New name for housing ordinance
RENU takes the place of PENU

By LISA HAARLANDER
Collegian Staff Writer

The State College Planning Commission and its non-voting community representatives are working on a new plan to solve rental problems.

The new proposal, RENU (pronounced renew), stands for Ratio, Enforcement, Neighbors and University. Instead of limiting the number of rental permits as in the old PENU plan, RENU uses a ratio of rental properties to owner-occupied properties to control rental housing, Chairman Peter Everett said.

RENU would limit rental properties on a block-face basis. Each side of a block would have a certain percent of homes that could be rental units. The commission has not determined any percentages, but Everett said they would be based on an area's zoning. The plan may allow more than three unrelated people per unit in high-denisty residential areas such as the urban village, he said.

"The idea would be to begin putting restrictions on the number of houses being converted to rental units," Planning Director Carl Hess said. "It would disperse the proportion of rental properties throughout the community."

Mike King, Undergraduate Student Government president and a non-voting member on the planning commission, said that block-face percentages discriminate against students.

"The block-face plan is just a nice way of saying we're going to discriminate against students and say only certain numbers can live in certain areas," he said.

The second part of the plan deals with enforcing ordinances. The commission may also create a new ordinance that would hold property owners responsible for disorderly tenants who repeatedly tax community resources, such as the police. The borough would fine owners for the cost of municipal services, and police would prosecute the actual violators separately, Hess said.

The third part of the plan encourages neighbors to solve problems. One solution is for neighbors to call a hotline to report problem houses. Neighbors could also form agreements

with each other about how and to whom they rent, but these arrangements would be private and not involve the borough.

The fourth aspect of the plan includes having the University educate students. The commission is also investigating whether the University can take disciplinary action against students who violate laws off campus.

The Office of Judicial Affairs already takes action against students who commit serious crimes, such as murder or rape, but could not handle students who violate noise ordinances or alcohol laws, director Donald Suit said.

The office handles about 3,000 cases a year and Suit estimated that trying to enforce additional laws would generate a 1,000 more cases each year.

Suit said the office does not have enough resources to handle the additional cases and because of that personnel shortage, the office could be held liable for merely reacting to violations instead of enforcing laws.

"The University can't enforce regulations off campus because we don't have the resources," he said. "We can't be the police force for the entire world."

The commission and the four non-voting members will meet again on March 17 to discuss the rental problem. Hess said the commission plans to present a conceptual approach to the problem to the borough council in April and then work out a practical plan.