There is little disagreement over the fact that parking is an issue in downtown State College.

There is some disagreement, however, about the best methods to fix the problem.

As apartment complexes reach higher into the sky, borough officials must address the need for parking spaces without turning the downtown area into a massive lot. Methods like parking garages and long-term planning may seem like no-brainer methods, but both require money.

As recently as September, the State College Borough Council approved the construction of a 525-space parking garage at the intersection of Beaver Avenue and Fraser Street, costing the borough about $16 million.

Now, the borough has given itself another opportunity to generate funds through a special option in which residential developers would pay a fee of $18,750 per parking space they choose not to build on site.

This practice is called in-lieu parking and means that residential developers can contribute money to a borough in-lieu parking fund rather than build all required parking spaces.

As long as 90 percent of required parking is built on site, developers can pay the borough $18,750 per space for the remaining 10 percent instead of providing the spaces at the location. "If you need 100 parking spaces, the developer has to put 90 of those spaces on site," Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said.

Last week, the council voted to reinstate the practice of in-lieu parking, an issue that has come and gone in State College for the last six years.

Fountaine said that at one time, all residential parking could be paid as in lieu. Then, council voted to eliminate all options of in-lieu fees for residential development. After policies of "all or nothing" for several years, the council, in a 4-2 vote, is back to allowing limited in-lieu parking fees.

All funds generated from in-lieu parking fees will go toward reducing traffic congestion downtown, creating new parking facilities or improving existing parking options, Fountaine said.

Council member Cathy Dauler, who voted in favor of reinstating in-lieu parking, said she did not expect the option to have a significantly negative effect on student housing complexes.

"Back in the olden days, when the really large apartment buildings were built on Beaver Avenue, the requirement for parking there was half a space per apartment," she said. "I don't foresee that [in-lieu parking fees] will cause more problems for students."

For council member Elizabeth Goreham, the decision to vote against in-lieu parking was the result of two separate issues. The measure does not complement the goals set by the borough's downtown vision plan, which aims to increase commercial development and professional housing to strengthen the borough's tax base, she said.

Instead, in-lieu fees give developers an incentive to continue building large apartment complexes, Goreham added.

"We are not even receiving as much in taxes as we had budgeted for this year," she said.

Also, students have come to expect sufficient parking at their apartment site, Goreham said.

"I think people like to park where they live," she said.

Council member Tom Daubert said he voted for the proposal because surveys have shown that for most apartments, only two-thirds of provided spaces are actually rented to tenants.

"A lot of students don't rent in the apartment complexes because it's more expensive there than if they rented two blocks down the street," he said.