With no outward signs of hard feelings regarding councilman Jim Meyer's defeated petition to stop Council President Janet Knauer from nomination, the State College Borough Council got back to work last night.

The council voted to send a proposed ordinance establishing historical districts, which would include many Penn State fraternities, to the planning commission for further research.

The ordinance, proposed by the Historical Resources Commission, would create a historic district that involves 1,100 properties within the districts of College Heights and Holmes-Foster Highlands.

Making these areas historical districts, however, means that changes to the residences and buildings will need to be approved by the borough, which Borough Manager Peter Marshall said could lead to a lot of red tape for citizens.

Marshall said the ordinance would require every property owner who wants to make a change or repair to the exterior of a home to make an application and appear before a Historical Architectural Review Board for approval. Then, the citizen would have to appear before council to make his or her case for approval.

"Bureaucratically . . . this is a hassle," Marshall said.

Other members of the council agreed and were concerned over the possible ramifications of enforcing the historical districts as well as another organization to oversee it.

"It seems like an intrusion of property," said Mayor Bill Welch. "I want to live in a house I like . . . if I want to do something weird with it, I want to do it."

Historical Resource Committee Chair Jacqueline Melander said the unusual 20th century architecture makes State College's situation unique where "if the board functions properly and provides helpful advice, property value will increase because of the historical preservation."

Some council members and residents argued, however, that the fact that historical districts require compulsory involvement versus being initiated by incentives could result in problems for homeowners.

Art Beward, a State College resident, said he resents the ordinance and having to ask permission to improve his own home.

"I resent having to ask to improve my house and I resent not being given a choice to accept it or not, as a historical property," Beward said.

Beward also said that enacting such an ordinance would be "freezing State College in time" and hindering the town's potential development. Alternatives to the ordinance popped up during the meeting from several council members, including the possibility of disregarding the ordinance altogether and the establishment of a Historical Architectural Review Board.

Marshall said instead of creating a new board and enforcing historical districts where residents may not want to live, emphasis should continue to be placed on the Design Review Board, which suggests changes to owners who are looking to remodel or change their properties.

"Compliance is accomplished through persuasion rather than compulsion . . . property owners become part of the process," Marshall said in last night's agenda.

The council voted to send the ordinance to the planning commission for further discussion. The members plan to receive a progress report from the commission during the council's second meeting in June.

Melander said she was pleased that the decision continued on to the planning commission and said she hopes residents will eventually see the whole picture and how the board will operate if it is established.

"In general, people do know if their neighborhood would be in a historical district," Melander said. "It's not a penalty . . . it's a real advantage."