Talks are continuing between the Ferguson Township Planning Commission and Melham Associates over the rezoning of a 172-acre tract of land owned by the university.
Circleville Farm, located to the west of Penn State's campus along West College Avenue on Circleville Road, is currently zoned as Rural Agricultural (RA), but John Melham of Melham Associates has applied to rezone the area to become low-density residential (R-1).
Trisha Lang, Ferguson Township planning director, said Rural Agricultural areas in Ferguson Township are restricted to one home for every 50 acres, and a subdivision of one lot.
She added that R-1 areas allow for single-family detached houses and the smallest possible lot is 10,000 square feet.
The Lezzer/Haubert Partnership, which bought the land nearly a year ago on the condition that it would be rezoned, contracted Melham Associates to develop the property.
Lang said the rezoning issue would not be on the township's meeting agenda for several weeks.
She said that early next year, the updates to the Centre Region Comprehensive Plan and the ACT 537 Plan, a regional sewage plan, will be assessed by the region's townships.
"In order to do a thorough evaluation [of the Circleville issue], we felt it would be more appropriate to wait until after [the assessment] was done," she said.
She said all parties involved have reached a negotiating stalemate.
"The applicants are on hold with their proposal," she said. "They wanted to rethink some things."
Melham said they are still looking to continue the project.
"We wanted to review certain things. We believe we have a good case for rezoning. We took a pause at the request of the planning director," he said.
"Our lawyers expect to meet with them [the township planning committee] shortly," he added. The university has used Circleville Farm as a hands-on learning environment for agriculture students, but it was put up for sale in September 2002.
"The area itself has become surrounded by developed land. The size of the parcel itself is not suitable for the type of work we do," Penn State spokesman Tysen Kendig said. "We have three times as much land near the University Park airport for practical agricultural use."
Due to public opposition regarding the sale of the property, the sale was delayed in November 2002.
Several proposals for the sale were placed under review last November. The farm was sold to the Lezzer/Haubert Partnership at the November 2003 Board of Trustees meeting for $2.9 million. The university will relinquish its ownership on the condition that the land is rezoned.
Plans for the rezoned land include an aquatic center, a six-lane swimming pool, children's play area and volleyball courts maintained by the Centre Region. Single-family homes, townhouses and duplexes are also planned for the area.
