The recommended location for a new downtown bus terminal was rejected yesterday by the State College Planning Commission, after it determined that the Garner Street location would not benefit the community.

Synergy Real Estate Corporation, a consultant hired by the borough, recommended in early February that the northwest corner of the Garner Street and East Beaver Avenue intersection as the site for the new bus terminal.

The new terminal would replace the current Greyhound Bus station, 152 N. Atherton St., which has to relocate because of Penn State's plans to further west campus development.

Proximity to students and Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) bus route accessibility were the commission's two top priorities when discussing an alternative for the Garner Street site.

"Students are the primary users," Borough Planning Director Carl Hess said. "I think those [CATA bus routes] are critical in getting people to the bus depot."

Traffic congestion, air quality and financial capabilities of the borough were among the concerns discussed.

"Garner Street is already congested and is the most expensive site," Planning Commission member Donald Hahm said.

Hess said the Planning Commission was looking for a location that was beneficial for the community that was also fiscally possible.

Members of the Planning Commission also discussed and rejected two other sites because of their downtown locations: the corner of High Street and East College Avenue and the corner of West College Avenue and North Atherton Street.

Planning Commission member Bill Ryan said one of the reasons he eliminated the three downtown sites was because of diesel air pollution.

Ryan, also an Earth and Mineral Science department research assistant, said the diesel emissions given off by the buses were classified as "primary emissions," which means people immediately breathe in the fumes from the tailpipe of the bus.

"It does affect the local population," he said. "Put it somewhere so you don't expose a whole lot of people."

Planning Commission member Ron Madrid said he would like to revisit a few sites that had been previously eliminated in the northeast part of campus.

"They're more or less centered around Beaver Stadium," he said. "It's closer to the dorms on that side of campus anyway."

Madrid added that most of the sites were on CATA routes.

Borough Council member Elizabeth Goreham said that when Synergy was initially hired, it took an approach toward economic development, which was not what the first report had focused on.

"The original report heavily identifies what the users wanted," she said.

Goreham, also the committee chair for the project, said the locations that would be best suited for economic development, such as the downtown locations, were also the least user-friendly.

"It's not a harmonious linkage," she said. "They have to be uncoupled."

Ryan said a location on White Course Drive and North Atherton Street should not be ruled out either.

"It's not so much a specific location, but as long as it's on the Loop ring, it would service the students," he said.