State College Borough Council members last night blasted the newest proposed fair housing ordinance for being "vague and incomplete" and decided to draft a more comprehensive ordinance at a worksession next week.

The decision further prolongs the borough's struggle to bring the divisive issue to a head and broke the hopes of any who wanted the 14-year-old debate brought to a close.

The failed proposal represented a compromise between advocates of an all-inclusive fair housing ordinance and those supporting an ordinance which excludes protection for gay men, lesbians and unmarried couples.

Council members on both sides of the debate and the borough's solicitor, Terry Williams, sharply criticized the proposal for being vague on definitions concerning senior-citizen housing.

The ordinance, inspired by Councilman Peter Lang, was designed to allow landlords to choose tenants only on the basis of their ability to make rental payments and their past rental history. The proposal died after the council failed to make a motion to discuss it.

Because the council decided not to debate the proposal, several people who attended the meeting were unable to voice their opinions.

Borough Manager Peter Marshall and Council members Jean McManis, Bill Welch, R. Thomas Berner and Ruth Lavin agreed that the ordinance was not fit for adoption.

"It seems to me that what we have is an ordinance that is so undefined that we'll have to have a worksession," McManis said.

Berner spoke in favor of Council President Gary Wiser's earlier proposal, which specifically protects the rights of gays and lesbians and has provisions to protect elderly housing.

"Frankly, I like what has become known as the Wiser fair housing ordinance," Berner said. "It is up front, it doesn't pussyfoot around and it protects everyone. I'd just as soon vote on the Wiser ordinance tonight."

Mayor Arnold Addison said he did not want the public at the meeting to debate an ordinance would likely be revised.

However James Toothman, representing about 12 residents of Regency Square Condominiums and 333 South Allen Street Condominiums -- whose residents must be at least 22 years of age -- stood up and demanded the council address the issue.

Toothman said he was concerned that special housing projects, including the one in which he lives, would not be able to retain their selection policies.

Williams assured residents at the meeting that the proposed ordinance would not override their housing tenant age regulations. However, he said after the meeting that the proposed ordinance was so vague that it did not define elderly housing. A definition is needed to determine whether a fair housing ordinance would affect the condominium's resident age limits, Williams said.

"The ordinance needs more work to answer these kinds of issues," he said.

Art Ward, secretary of the 333 South Allen Street Condominium Association, said he was afraid that the proposed legislation would open his building to younger tenants whose presence devalue his investment.

"We're opposed to all types of discrimination," he said. "But we don't want the character of our buildings changed."

Ward said he was concerned that a fair housing ordinance would require residential buildings, aimed at middle-age couples with no children, to raise their age limit to accommodate only senior citizens.

Members of the Lesbian Gay Student Alliance said they were not upset that the council put off acting on the proposal.

"I'm kind of glad because it's very difficult to criticize an ordinance like this because it is in such a rough draft form," said Jeff MaCarty, political co-director of LGSA.

McCarty said he planned to meet with Mayor Addison before any newly drafted ordinance is brought to the council.

Wiser said he believes his ordinance would better serve senior citizens than the other proposal presented.

"It really provides an opportunity for senior citizens to live in the borough among their peers," he said after the meeting.

Last summer Addison vetoed a ordinance passed by the council because it failed to provide protection for gay men, lesbians and unmarried couples.

The council has been trying since 1976 to pass a fair housing proposal. In recent debate, borough officials have stressed the need to have an ordinance that mirrors state and federal legislation.

The federal fair housing law and state fair housing act protect from discrimination based on race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, mental or physical handicap, pregnancy and the birth of a child. Both exclude sexual orientation.