The State College Borough Planning Commission issued recommendations Wednesday including shuttle bus service and improved lighting accommodations for the Academic/Athletic Convocation and Events Center.

The recommendations stem from a request the University made to area municipalities for comments on the center's development.

The borough's recommendations were limited to on-site facilities because a traffic study will not be complete for about eight to 10 weeks, State College Borough Planning Director Carl Hess said at Wednesday's commission meeting.

Planning Commission Chairman Peter Everett said the center's effects on the downtown business district are a major concern for the borough.

"The link to the vitality of downtown is something I am concerned with," Everett said.

Providing shuttle service between the center and the downtown area during events could alleviate the problem, he said. A bus drop-off lane along University Drive would also ease congestion, he added.

Planning Commission member Christina Rambeau said more permanent facilities such as picnic areas should be examined to provide for the year-round tailgating the center will likely attract.

Additionally, better lighting and curbed streets with sidewalks were mentioned as potential improvements, particularly with the increased number of night events anticipated for the center compared with Beaver Stadium.

Officials have also cited concerns about increased traffic from the center.

"(The center) is a smaller but more frequent impact," Hess said, adding that it would be impossible to close University Drive for pedestrian traffic the way it is for football games.

State College Borough Council member Ruth Lavin, who attended the meeting, noted concerns about possible traffic problems at the corner of Park Avenue and North Atherton Street.

"If the University does not post signs on the Nittany Expressway the way they do for football games, I am worried traffic will go through that corner, which is very narrow," Lavin said.

Hess said University representatives were absent because the University has never been under zoning ordinances of the local municipalities in which its property lies.

The Planning Commission will send its recommendations in a memo to the council, but Everett said the council may not have much time to look over the memo.

"Since the University would like to have the recommendations back by March 11, I think (the council) will just look it over," Everett said.