Revocation of Fraternity Status Results in Zoning Code Violation
In 2015, Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire revoked
the "student organization" status of Alpha Delta, a fraternity most famous
for having inspired the hit comedy film “Animal House,” after finding that at least 11 new pledge brothers’ buttocks were
branded with the Alpha Delta Greek letters.
Shortly after its student organization status was revoked by the College, the Town notified the fraternity that the continued use of the property as a residence following its “derecognition” by Dartmouth College was a violation of the Town’s zoning ordinance and that the continued occupancy of the property by at least 18 individuals must cease immediately. The
Town of Hanover’s zoning ordinance allows a student residence within the
institution district by special exception when the residence is “designed for
and occupied by students and operated in conjunction with another institutional
use, which may include individual living units with social rooms and kitchen
facilities for any number of students.” However, Alpha
Delta had never sought a special exception for the use of its property, instead
relying on being grandfathered in when in 1976 the zoning ordinance was
enacted. So,
Alpha Delta appealed the zoning administrator’s
decision to the ZBA, arguing that it was
“grandfathered” from the special exception requirement. However, following a
hearing, the ZBA ruled that Alpha Delta failed to provide any proof that it was
lawfully nonconforming.
The
fraternity then appealed to the courts. The New Hampshire
Superior and Supreme Courts both agreed that in order to prove that the
fraternity use was grandfathered, Alpha Delta needed to show that it operated
its property in a manner that was not ‘in conjunction with another
institutional use’ at the time the ‘in conjunction with’ requirement was
adopted, in 1976. The fraternity failed to do so. As a result, the court
upheld the ZBA’s finding that upon the
College’s revocation of its recognition of Alpha Delta as a student
organization, Alpha Delta has no association with the College and was, therefore,no
longer “operating in conjunction with” the College. Dartmouth Corp of Alpha Delta v Town of Hanover, No. 2016-0304 (N.H.April 11, 2017).
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