final product.

Bini said the plan will be discussed at the next Council of Governments meeting on Jan. 23. Suggestions from the meeting will go back to Gannett Fleming, which will put together a final copy that could be adopted by the governments toward the end of February, he said.

Mary Hastings, assistant borough engineer, said the current portion of the plan affecting State College does not accurately assess the strain on the borough's sewer system and fails to project future demands on the system.

Carl Hess, borough planning director, said the drafted plan greatly underestimates the borough's impending growth. Hess said the most recent draft reviewed by engineers projects an average annual growth of 264 living units in State College.

But four large apartment complexes slated for completion over the next two years could add as many as 441 living units to the downtown area, Hess said.

Currently, sections of the borough's sewer system between Locust Lane and Atherton St. are strained, Hastings said. Pipelines in this area are operating between 80 and 90 percent capacity during certain times of the day. Sewage lines normally operate at about a 50 percent capacity, she said.

"What we're looking at over the next five years is to expand some of our sewer lines," Hastings said. "We felt the plan really didn't address the issues in the borough."

Lee Lowery, the borough's director of public works, said the purpose of the plan is to help officials determine future expansion of the sewer system.

"The report is a planning guide or predictor of where we're going in the future," Lowery said.