College Heights Association

College Heights News and Announcements

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Council Recap: Monday, September 8

NOTICE: This message is not an official correspondence from the Borough of State College. The Borough cannot confirm the accuracy of the content of this message.

Hi All,

The zoning revision draft has made its way to a Council agenda! The next two months of Council deliberation on this important subject is crucial, and you — my lovely neighbors and residents of State College — are heavily encouraged to participate. Council met on Monday to, among other things, review a summary of previous Planning Commission/ZRAC action on the zoning draft. Here's a recap. As always (and this reminder is sent with even more importance now), I am speaking in my individual capacity and not speaking on behalf of the full Council as an official report.

After Mayoral proclamations, Council unanimously passed the Consent Agenda:

Payroll for August 2025 (July 2025 was approved on 8/18)
ABC Resignations/Appointments
- Accept Kerry Weisman's resignation from the LGBTQ+ Advisory Commission
- Reassignment of Cat Cook as the Centre LGBT+ representative to the LGBTQ+ Advisory Commission
- Appointment of Peter Aeschbacher to the Planning Commission
  - Peter is an Architecture/Landscape Architecture professor with extensive experience in community revitalization/affordable housing efforts outside of SC
- Appointment of Samuel Conway as the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA)'s representative to Council
  - Samuel is a Senior Schreyer Honors student who has worked with the Lions Caucus, Penn State's student lobbying arm
- Appointment of James Gashler as the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA)'s representative to Council
  - James is a second-year law student and former school board member in Allegheny County, PA
Road Closures/Uses for Special Events
- Sunday, Sept. 14 from 4pm to 8pm: closure of the 300 block of Ridge Avenue for the West College Heights Neighborhood Block Party
- Friday, Sept. 26 from 3:15pm to 8:45pm: closure of Heister Street from College Avenue to Calder Way for the Apollo THON Food Truck Fiesta event
- Monday, Oct. 6 from 8am to 10pm: closure of the 100 block of South Allen Street for the Penn State University Allen Street JAM
- Friday 10/10 from 4pm to Saturday 10/11 at 1am: closure of College Avenue from Garner St. to Burrowes St. and various roads on campus for the Penn State University Homecoming Parade
- Saturdays 10/18, 10/25, 11/1 & 11/15 from 10am to 4pm: approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park for the Penn State Men's Rugby Games
- Sunday, Oct. 19 from 1pm to 4:45pm: use of various sidewalks and streets (Easterly Pkwy, University Dr., Foster Av., more) for the CROP Hunger Walk
- Saturday, June 13, 2026 from 10am to 4pm: use of various streets, sidewalks for the 2026 State College Pride Festival
Award of a contract for the rehabilitation project for Bellaire Court (Borough owned affordable housing for individuals requiring a wheelchair or those over 60) -- $422,900

Council then considered, but eventually tabled, a proposed amendment to the Community Oversight Board (COB) for the State College Police Department. After the second year of operation, the COB is statutorily required to review its operations and provide a report to Council that may include changes to the Board's structure. While there were some grammatical/flow changes, the meat of the proposed changes included removing the word "investigate" from the Board's charter. The COB was never meant to be an investigatory body — only one that would process and review complaints in an alternate setting than the regular Police complaint process. That change did not garner much disagreement from Council, but the main issue on the table was the proposal to remove the specific instructions for the required initial training process from the Ordinance. This would instead require that the training be dictated by the Board's Operating Guidelines. When the COB was first enacted, there was much debate around the inclusion of specific guidelines to be written into the Ordinance (including critical race theory, bias training, etc). On Monday, a majority of Councilmembers thought it best to table these proposed changes to re-evaluate the elimination of the specific instructions for the COB member onboarding training.

Ed LeClear, the Borough's Planning Director, then presented a summary of the zoning revision draft ordinance and a summary of the actions taken to sculpt that draft. There is a new page on the Borough's website that contains the draft ordinance, broken into sections. As for Council action, there will be at least 5 meetings where Council will review the draft ordinance, section by section:

Next Monday, September 15: Regular Council meeting with a presentation and discussion to get to consensus on the Residential districts
Wednesday, September 24: Special Council meeting to wrap up consensus on Residential districts and introduce Downtown and Transitional neighborhoods (including the West End)
Monday, October 6: Regular Council meeting with further presentations and consensus-building on the Downtown and Transitional neighborhoods
Tuesday, October 7: Special Council meeting to wrap up consensus on all feedback to date and to finalize Downtown and Transitional neighborhoods
Optional Wednesday, October 8 Special Council meeting to continue finalization discussion
Monday, October 20: Regular Council meeting to wrap up discussions about other zoning topics and request final revisions

For my part, I want to provide as much information as I can in a neutral way that cannot be construed as official correspondence. I will send another email later this week describing an overview of the draft ordinance's changes for the Residential districts. As Council moves forward to consideration of the Downtown and Transitional neighborhoods, I will send another email with an overview of those proposals.

As aforementioned, this process must be driven by the public — it is imperative. There are multiple ways to get involved. You can attend any or all of the above-mentioned Council review meetings and speak during the public comment section; email zonestatecollege@statecollegepa.us for any further questions or comments; or email Council at sccouncil@statecollegepa.us (or individual Councilmembers by using the first letter of their first name and their last name @statecollegepa.us — example: Josh Portney would be jportney@statecollegepa.us).

C-NET's coverage of the regular meeting can be viewed here: 9/28/25 State College Borough Council.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve and represent you!

Best,

Josh

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Council Recap: Monday, August 11, and Monday, August 18

NOTICE: This message is not an official correspondence from the Borough of State College. The Borough cannot confirm the accuracy of the content of this message.

Hi All,

With more students back in town, the fall is heating up! Council met for a work session and a regular meeting in the last two weeks. Here's a recap. As always, I am sending this in my individual capacity and not sending it on behalf of the full Council as an official report.

At the Work Session, Council reviewed the earlier presented options for the future of the McAllister Deck (2-year and 8-year plan) and Pugh Street Garage (4-year and 10-year plan). The main issue of discussion was whether Council preferred to extend the life of the parking structures or choose to plan for a new parking structure within the next 4 years. Consensus was reached regarding Council's preference to extend the life of the garages until 8 and 10 years of McAllister Deck and Pugh Street respectively. That would allow for more time and flexibility for planning of the construction of a new structure (which would likely be constructed at the McAllister Deck site location). Next steps will include firming up annual maintenance costs to keep McAllister and Pugh alive and well until year 8 and year 10, which will come in budget presentations later. Preliminary estimates were given back in June that extending McAllister for 8 years would cost $637K over the period of time, and extending Pugh for 10 years would cost $1.9 million over that decade. This, if broken down per parking space per year, equates to $365 per space/year for McAllister and $387 per space/year for Pugh.

Next up, Jonathan Risley, the Assistant Chief of Emergency Management, presented the 2025 Centre County Hazard Mitigation Plan, which passed unanimously at the later regular session. This is a countywide plan that anticipates for and provides guidance to minimize losses during any and all emergencies and hazards that could come our way. A requirement from FEMA, this plan was paid for by a grant obtained by the County government -- neither State College nor any of the Centre Region municipalities had to contribute a cent to this plan, but we all benefit. Input from all municipalities was received to help build a comprehensive plan, and sign off from each is helpful so that the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency can review and approve it as well. There were different areas discussed, ranging from cyber insurance recommendations to other highlighted mitigation practices. The 500 page document is available for review online.

At the regular meeting, Council held a public hearing and then unanimously passed an amendment to allow for a change in expenditures of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. As the project to install streetlights and make pedestrian improvements along Waupelani Drive requires some more site location environmental review, staff proposed that $130K of the $191,003.50 originally granted for that project be shifted to a similar project for streetlights and pedestrian improvements along Garner Street downtown. This work will be done by Borough staff, and CDBG funds can be spent on labor costs like this. The remaining $61,003.50 will be shifted towards a project at Out of the Cold, which will help expand the sprinkler system to accommodate more unhoused individuals during emergency times (when the temps drop below 25 degrees). The goals for Centre Safe and Out of the Cold will also be updated to reflect numbers that are more on par with actual annual usage (115 persons and 100 persons).

Council then heard an update from the Nittany Performing Arts Centre project. The project team proposes to construct a multi-story performing arts theatre and parking deck at the site where the Pugh Street Garage currently is. Supported by several performing arts organizations in the area, the building would come with a price tag of more than $135 million, the funding for which would not include SCB taxpayer dollars. With the consensus around extending the lifetime of the Pugh Street Garage, some Councilmembers asked NPAC about alternative site locations, which could be explored.

Finally, the Consent Agenda passed unanimously:

Payroll for August 2025
Road Closures/Adjustments/Uses for Special Events
- Friday, Aug. 29 from 3:15pm to 9:45pm: approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park for the Latinfest Fundraising Event
- Friday, Sept. 12 from 5pm to 8pm: approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park for SCASD Kindergarten Night
- Friday, Sept. 19 from 5:15pm to 10:45pm: closure of Westview Avenue for the Westview Avenue College Heights Block Party
- Fri. 9/19 from 4pm to 9pm and Sat. 9/20 from 6am to 7pm: closure of Fraser Street from College Ave. to the Garage entrance and approval for the use of the MLK Jr. Plaza for the Latin Festival
- Saturday Sept. 20 from 9:45am to 2:45am: various road restrictions/usage along Blue Course and near the West Fairmount neighborhood for the Community Bike Ride
- Sunday, Sept. 21 from 3:15pm to 9:45pm: closure of parts of Holly Alley and High Street for the East Highlands Annual Block Party
- Saturday, Oct. 4 from 6am to 7pm (roads) and 9am to 4pm (plaza): closure of nearby roads and approval for the use of the Bill Welch Plaza for the Downtown Improvement District's Fall Festival
- Saturday, Oct. 18 from 7:45am to 3:45pm: use of sidewalks along University Drive, Waupelani Drive and Allen Street for the State College Friends School Fun Fair and 5K
- Saturday, Oct. 18 from 10am to 6pm: use of nearby roads and approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park for the 2025 An Enchanted Stroll Event
- Thursday, June 4, 2026: approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park for rehearsal and Friday, June 5, 2026: approval for the use of Sidney Friedman Park and closure of nearby roads for the State High Graduation
  - Rain dates: 6/6/2026 and 6/7/2026
Declaring a seat on the LGBTQ+ Advisory Commission vacant (Araya Baker)

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C-NET's coverage of the work session can be viewed: 8/11/25 State College Borough Council Work Session; while their coverage of the regular meeting can be accessed here: 8/18/25 State College Borough Council.

Thank you for reading and for the opportunity to serve and represent you!

Best,

Josh Portney

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