State College Borough Council unanimously accepted the final draft of a market study last night that calls for major revitalization of an area west of Atherton Street.

"All we're doing at this point is accepting that data and making plans to plunge ahead," council member Jeff Kern said.

Council agreed the borough staff should begin working on the study's suggestions and report back with specific recommendations within three months.

The study recommended increasing the number of owner-occupied homes south of West College Avenue between Corl and Atherton streets, after concluding the area was overrun with student housing. Students are increasingly vacating those houses for newer developments, another study concluded.

The study also suggested adding shops along Railroad Avenue on either Sparks or Gill streets, renovating historic housing along West College Avenue and turning Railroad Avenue into a pedestrian link from the area to Penn State's west campus.

Chicago-based Economics Research Associates began the $30,000 study -- a cost split between the borough and Ferguson Township -- last spring after council's decision to prevent a piecemeal approach to patching up the aging West College area, known as the Urban Village, Kern said.

Council may create a redevelopment authority and zoning changes for the area, borough manager Tom Fountaine said.

The borough may also hire another consultant for a master redevelopment plan, as well as work with property owners in the area, he said.

John Simbeck, owner of Gemini Enterprises, 601 W. College Ave., said he thinks council has overlooked small issues, like cleaning roadways, while focusing on "grand" plans like this study suggests.

"Guys, we need to do the little stuff before we do the big stuff," he said, adding that the redevelopment plan could cause unpredictable effects if council isn't cautious.

"We're putting the cart in front of the horse again. Let's be careful when we do it," he said.

In other business, council took public comment on a proposed $26.4 million budget for next year.

Council members designed the budget to increase real estate taxes for large apartment building owners, council member Jim Meyer said, which weren't paying enough for their share of borough services.

Pat Vernon, who owns rental property on Burrowes Street, said he thinks this is unfair.

"It seems like the student renters who live here are having to pay for all of those services," said Vernon, who alleged his expenses would increase 300 percent next year because of budget changes and inflation.

"They cannot continue to just push every expense out onto students," he added outside the meeting.

Vernon did not have an estimate on how much he'd have to raise residents' rent.

The budget would increase property taxes by 2.7 mills, mainly to cover
a $900,000 loss from the business privilege tax, which council repealed in October.

Each mill brings $1 of tax revenue for each $1,000 of a property's assessed value.

Most homeowners, however, would see a slight decrease in property taxes because council approved a homestead exemption act that would exclude the first $25,000 of assessed property value on each owner-occupied home.