Borough Council members give their side of the story

The second public hearing on the issue of student housing in the State College borough is coming up Monday, and each State College Borough Council member has strong views on the proposed ordinances.

Tom Daubert, council president

"The only thing you can limit is student housing. I'm considering everything that comes across the table to me. I don't think it's the ideal ordinance."

But Daubert knows there are no simple answers to the housing situation.

"This is a tough problem and we have to come to some conclusion, whether it be positive or negative," he said. "Either we have to do something or drop it."

Don Hahn

Hahn is unsure of how he will vote when the issue comes to the table, most likely in early May.

"I'm still undecided," Hahn said. "I think that in terms of its practical effect on the life of the student, it probably won't have that much."

Hahn, an attorney, is well aware of the legality of the proposals.

"It's a perfectly constitutional thing to do, but just because the Constitution permits us to do it doesn't make it right," he said.

Janet Knauer

"I think the borough has a problem with a continuing eroding tax base, and single family homes are continuing to be converted to student rental properties," Knauer explained. "That's where the loss of wage payers' income for the borough occurs --when wage owners move out and students move in."

Knauer expressed concerns the borough is becoming less diverse.

"The pressure for student housing in neighborhoods surrounding Penn State is causing our neighborhoods to become more and more student populated and we would like to preserve the heterogeneity of the neighborhoods," she said.

Ruth Lavin

"I've seen what I would consider some deterioration in some of the neighborhoods because the student housing is clustered together, and I am very interested in not allowing this to go on any longer," Lavin said. "This proposal is not completely stopping student housing. . . . We want this to be mixed. And when student housing becomes concentrated in one area, the permanent residents abandon the area. That's what we're trying stop. And I don't think that's unreasonable at all."

University President Graham Spanier's letter to the council addressing student concerns troubled Lavin.

"I feel he was pressured by the students to make a statement, and I understand that," she said. "Maybe now Dr. Spanier and the trustees will realize they need to start considering putting more student dormitories on campus."

Richard McCarl

"I feel that the ordinance that is being proposed is not restricting student housing because there's no regulation against the houses that are now designated as student houses," McCarl said. "And it is not restricting housing in that you aren't allowed to have any more."

His concerns rest mainly with how the ordinances would affect permanent residents in the borough.

"I'm concerned of the implication of this ordinance on homeowners. If my neighbor should decide to convert the house to a student house, I'm prohibited from ever renting out the house," he said, referring to the rule that new student homes may be no closer to each other than 224 feet.

"I'm not ready to go back and fight for the ordinance. I'm hoping to listen to suggestions. . . . This is something that will be examined very carefully."

Jean McManis

"We've explored every other option and it appears to be the only one that gives us access to reasonable control," McManis said about the proposals.

But she has her own doubts.

"There are some flaws in the current proposals that have me extremely concerned and I would like to see them resolved so I can vote for this in good conscience," she said.

"Another deep concern I have is that the restrictions will make it very difficult for the people that we're trying to protect -- the permanent resident wage earners."

"You are a property owner, and you rent it to a student couple, and they do the right thing and graduate, and they stay here. Do you turn them out and keep your privilege to rent to students?" she asked. "It's going to be a matter of trying to be fair, really fair to everybody."

Jerry Wettstone

"I'm very much in favor of (the proposals)," Wettstone said, "because they have an objective to protect the future of our residential neighborhoods, which has been a number one planning issue since 1989, since we had our neighborhood preservation plan introduced to the community, and we've been looking for an approach to looking at our neighborhood planning.

"There's been a lot of proposals through the years in an attempt to protect our neighborhoods. I think this is a greater proposal."

Wettstone had his own take on Spanier's letter.

"I thought it was appropriate for him to send," he said. "I also noted that there was a tone in there that he respected the right of borough council to make its own decisions to protect the future of our neighborhoods."