Commission, municipalities to review plan

By JOEL MYERS
Collegian Staff Writer

The Centre Regional Planning Commission discussed the proposed University Planned District Friday and decided to hold individual hearings in each municipality before adopting the proposed plan.

The planned district is a proposed ordinance that would allow the university to follow its own zoning and subdivision criteria rather than adhering to municipal rules, said Robert Bini, regional director of the Centre County Planning Agency.

"We have made a significant amount of progress in the last six months in terms of trying to make this more closely meet the needs and desires of the municipalities as they have expressed them throughout," Bini said. "Hopefully we can move closer to get them an acceptable plan."

The planned district contains parts of College, Ferguson and Patton townships and State College Borough, each of which must adopt the planned district before the commission votes on it. The municipalities have received a model ordinance that would make the zoning code uniform for all Penn State's property holdings, regardless of their location.

Each municipality will review the model and the commission will discuss adopting the planned district at its April meeting.

The model ordinance, as presented to the commission Friday, would provide the basic regulations and parameters for zoning for the university, Bini said. It also would contain the requirements for the submission, review and approval of land development or subdivisions.

Adoption of the ordinance will require amendments to municipal zoning, subdivision and development ordinances, he said.

The most recent revisions to the plan have focused on greater consistency with Penn State's proposed campus Master Plan, said Charlie Brueggebors, Penn State representative for the Centre Regional Planning Commission.

Revisions also have focused on limiting general and designated uses in certain subdistricts, such as accommodations for leasing property for third-party and specialized uses, he added.

Areas that have boundaries shared with other districts, called transitional areas, will require consideration as to their impact on neighboring districts, Bini said. For example, special considerations, including building height and open-space regulations, will protect residential areas located close to campus.