Sewage problems are holding up expansion plans for the building that once housed the Scorpion bar and the Elks Club, the borough's zoning officer said.

The Elks Club, which owns the building at 232 W. Calder Way, is waiting for a sewage permit before occupying the building or making expansion plans, said Herman L. Slaybaugh.

The University's sewage plant, also used by the borough, is filled to capacity for 1990, so developers have been put on a permit waiting list, said Albert Drobka, architect for the proposed building project.

The building was closed last fall when the Scorpion's liquor license expired, and no guarantee of a lease renewal was given to the bar owners.

Once the building obtains a sewer permit, owners plan to develop the property into a combination office/residential building, with apartments on the second floor and an office for the Elks Club on the first floor, Slaybaugh said.

Borough Engineer Wesley Wagner said he knew of one building developer, Janos Koltay of Westbrier Inc, 1939 N. Atherton St. Koltay could not be reached to comment.

Because of the borough's sewage problem, a quota on the amount of Equivalent Dwelling Units (EDU's) --a sewage measuring unit which converts industrial measurements into residential measurements -- has been set by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Resources and the local sewer authority, Drobka said.

Since all of the EDU's for 1990 were used up, the old Scorpion building was put on a waiting list and will be the first new project allocated an EDU for 1991, he said.

Because the Penn State sewage plant is nearing its capacity, the borough is trying to plan alternative ways to dispose of sewage, Wagner said.

The borough is planning to build a diverter system to bypass the Penn State sewer plant so it eventually gets to the Spring Creek Treatment Facility. The facility at Spring Creek, behind the Nittany Mall, is owned by the University Area Joint Authority.

The borough hopes to put the diverter into use in mid-1992, and continue to divert sewage in phases until the borough will put .3 to .4 million gallons per day in the Penn State plant, compared to its current use of 4 million gallons, Wagner said.

"A lot of people aren't aware of the sewage problem," Drobka said.