HANOVER — The Alpha Delta Alumni Corporation withdrew its application seeking to return its former fraternity house back into student housing last month, the day the Zoning Board was scheduled to hear the proposal.
Now, the Alumni Corporation is “reassessing their next steps in terms of resubmitting or declining to resubmit,” applicant and Alpha Delta alumnus Scott Snyder said in a Wednesday phone interview.
A beer can’s throw from the Dartmouth Green, the approximately century-old building at 9 East Wheelock Street stands between dormitories, an undergraduate secret society building and Dartmouth’s gym. The over 10,000-square-foot structure is known both for hosting Republican presidential candidate speeches such as Nikki Haley and the late U.S. Sen. John McCain, as well as being the inspiration for the 1978 film “Animal House.”
The college derecognized the fraternity in 2015 following multiple alcohol and hazing violations.
No longer operating under the supervision of Dartmouth, the derecognized frat was not allowed to serve as a student residence, as per the “Organizational Accountability” subsection in the handbook of Dartmouth Office of Greek Life.
Section 302 of Hanover’s Zoning Ordinance requires that Student Residences operate “in conjunction with another institutional use,” here meaning alongside college regulation. Having been derecognized, the house was no longer in conjunction with an institution; it thereby wasn’t permitted to serve as student housing under the town ordinance.
In September, the fraternity corporation submitted an application for a Special Exception to Hanover’s Zoning Board that sought to return the building to a student residence, housing up to 20 students.
As opposed to college supervision, the application proposed that an “Alumni Oversight Board” regulate the house’s operation to ensure “equivalent oversight, supervision, and accountability.”
As not all Zoning Board members were going to be present at the October hearing, the Alumni Corporation chose to move its petition to the next month. But on the day of the hearing, Nov. 20, the Corporation’s attorney, Brian Bouchard, submitted a withdrawal request “to submit a new application for the December or January meeting with additional evidence and materials for the Zoning Board’s consideration,” the request stated.
Bouchard, of the Manchester-based law firm Sheehan Phinney, was retained as the Alumni Corporation’s attorney a short time prior to the withdrawal, according to minutes from the November meeting.
The Alumni Corporation decided to withdraw because its directors “wanted to reassess the likelihood of the zoning board approving the application,” Snyder said. “So I think just taking an opportunity to regroup. I think that was what motivated it.”
This is not the first time the Alumni Corporation has attempted to return the building to student housing.
It remained unused from 2015 through 2017, when the Corporation attempted to change zoning requirements in its favor. Voters ultimately rejected that proposal 1,993 to 1,471 in May 2017.
At the request of the fraternity, the Zoning Board reclassified the property from “student residential” to “office use” in 2018. The house has been used as office space for Alpha Delta Alumni Corporation in addition to occasional events.
Snyder, a principal architect of the White River Junction-based architecture firm a.hamalainen who also assists the Alumni Corporation’s board of directors in an “advisory role,” was uncertain what path the board might ultimately choose.
While the withdrawal asks for a month or two to “provide additional evidence, materials, and argument for the Zoning Board’s consideration,” Snyder wasn’t certain when or whether the Corporation would resubmit.
“There’s no scheduled hearing, and I’m not really sure what they’ll decide to do,” Snyder said.