State College Borough – �鶹��Ƶ

Tenant Discrimination in Housing Related Matters

Ada Inman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:27:55 +0000

In this project, the student worked with State College Borough on investigating claims of tenant and housing discrimination, analyze current policies regarding housing, and determine any gaps in current policies or ordinances period from that research the student plans to establish a clear set of ways to bridge these gaps in knowledge or in justice and determine goals and outcomes to disseminate information.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Emily Vargo
Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Policy
eav5053@psu.edu

Residential Pollinator Garden Guide for State College Borough

Ada Inman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:22:21 +0000

The town of State College is in the process of providing its residence with detailed guidance on promoting pollinators through pollinator gardening approaches and habitat. Students are asked to provide recommendations specific to the State College geography for the establishment of pollinator habitat/gardens in State College residential neighborhoods, including native plants materials, guidance on planting and maintenance of pollinator gardens and its footprint to curtain overgrown areas.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Heather Karsten, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Crop Production / Ecology
hdk3@psu.edu
814-863-3179

Housing Burden and Health in State College Borough

Ada Inman — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 17:17:54 +0000

State College Borough is home to a significant transient population consisting of many students who live off campus. This has created a strong demand for rental housing that has resulted in ever increasing rents. This in turn have displaced low-income workers in the Borough. The Borough of State College is interested in data relating to the affordability of rental properties in the borough, trends in the rental market, and discrimination as experienced by students and other tenants. For this project, student develop and test a survey tool to collect the appropriate data to better understand the rental market in State College.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Louisa Holmes
Associate Professor of Geography and Demography
lmholmes@psu.edu
814-865-1596

Creating an Arts and Culture District in State College Borough

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:13:21 +0000

The Borough of State College does not have a designated arts organization or a cultural district. Instead, art and cultural activities are managed by a variety of organizations, including a well-established arts festival (Arts Fest) in the summer, a number of non-profit and/or Penn State owned venues, and regional organizations. State College would like to create an Arts & Culture District downtown to improve local quality of life, to strengthen community, and to celebrate the arts, and they’ve recently hired a staff person to help make this happen. As the borough develops its plan for such a district, they would like to learn from the experience of other college- and university towns which have implemented Arts & Culture districts, particularly on how those other communities gained public input and developed a vision for the district, the specific steps the communities took to create their Arts & Culture district, and how they financed the start-up and operation of this.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info
University Faculty Contact
Timothy Kelsey, Ph.D.
Professor of Agricultural Economics
Email tkelsey@psu.edu
814-865-9542

Lunch and Learn Analysis for State College Borough

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:08:42 +0000

The Borough of State College has been working on a variety of initiatives to better engage residents with the borough, and to help build community across age groups, neighborhoods, and town & gown. One initiative they’re considering is hosting a regular Lunch & Learn gathering that would bring residents, borough employees, and others together to help strengthen such community connections. The borough would like suggestions for how such a program should be implemented, including potential topics and partners, promotion, frequency, and how to evaluate its success. A team of students developed suggestions for how the Borough could implement a community-building Lunch and Learn program, which could include case studies of other successful communities or programs.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Timothy Kelsey, Ph.D.
Professor of Agricultural Economics
Email tkelsey@psu.edu
814-865-9542

Tenant-Landlord Resources in State College Borough

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 20:02:25 +0000

The State College Borough would like to explore possible approaches to helping reduce tenant and landlord conflicts and is interested in learning how other communities address these issues. They’re especially interested in learning about other communities’ experiences with holding workshops for tenants and/or landlords, and the best practices for doing so. In addition, they’re interested in learning about experiences of communities which have a housing ombudsman program, and/or a housing or tenants resource center. A team of students identified communities which proactively address tenant and landlord issues, and develop case studies about what those communities do, the effectiveness of those efforts, and how these are financed, most ideal from another university towns or otherwise have a relatively large population of young renters.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Timothy Kelsey, Ph.D.
Professor of Agricultural Economics
Email tkelsey@psu.edu
814-865-9542

Improving Westerly Parkway Wetlands

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 19:12:48 +0000

The Westerly Parkway wetland/detention basin at the intersection of Atherton and Westerly Parkway, was created to remediate the runoff from adjacent impervious surfaces. It was designed to provide education and as a greenspace for residents to explore unless water levels made the pathways unusable. With the new construction of the high school and associated developments in the area, many of the preexisting conditions have changed. The Borough seeks a better understanding of the conditions affecting and updated solutions for the wetland/detention pond due to recent construction and changing environment, including but not limited to updates to existing mapping to reflect new construction and inflows, calculations to estimate hydrologic characteristics including current and potential future conditions/design, and articulation of a potential future vision for the wetland that considers hydrology, water quality, and other ecosystem functions.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Lauren McPhillips
Assistant Professor
lxm500@psu.edu
814-865-4564

Envisioning a Vibrant Downtown State College: Interpreting the SDGs Through Parking Garages Mural Art

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 18:58:10 +0000

State College Borough aspires to establish a vibrant art and cultural district in the downtown area, while also advancing its ambitious sustainability goals. To that end, an artistic and graphic interpretation of the SDGs has been considered in various applications. Most recently, borough leadership noted mural art applications inside parking garages in towns of similar size and demographic (i.e., East Lansing, MI) and they would like to explore an application in the Fraser Street Garage in downtown State College. The design should brighten the interior space of the garage and should help parking customers get better oriented in the garage. Utilizing the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as a guide to themes and colors provides an excellent connection to the Borough’s sustainability efforts.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Phil Choo
Professor of Graphic Design
pchoo@psu.edu

Huiwon Lim
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
hjl5360@psu.edu

Stormwater Management in State College

Ada Inman — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 16:42:01 +0000

State College experienced a local street flooding issue at the intersection of Glenn Road and Taylor Street in the Borough. The street flooding did not occur during every rain event, only during heavier rainfall. The borough planned to have the pipe sections televised to verify the condition of the pipes and pipe sizes. Some drainage calculations were needed to be made to see how much water is coming to this area. The calculations along with actual field conditions would help determine if additional pipe capacity and/or inlets will need to be added. Students examined the issues and other observations to fine tune the project description in the fall 2024 semester and addressed mitigation design recommendations during the spring semester 2025.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact

Jeffrey Catchmark

Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, and Bioethics

jcatchmark@engr.psu.edu

814-863-0414

Solar Feasibility Analysis for State College Borough

Ada Inman — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 21:09:00 +0000

The State College Borough owns a large area of land adjacent to its composting operation, other commercial operations and just south of I-99. It is assumed that this area will not be developed for residential purposes and therefore may provide an ideal site for ground mount solar. This project should include a detailed analysis if the site, maximum capacity for solar and how it may supplement energy use by the borough. This consideration may have to include recommendations for co-locating certain municipal operations on the site as it is believed that the site is beyond the distance usually allotted for solar to offset energy use. The project should therefore highlight limitations and opportunities of solar at this site.

State College would also like to explore how to best utilize small lots for solar. The first lot is a circular, slightly raised site at Waupelani Dr and Aiken Place. The site is maintained by the Borough and surrounded by small single family homes. The appearance of solar at this site will be of utmost concern to adjacent residents and students should consider how to best mitigate the visual appearance of solar. The second lot is off University Drive adjacent to a fast-food establishment and the waste water treatment plan. Both sites are confronted with the overall question of cost versus utility. These explorations are critical as small size lots maybe frequent opportunities if solar is feasible.

Sustainable Communities Collaborative Contact Info

University Faculty Contact
Nelson Y. Dzade
Assistant Professor of Energy and Mineral Engineering
nxd5313@psu.edu
(814) 867-4227