Borough Council plans town center meetings

State College Borough Council authorized the meetings of five local organizations last night to discuss the planning strategies for a new downtown civic center on the 200 block of South Allen Street.

The firms of John C. Haas Associates, Inc. and L. Robert Kimble & Associates Architects and Engineers, along with borough staff, the borough solicitor and the Centre Region Council of Governments, will meet to prepare the center, which will be built on the 20,925 square feet of land the township purchased.

Council heard a presentations from Larry Bickford, president of the Haas-Kimble firm, and Bob Davis, an associate in the firm. The two explained their strategy for developing the center.

Possible uses include public meeting space, community centers, fine arts galleries and music space, borough parking, a visitor's center and a borough information center, they said. Possible tenants include borough offices, the University, Schlow Memorial Library and police or COG offices.

Davis called it "one-stop government shopping."

Input from community members is necessary for the plans to run smoothly, Davis added.

"There's something that needs to be bridged between the borough and the municipalities," he said. "We have the opportunity for a successful project downtown, just like The Bryce Jordan Center was successful."

Bickford added, "We'll see how we can move forward for the Centre region and the community," noting that public input about the center was "vital."

The Haas-Kimble firm's proposal includes ideas for what the building would be used for, potential tenants and users of the center, a preliminary budget with financing alternatives and a tentative schedule of development. The schedule would include means by which to educate the community about the center.

The public education component of the proposal would include informing the community about the development of the center through mediums like community forums and media releases.

"We want (the new center) to carry the campus down into town," Davis added.

-by Brooke Sample