Council to decide Highlands rezoning

After months of arguing and hearing opinions from residents, the State College Borough Council will vote tonight on the future of the Highlands neighborhood.

The council has been considering the rezoning of the Highlands neighborhood since the State College Planning Commission brought forth the rezoning plan in late 1997. Since then, the council has held two public hearings on the issue and has discussed the issue during numerous other council meetings.

The proposed zoning amendments would lessen the future population density of the neighborhood by allowing fewer large developments to be built. Several R-3 and RO districts would become R-2, R3-H and RO-A districts if the amendments are passed.

• R-2, residential district for single-family homes or duplexes.
  

• R-3, same guidelines as R-2 with the addition of fraternity and sorority houses and multifamily dwellings not exceeding six units permitted.
  

• R3-H, same guidelines as R-3, except multifamily dwellings cannot exceed four units. The purpose of this district is to provide a density transition between the R-2 and R-3 districts.
  

• RO, residential office district that permits everything encompassed in R-3 with the addition of offices, rooming houses and other small-scale businesses.
  

• RO-A, same guidelines as RO, except a multiunit building may only have three units and must not exceed two bedrooms per unit.
  

Council member Elizabeth Goreham said 202 homes would be affected by the zoning amendments. About 156 of those are student-occupied homes while 19 are owner-occupied homes, Goreham said. Of the total, 148 are registered as historic homes.

Goreham said she knows students like to live in houses in the Highlands and she does not want to see them leave.

Because the University is accepting more students to the University Park campus each year without increasing student housing on campus, Goreham said she sympathizes with the students.

"They're innocent victims of the squeeze between the town and the University," Goreham said.

However, Goreham said she wants to protect the "essence" of the Highlands neighborhood by stopping it from becoming an "apartment city."

Council President Jean McManis said she's not sure how the vote will turn out tonight.

"We've all worked very hard on this," McManis said. "There's one thing we have in common -- we all have a deep and straightforward conviction and eagerness to do the right thing."