Hanover — The Planning Board is considering a zoning amendment that would require student residences in the campus “institutional” district maintain ties to Dartmouth College and follow the school’s rules.

The measure, which has not yet been placed on the Town Meeting warrant, could serve to revoke zoning status from Greek-letter organizations at Dartmouth that lose college recognition.

As it stands, the zoning ordinance requires that student residences in the “I”-zone be “operated in conjunction with another institutional use”; this change would clarify that the institution must be Dartmouth.

Two banned Dartmouth fraternities, Sigma Alpha Epsilon and Alpha Delta, currently are seeking to maintain their zoning status in court.

Although the fraternities’ legal assertions center more on the idea that they should be “grandfathered” under the ordinance than on the current regulation’s wording, attorneys for Sigma Alpha Epsilon did argue to the town that the fraternity, itself, could be considered an institution that allows SAE to maintain its zoning status.

Losing status as a student residence would mean that the two fraternities’ members could not live in their houses, even though the organizations own their own buildings and land.

In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Planning Board Chairwoman Judith Esmay said the potential amendment was more of a clarification of the rules than a change to their meaning.

“We’re just always trying to clarify the ordinance,” she said.

As first reported by the website Dartblog, the amendment as proposed would change the definition of a student residence in the campus “institutional” district by clarifying that residences must be operated in conjunction with Dartmouth, specifically.

The proposal would define any student residence within the institutional district, including those not located on Dartmouth-owned land, as “a building designed for and occupied by students and recognized by and operated in compliance with the rules of Dartmouth College, which may include individual dwelling units and social rooms and kitchen facilities for any number of students.”

“It’s clear that the institution referred to is Dartmouth, so we’re naming Dartmouth,” Esmay said.

The amendment also would prevent the establishment of new student residences in a small zoning district near the intersection of South Park Street and Lebanon Street, an area of about a block that does not currently have any student residences.

Esmay said the Planning Board had scheduled time this coming Tuesday, at 7:30 p.m., to address the student residence amendment, which she said had engendered some concern in town.

“I know that there are people who are concerned about this,” she said, “and they’ll come on Tuesday night and you’ll hear what they have to say.”

Alumni representatives of the two banned fraternities, as well as the heads of Dartmouth’s undergraduate fraternity and sorority councils, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Town Manager Julia Griffin on Wednesday said it was logical for the town to clarify that student residences, even those on non-Dartmouth property, should be tied to the college.

“Every single one of those entities is there because of their association with the college and our zoning boundaries were drawn because of their association with the college,” she said during a telephone interview.

The Planning Board is considering three other proposed amendments for a vote at Town Meeting in May, Esmay said, including potential changes to senior housing regulations allowing more affordable housing and other kinds of development; technical cleanups to definitions and language in town ordinances; and modifications to accessory dwelling unit regulations mandated by state law.

The potential senior housing amendments are not set in stone, Esmay said, but could include changes to densities allowed for continuing care retirement facilities such as Kendal at Hanover. Kendal, which is seeking to expand near its Lyme Road location, currently has a cap on total permitted housing units, and the proposed zoning modification could change the hard limit to a ratio of units allowed versus land area.

The changes also could extend affordable housing density regulations to senior housing, which could affect developments being contemplated off Summer Street, between South Park Street and Lebanon Street. Giving developers the ability to build at a higher density in exchange for including certain numbers of affordable housing units could encourage more homes for seniors, Esmay said.

Rob Wolfe can be reached at rwolfe@vnews.com or at 603-727-3242.