The State College Borough Council and Ferguson Township have recently commissioned a study to discover the feasibility of putting residential housing and businesses amidst student housing in the area of west of Atherton Street, known as the Urban Village.

The study will focus on making zoning recommendations for businesses to move to the area without destroying its residential nature, Borough Planning Commission chairman Art Anderson, said.

Borough planning director Carl Hess said the Urban Village is predominantly student housing.

"We want to see a mix of housing -- not just student housing," he said.

Economic Research Associates, a consulting firm with several U.S. locations, specializes in zoning and municipal economic development and hopes to undertake the study in the next several weeks, Hess said.

"We hope to have recommendations in the hands of the Borough Council by early June," Anderson said.

Discussions of commissioning a market feasibility study have been ongoing for almost a year. "The borough has been struggling with what the Urban Village really means. ... It is the oldest intact residential zone in the borough," Anderson said. Because of the village's history, Anderson said the planning commission wants to revitalize business in the district.

"We want to try to preserve some of that historical character by zoning the area for mixed residential and commercial use," he said.

Anderson said the price of the market feasibility study would be shared by State College and Ferguson Township, with the borough's portion totaling $16,500.

Hess said the borough wants businesses that people can use every day to move to the area. "We can take the study results and modify our zoning regulations in that area to make them more appropriate for commercial use," Hess said.

In the past, the area was primarily an industrial zone, but most of its businesses relocated in the mid-1970s, Anderson said. It then became primarily an area for student housing, he added.

"I'm more interested in improving the physical surroundings of the Urban Village and having a better interface with the university, and I don't think we need a study to do that, but I wasn't opposed to the idea," Planning Commission vice-chairman John Cahir said, adding the study would not solve all of the area's problems. "We need better sidewalks, better crosswalks and Loop connections for the students going to the university," he said.

John Simbeck, owner of Gemini Enterprises, Inc., one of three businesses left in the Urban Village, said he supports the study.

"The borough has made one zoning mistake after another and pushed businesses out. Bad zoning decisions aren't good for anyone," he said. "I really hope the Borough Council will follow the suggestions professionally provided."

State College and Economic Research Associates are currently negotiating the final details of the project and work is expected to begin within a few weeks.