Student Center OKd For Residential Area By Pennsylvania Court

In Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown v. Zoning Hearing Board, (Comwlth. Ct. Pa., May 19, 2006), a Pennsylvania appellate court held that a proposed Catholic Student Center at Penn State University should be classified for zoning purposes as a structure that will primarily be used as a place of worship, even though in addition to a chapel it will contain a student lounge, study rooms, a library, a kitchen and dining room, and housing for three monks and their guests. Places of worship may be built in areas zoned as residential, while student centers are not included as permissible uses. News coverage of the decision is in today's (central Pennsylvania) Centre Daily.