Area residents and students are at odds over converting State College's family homes into rental properties.

At a tense planning commission work session last night, at times punctuated by shouting matches, Sherri Rutolo, former president of the Organization for Town Independent Students and planning commission member, squared off with neighborhood representative Jim Deeslie over a report Rutolo said blames students for deteriorating borough neighborhoods.

The report, compiled by the Neighborhood Conservation Action Plan Project Management Team, states that the conversion of single-family homes to rental units results in the destruction of established neighborhoods.

"I think the attitude that this conversion report has given is that they want to push out the students," Rutulo said.

Deeslie, a member of the Project Management Team and president of the Highlands Civic Association, challenged Rutulo to prove her statement.

Rutulo referred to a section of the report that targets loud music, large parties and an overflow of cars as symptoms of the overall problem. One section of the report states, "The domino effect becomes obvious as conversions increase and whole blocks become student ghettos."

The Project Management Team submitted the 56-page report that blames the conversion of family homes to rental property for the deterioration of neighborhoods in State College.

The report cites lack of enforcement of noise control laws and weak development restrictions as major contributors to the problem.

Commission member Christy Rambeau stressed that if the laws currently on the books were enforced, many complaints the borough receives from residents would be solved.

"Most of the language (in the report) is geared toward strong enforcement of codes already existing," she said.

Rutolo maintained that the report directs the problems at students and said when a problem arises, community residents should confront the students at the exact time of the problem.

"This is a lifestyle difference you are dealing with," she said. "To live next to each other, we must give a little."

Deeslie retorted, "It's not up to the residents to ask the students to behave. We have laws that should be obeyed."

Planning Commission Chairman Peter Everett said he hopes the report will encourage a wide range of residents in the borough and added that he would not want State College to house only students or only families.

State College resident Anita Genger, 400 S. Gill St., recently purchased a one-family home and is renovating it in hopes of renting out rooms. She said students had occupied the house for about 20 years and noted it was in "unlivable shape." However, she said that students are not entirely to blame for the problem. Code violations were broken and not enforced following complaints.