Student-Housing Request Gains Traction in College Township

Without dissent, the College Township Council agreed Thursday to consider zoning changes that would enable a 22-acre student-housing development.

The development, called The Retreat, would be bounded by Waupelani Drive to the north and West Whitehall Road to the south. Landmark Properties, of Athens, Ga., has a contract to buy the undeveloped acreage from a New York-based holding group, but only if the township adopts zoning changes to allow the development concept.

To make the development financially feasible, project attorney John Williams told council members Thursday night, the developer would need the ability to house a maximum of four to five unrelated occupants in individual dwelling units.

They’re designed as relatively upscale, craftsman-style cottages. The proposal calls for 129 dwelling units in total, with an overall development density that’s 24 percent less dense than the maximum development allowed on the land, Williams said.

But current township zoning allows for no more than three unrelated tenants in each rental dwelling unit. The Landmark group has asked the council to adopt an amendment that would allow exceptions in areas zoned for planned residential development — the zoning designation sought for The Retreat.

Council members appeared generally receptive to the idea. Said member Dan Klees: ‘I’m intrigued; I like the layout and the style of the architecture.’

Mary Shoemaker, who chairs the council, called the idea ‘one of the more interesting development plans that I’ve seen in a while.’

‘I think the fact that each bedroom has its own bathroom makes it stand out,’ she said. She indicated it’s important that each dwelling unit have only one tenant per bedroom — a rule that Williams has said Landmark would enforce.

Council members voted unanimously to have the township staff ‘investigate potential language changes’ in zoning that would allow the project, and to bring those changes forward soon for council consideration.

After the vote, West Whitehall Road resident Jeff Flood stepped forward for a chance to speak. Shoemaker apologized and acknowledged that she should have opened the floor for public input before the council voted on the measure. She allowed Flood to address the council.

‘I like the plan,’ he said. ‘(But) not in my back yard.’

Flood said the project, which would bring more than 500 Penn State students to that part of town, is ‘a huge concern’ for his neighborhood.

‘It’s definitely going to affect us,’ he said. ‘Noise, lighting, traffic — it’s definitely going to affect this neighborhood.’

He said that he and his neighbors will probably end up selling their homes if the project moves forward. Flood suggested that the area is more appropriate for ‘housing for professionals and people like that.’

No other immediate neighbors of the proposed development site spoke at Thursday’s council meeting. Williams said the developer understands the desire for a buffer between The Retreat and nearby residents, ‘and we’re fully prepared to address it.’

‘We did try to be sensitive’ in tentatively planning the project, he said. He emphasized that the developer believes the development ‘actually pulls kids out of existing single-family neighborhoods’ where they rent houses now.

A relatively small portion of The Retreat, right along Waupelani Drive behind Westerly Parkway Plaza, would be in the borough. But that part of the project fits with current borough zoning and would require no zoning  changes.

The sole entrance to the development would be off of Waupelani Drive, in the borough, with private roadways leading to residential buildings in the township. Ideally, the developer has indicated, it’d like to open the complex by 2013.

In other news at the Thursday township council meeting:

• Members voted unanimously to alter the zoning on 4.7 acres of the University Park campus. The area, along University Drive near Curtin Road, is where Penn State plans to build the Pegula Ice Arena. However, the land had not been zoned for athletic-facility uses. The council decision Thursday will now allow those uses. Aside from brief comments by township officials, no one spoke at a public hearing on the matter.

• Township Manager Adam Brumbaugh reported that the state Department of Transportation has issued a Highway Occupancy Permit for road work at South Atherton Street and West Branch Road. The move clears the path for roadway improvements that will enable redevelopment at the former South Ridge Motor Inn site, which has been in the works for several years. Brumbaugh said the developer should be able to proceed rapidly now with permit applications for the project. Features at the 9.5-acre site — to be called South Ridge Plaza — are expected to include a Sheetz, a car wash, office space and a restaurant.

Earlier coverage

• Penn State Ice Arena to Require Zoning Change (Jan. 27, 2011)

• Student-Housing Proposal Gaining Consideration in College Township (Feb. 16, 2011)

• Higher-End Student Housing Proposed for Waupelani Drive Area (Jan. 31, 2011)