The State College Borough Council approved conditions for the West Campus Housing Plan for Penn State last night. The vote was unanimous and went without debate.

The approved proposal requires Penn State to obtain the consent of the council before the university can build roads connecting graduate housing and the academic buildings. Council approval would also be required if the university wanted to convert the graduate housing to undergraduate apartments.

Also, Penn State must pay for a traffic light to control the flow of cars at the intersection of Sparks Street and College Avenue if it becomes too congested because of West Campus.

Even though the council approved the proposal, the traffic problems of West Campus came up in other items on the agenda.

The council believes the West Campus expansion could aggravate already heavy traffic in the surrounding area. Members discussed a proposed traffic light at the intersection of Atherton Street and Foster Avenue.

However, council members were not sure if this was the best place to put a light.

"We have to study the whole length of South Atherton from Beaver to Hamilton to determine what effects West Campus would have," Borough Council President Janet Knauer said.

Council members were concerned that putting a traffic light on Atherton Street near West Campus would attract more cars because it could improve driving times by regulating traffic more efficiently than a series of stop signs.

"It would be nice to have a light there for us selfish people to use," council member Jean McManis said. McManis said that she would likely frequent the intersection often once the proposed light is placed.

These comments sparked some discussion about having a pedestrian button to control the light so it would attract less traffic.

The council was asked to approve the construction of the traffic light, but decided to discuss the possibility of conducting a study during a future meeting.

"We could conduct a study on where a light may be on Atherton and what it would cost," council member Catherine Dauler said.

Other possible sites for the light were discussed.

"We should consider putting the light on Hamilton Street because that will meet the warrants and that's where the most accidents occur," council member James Meyer said.

The council ultimately decided to have the staff draft a proposal on where to put the light.

Council member Thomas Daubert joked that the staff could draft a proposal and the council could tear it apart later.

Though construction was temporarily tabled for the light on Atherton Street, the council quickly approved the building of a light at the intersection of College Avenue Ramp A and University Drive.

In a separate decision, the council moved to approve the construction of a new building for the Schlow Memorial Library.