At last night's State College Borough Council work session, it was announced that the timeline of the Urban Village revitalization plan would be pushed back about a month and that the original size of the area being revitalized would be reduced.

The Urban Village is an area west of Atherton Street where Penn State students occupy a majority of the houses.

It is bordered on the north by the newly developed West Campus and on the south by Calder Way and downtown State College.

The decision to push the timeline back and reduce the area included in the revitalization plan is primarily due to the decision made by Ferguson Township to not contribute financially to the Urban Village project, Borough Planning Director Carl Hess said.

Hess said the area originally extended to Blue Course Drive.

But without Ferguson Township, the new area will not include land located in the township.

He said that by pushing back the timeline by roughly a month, not too much would be changed in the overall revitalization plan.

"We aren't changing the components of the plan; we are rearranging them," he said.

Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said that Ferguson Township's decision to not participate financially in the project would not be too detrimental to the revitalization plan.

"Clearly it will change the scope of the project, but I don't see this phase of the project being adversely affected," Fountaine said.

Fountaine also said the timeline for the Urban Village revitalization indicates that the planning process will be completed by January 2007.

He said that the new, smaller size of the Urban Village area would be easier to work with.

"The old size was unimaginably large," Fountaine said.

"The new area is much more manageable. By shortening the area and decreasing the scope, we can focus more on the Urban Village area and have more success," he added.

Council member Tom Daubert said that he was frustrated by the fact that the timeline was being pushed back.

He said that so far, not much has been done to improve the Urban Village neighborhood.

"The more I look at this, the less I like it," Daubert said.

"It keeps being pushed out further. Just because Ferguson Township dropped out doesn't mean that we have to extend the timeline," he added.

Daubert added that the timeline for the revitalization plan makes it seem that no action will be taken for the next year and a half.

Council member Don Hahn said that he was "anxious to see some progress" in the Urban Village revitalization plan and that the borough council has been discussing this project for about 15 years.

Council member Jeff Kern said that although he thought it was important to support the project, he was also "frustrated with the timeline."

Fountaine acknowledged that the progress of the plan "has not been very good for a long time."

State College resident John Simbeck suggested that in order to alleviate some of the problems with the timeline of the Urban Village project, the neighborhood itself ought to be renamed to "something more upscale, like campus buffer."

Simbeck said that a new name might provide a new perspective on the project.

Council member Elizabeth Goreham said that she hoped that Ferguson Township might reconsider its decision to not participate financially.

"I would like to convince them to do this together; I want to make sure there is no way we can't work together on this," she said.

She added, "Isn't there any way can sweet talk Ferguson Township into participating with a smaller area?"

Goreham also said that the one-month delay in the timeline of the project did not bother her.

"I don't mind delaying the project, because we want it to be something we are proud of," she said.

"I feel positive about taking the time to do it right," Goreham added.