Walkable College Township: A Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan

Adopted Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan & Ordinance O-22-04

At their meeting on Thursday, December 15, 2022, College Township Council adopted Walkable College Township - A Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan along with Ordinance O-22-04, which implements a number of the recommendations outlined within the Plan. The Plan and Ordinance can be downloaded by clicking on the links below:

DRAFT Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan & Proposed Ordinance Revisions

The Draft Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan included below is in the DRAFT form and includes the revisions made as a result of the second public input period and comments received from adjacent municipalities and other key organizations. Additionally, proposed Ordinance O-22-04, which would implement a number of the recommendations outline in the plan is also included below.

The following documents will be available for a Public Hearing on November 17, 2022 at 7:00 PM in the Council Meeting Room on the 2nd floor of the College Township Municipal Building. The Public Hearing will be held immediately prior to the regular meeting of the College Township Council. Council will consider action on both documents at that meeting.

Open House on Proposed Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan on Thursday, October 27, 2022

College Township will held a Public Open House on Walkable College Township - A Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan on Thursday, October 27th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. The Open House was held in the Council Meeting Room on the 2nd floor of the College Township Municipal Building. The public was invited to attend, view the plan mapping and learn more about the recommendations and implementation strategies set forth in the proposed plan.

On November 17, 2022 at 7:00 PM, College Township Council will convene a Public Hearing on the proposed Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan and associated ordinance revisions. Council will consider action on the proposed plan and ordinance revisions during their regular meeting, which will occur immediately following the Public Hearing.

Questions regarding the Open House or the development of the proposed Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan can be directed to Mike Bloom, Assistant Township Manager at mbloom@collegetownship.org or 814-272-1093.

Second Public Input Period - Closed on Thursday, October 13, 2022.

Since 2020, College Township has been developing Walkable College Township – A Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan. This plan aims to build upon the foundation laid by the Township’s 2018 Sidewalk Master Plan, along with the Centre Region Bike Plan, to identify and prioritize projects that fill connectivity gaps in the Township’s sidewalk and multi-use path network.

Beginning on Monday, August 15, 2022, College Township opened a 60-day public input period on the Draft Walkable College Township – A Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan. This comment period, ran through Thursday, October 13, 2022, and sought public input on the draft plan recommendations and proposed revisions to the existing Township Code needed for plan implementation. A formal public open house on the plan was held on October 27th.

Last year, College Township held the first public input period for this plan to help identify the highest priority pedestrian facility needs for the future. The robust input received during that initial comment input period was utilized to help craft the draft plan that will be open for public review.

To aid in this solicitation of input, the Township has developed web hub that includes an executive summary of all plan sections, the relevant mapping and, most importantly, a survey to gather public comments. Click the image below to access the web hub:

For those more comfortable reviewing a hard copy of the plan, the Township will have a copy of the plan and survey available at the College Township Municipal Building at 1481 East College Avenue in State College. This hard copy station will be available on weekdays from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm during the public input period.

The tentative schedule leading to plan adoption is as follows:

August 15 – October 13- 60-day comment period on draft plan, including draft ordinance revisions.
August 18 – Staff presents draft ordinance revisions to Council.
September 1 - Draft ordinance revisions presented to Centre Region Planning Commission.
October 27th - Public Open House.
November 17 - Public Hearing on draft plan and ordinance revision at Council meeting.

Initial Public Input Period Results

The first 60-day Public Input Period for the Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan concluded on September 30, 2021. After review of the raw data, College Township is pleased to report that the input period garnered 313 individual comments with 280 of those comments related to facilities or concerns within the boundaries of College Township.

The following are links to two spreadsheets that document those comments on facilities or concerns within College Township:

Comments received for facilities or issues outside of College Township will be forwarded to those respective municipalities and the Centre Regional Planning Agency.

Public Accessible Online Mapping Application

Additionally, staff has compiled the results into a public accessible online mapping application.

Summary

In summary, the results from this public input period remain consistent with the comments received during the previous input period for the 2018 Sidewalk Master Plan. Significant interest remains for development and/or improvement of facilities within the following corridors:

Branch Road
College Avenue
Elmwood Street
Houserville Road
Pike Street
Puddintown Road

The public input received will be used to inform the Implementation section of the forthcoming Draft Pedestrian Facilities Master Plan. It is envisioned that the Implementation section will include a project listing that is both categorized and prioritized for potential inclusion in future iterations of College Township's 5-year Capital Improvement Program and Budget. The highest priority improvements are also expected to be included in an update to the College Township Official Map.