Soon there may be a limit to the number of rental houses on a street in State College.

Borough officials plan to propose an ordinance limiting the number of conversion units per street, said Carl Hess, borough planning director.

Conversion units are single-family houses used for multiple-person rental housing through internal renovations, Hess said.

The proposal, which is being reviewed by borough solicitor Terry Williams, would set a minimum space requirement between conversion units.

Possible space limitations may allow only one conversion unit every 20 lots, or every quarter of a mile.

But the final restrictions will be decided when the proposal comes before the planning commission, said Peter Everett, borough planning commission chairman.

The goal of the proposal is to establish the "proper balance of rental housing and single-family homes in a neighborhood rather than having one form dominate," he said.

Students occupy most rented houses, causing a "conflict of lifestyles" with the permanent residents, Everett said. Lack of lawn maintenance and the number of cars parked on the street are some issues facing students and neighborhood associations, he said.

Neighborhood associations have expressed concern about a drop in property values when rental houses dominate a neighborhood, Everett said.

"You may not be able to sell your single family house for what it is worth unless you sell it as a rental unit," he said, adding people will not buy homes in areas that are dominated by rental housing.

Everett said he believes if "people were given some assurance that their neighborhood would not be taken over by conversions, they would buy a house there."

But Nichol Barlett, a planning commission member and president of the Organization for Town Independent Students, said she does not believe restrictions should be set on the number of conversion units in neighborhoods.

"I would hate to see limiting (the number of conversion units) when I don't think it's necessary," Barlett said.

She said the proposal is not the answer to neighborhood problems. Ordinances restricting the number of unrelated people in conservion units should be enforced, rather than restricting the number of rented houses, she said.

"If you make the conversions comply with the existing ordinances I think you would solve a lot of problems," Barlett said.

It is illegal for more than three unrelated people to live together in a conversion unit, Everett said. But many planning commission members and borough officials admit the law is difficult to enforce.

"I think the no-more-than-three-unrelated-people ordinance is hard to manage," Everett said.

Barlett said she is also unsure how this ordinance could be enforced.

Neighborhood associations are not satisfied with the ordinance because it is not being enforced, and "wanted something with more teeth in it," Everett said.

If the current ordinance wasenforced, the number of cars and people in the neighborhoods would not increase, Barlett said.

"If you limit it to three unrelated people, then that is the same size as most families," Barlett said.