COG Recommends Modifying Regional Parks Loan

The Centre Region Council of Governments on Monday passed a resolution recommending that the Centre Region Parks and Recreation Authority modify the regional parks loan.

The $7.6 million loan was first taken in 2011 with Fulton Bank to fund the Oak Hall and Whitehall Road regional parks project and the terms required that it be used by June 1. The proposed modification — the fifth time the loan has been amended — will extend the loan to June 1, 2020 at a lower interest rate. The authority will meet Wednesday to vote on moving forward with the modification.

Phase 1 of the Oak Hall project has been completed and the remaining $4.8 million of the loan is designated for Phase 1 of the Whitehall Road project. The COG resolution stipulates of construction contracts are not executed in one year, the loan will be revisited.

The resolution passed 19-4, with Ferguson Township supervisors Laura Dininni and Peter Buckland and State College Borough Council members Janet Engeman and David Brown voting no.

Dininni said not all municipalities have been able to have an open dialogue about options for the loan or underlying issues, objecting to limiting discussion strictly to the proposed loan modification. She said plans call for amenities at Whitehall Road to be supported by third parties through a memorandum of agreement that would give them priority use rights, and that issues such as that should be part of the discussion.

During public comment, Katherine Watt of State College was critical of what she said was a lack of open discussion.

‘I’ve been watching this process since last summer and it has been one series after another of shutting down open discussion at this particular body,’ Watt said. ‘It’s a travesty of representational democratic process.’

State College Borough Council member Theresa Lafer spoke in favor of the modification, noting that it doesn’t change anything financially for the municipalities.

‘Financially it doesn’t have a direct impact at the moment on any of us because it’s just the direct continuation of a loan with a yearlong option to see something get done. If not we can address it again,’ she said. ‘Bottom line, unless the community truly does not want this, which doesn’t seem to be the case, economically we are at a point we can save money on a loan to have something the community said they wanted very much when we started this.’

Lafer added that better oversight was needed because ‘things have not moved smoothly for a variety of reasons’

On May 11, the COG finance committee and parks capital committee and the Parks and Recreation Authority held a joint meeting to discuss either modifying the loan or ending it and undertaking a new one when major issues surrounding the Whitehall Road project are resolved. Members who opposed said they did not think interest should be paid on a loan with an uncertain start date.

A major reason for the uncertainty with the project has been the ongoing litigation over the proposed Toll Brothers development of The Cottages at State College, which would neighbor the park. After Ferguson Township supervisors approved in November 2015 the Planned Residential Development plan, a group of nearby landowners concerned that stormwater runoff from the project would harm the Harter-Thomas well fields appealed to Centre County Court of Common Pleas on the grounds that the supervisors committed an error of law and abuse of discretion in approving the plan.

Judge David Grine denied Toll Brothers motion to quash the appeal in January 2016 and in July ruled the supervisors had committed an error of law. Toll Brothers appealed and last week Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court vacated Grine’s decision and reversed the ruling on the motion to quash.

The development could potentially have provided for the access road and utilities for the regional park, but it still remains unclear if it will move forward.

For the members concerned about the uncertainty of the project, the stipulation was added that the general forum would revisit the loan in one year if construction contracts are not executed and the loan not drawn down.

Chris Gibbons of Concord Public Finance was hired to negotiate the terms with Fulton Bank.

In addition to extending the final draw date, the fixed interest rate will be reduced from 2.80 percent to 2.59 percent through 2022 and the authority will draw an additional $167,798 on the loan and place the proceeds in a deposit account at Fulton Bank. There is no change in maturity date or guarantees.

“I think this proposal is a fair proposal to the COG and authority,” Gibbons said.

The amount of money municipalities contribute to repay the loan will be about the same as their current commitment, COG Executive Director Jim Steff said.