At last night's State College Borough Council meeting, the council unanimously approved the renewal plan of the Downtown State College Improvement District and ratified the appointments made to the Urban Village steering committee.
The Downtown Improvement District (DID) is responsible for street cleaning teams that remove debris from storefront doorways, as well as gum and dirt from sidewalks. It is also responsible for many downtown events, such as the holiday street lighting ceremony, the annual Fall Festival, Santa's workshop, the Outdoor Film Series and summer concerts.
In a joint venture with Penn State, the DID is also responsible for the LionCash program, which helps bring student business to stores downtown.
Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said that the DID contract was designed to be terminated after a five-year period ending on Dec. 31.
He said the plan was always for the DID program to be evaluated after the initial five years and renewed if all goes well.
Fountaine added that the approval of the plan is the third step in a four step process of continuing the contract of the DID, and the fourth step would be when the council enacts the ordinance reauthorizing the DID.
The Urban Village steering committee will work with the contractors of the Urban Village project and provide insight throughout the plan, Fountaine said.
The Urban Village is the neighborhood west of Atherton Street the council hopes to rejuvenate by bringing more permanent housing to the area and fixing up homes and buildings that have fallen into disrepair.
Fountaine said the steering committee would include Borough Council members, the State College Planning Commission, representatives from Penn State, property owners in the Urban Village and members of the Off-campus Student Union.
Council members Ron Filippelli and Don Hahn, planning commission member Silvi Lawrence and Penn State representative, Gordon Turow, director of campus planning and development, will be on the committee.
In the mayor's report, State College Mayor Bill Welch appointed members to the borough's redevelopment authority.
He said the authority might come into play with issues regarding
the proposed Fraser Centre and
the Urban Village Redevelopment Plan.
The five members appointed to the redevelopment authority were Eliza Pennypacker, Rhonda Johannesen, Duane Bullock, Vicki Fong and Steven Herb.
Also in his report, Welch suggested renaming the borough street Harley Alley as a memorial to Tom Shade, the longtime borough resident and "unofficial greeter of Happy Valley" who died earlier this fall.
Welch suggested naming the alley Shade Way out of respect for him.
