West End Continues to Meet Controversy

It began in the 1990s as a way to encourage more mixed-use neighborhoods on the west side of State College. But zoning controversy and constant public outcry poisoned its development for more than a decade.

Now, with fresh zoning issues emerging in both State College borough and neighboring Ferguson Township, some officials think it’ll be another decade before the West End Revitalization Plan is fully completed.

‘I’ve been here seven years and it’s been on the agenda the entire time,’ State College borough Manger Tom Fountaine said. ‘It’s not surprising it’s taken this long.’

At a recent Borough Council meeting, $2.5 million was tentatively appropriated for a series of smaller developments on the west end as part of a Capital Improvement Plan. The plan will focus on more public projects such as parks and transportation throughout the next five years.

Additional work may include the installation of more benches and trash receptacles throughout the west end, defined as the West College Avenue area that’s situated west of Atherton Street.

But even with council’s approving preliminary appropriations, there is still controversy surrounding the plan.

About a year ago, the State College Planning Commission presented council with its zoning plan for the west end, which would have allowed five- to seven-story apartment buildings. Council was not happy. And neither were residents.

‘The main problem was over density,’ Fountaine said. ‘Zoning is a very controversial thing. … It doesn’t prevent things from happening. It allows things to happen.’

Council President Ron Filippelli said council and residents were worried that constructing high-rise buildings would result in an overpopulation of students living in the area — similar to the ‘Beaver Canyon’ area of West Beaver Avenue.

‘The west end is a student neighborhood. It’s always going to be a student neighborhood,’ Filippelli said. ‘If you’re going to try to have non-student housing, you have to have an incentive (for developers). You have to do something new. It’s difficult to zone to get what you want.’

Ferguson Township Planning and Zoning Director Trisha Lang knows all too well the zoning tensions surrounding the west end. While the Borough Council was discussing public improvement plans in State College on Monday, Lang and the Ferguson Township Board of Supervisors were discussing their own set of zoning issues for the immediately neighboring blocks.

The discussion ended with police escorting residents out of the meeting.

‘From their perspective, it’s change, and they’re happy with how their neighborhood is,’ Lang said. ‘Everyone in the community thinks building height equals Beaver Canyon. The two really aren’t related.’

Currently, Ferguson’s proposed zoning requirements for the west-end area would encourage the development of buildings at least 45 feet, or 5 stories, tall. The proposal also would encourage a wider variety of retail and commercial uses in the area, along West College Avenue.

The zoning concept has angered some residents in the township, a number of whom wrote a petition in order to stop the zoning from being passed. However, the petition, which called members of the board thieves, was not received well at Monday’s meeting, Lang said.

‘We’re just frustrated on how to accurately convey what it is we’re trying to achieve,’ she said.

Lang said there will be another work session scheduled to further discuss the zoning issues with residents.

On the State College side, discussion about zoning will most likely begin in July, officials said. From there, no one knows what will happen. But Planning Director Carl Hess is already making predictions.

‘I think council will enact something before the end of the year,’ he said. ‘In the next 12 to 18 months, you’ll start to see developments.’