Circleville Farm for now remains a refreshing piece of green space, while its fate is put on hold. The university has pulled up on the reins of the process that would have sent home developers onto the land without much competition from alternative ideas.

But as today's planned presentation by the College of Agricultural Sciences to the Penn State Board of Trustees will probably indicate, the 175-acre tract of land west of core campus is at a metaphorical crossroads. Basically, the college wants to trade up for land slightly closer to home.

We thank such community leaders as Professor of Biology Chris Uhl for speaking up to ask for a less hasty decision on a piece of university property that's remained fairly open for many years.

The farm was to have been sold to S & A Homes. What with the population growth in the Centre Region, it's easy to understand the appeal of such a buyer. New single homes near State College and Penn State would probably end up being a hot commodity.

But this opportunity calls for more creative approaches. We know this call to action will require some risk and bravery.

We need look only to the Mount Nittany Conservancy for an example of a community-wide effort to preserve green space that adds to the quality of life for everyone here. While Circleville Farm doesn't quite have the iconic place of Mt. Nittany in local residents' hearts, it's still worth preserving to some degree.

Realistically, we would like to see some sort of mixed-use plan that would balance the drive to create new places for people to live with the larger public interest of keeping some areas more natural.

With this breathing space, we need leaders to step up to make that kind of dream a reality.