Downtown State College, Pennsylvania has experienced dramatic change over the last decade. A number of downtown properties have been redeveloped with 12-story buildings, which is a departure from the 7-story limit that was in place until 2005. The majority of major downtown development since that time is a result of national interest from student housing developers seeking to construct luxury student housing buildings adjacent to Penn State University, and a “building boom” has ensued. This change has been met with mixed responses from the community. Some view it as necessary redevelopment and growth that will result in more students living close to campus, while others see it as a loss of State College’s small college town charm and an erosion of the small businesses that held nostalgic value for Penn State alumni and longtime Borough residents. In this presentation, State College Planning & Community Development staff will highlight how they have used ArcGIS Urban as a public GIS tool to share information on completed buildings and newly submitted land development projects in a 3D model. Staff will also discuss future intentions to use Urban to model various redevelopment scenarios within Certified Redevelopment Areas and to support the Borough’s comprehensive zoning code rewrite.
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