Page 8 - State College, PA Design Guidelines

06.28.2018 •

Why Have Design Guidelines?

The guidelines promote the preservation of historic, cultural and
architectural heritage within State College. They seek to maintain the historic
districts as cohesive, livable places, while helping to avoid the inappropriate
alteration or demolition of historic resources, or new construction that
is incompatible with the district context. The design guidelines are used
to assist in required design review per Ordinance 2104, and to promote
good stewardship of historic properties through advisory design guidelines.
While the design guidelines are written for use by the layperson to plan
improvements or alterations within a historic district, property owners are
strongly encouraged to enlist the assistance of qualified design and planning
professionals.

Who Should Use the Design

Guidelines?

A variety of groups will use the design guidelines document as they consider
improvements to a contributing historic property, as they review proposed
work and as they recommend approval or denial of a Certificate of
Appropriateness (COA). These groups include:
• Property owners

• The design community
• Borough staff
• Historic and Architectural Review Board (HARB)
• Borough Council
• Interested members of the public

For more information about how each of the groups use the design
guidelines and participate in the design review process, contact the Planning
Department.

Where Do the Design Guidelines

Apply?

The design guidelines are applicable to properties within State College’s
locally designated historic districts, as shown in the map on page 3.
Properties within the historic districts are divided into contributing and
non-contributing properties. Those listed as contributing have maintained
their integrity and contribute to the sense of continuity in scale, character,
form and materials that exist within the district, and are subject to HARB
review. Those structures listed as non-contributing properties were either
not constructed within the district’s period of historic significance or have
lost their integrity over time and are no longer contributing. A listing of the
contributing properties for each district can be found on the State College
HARB website.

2 STATE COLLEGE, PA • HERITAGE STATE COLLEGE DESIGN GUIDELINES