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SAE fights for zoning at State College, PA
Tue, Jun. 25, 2002
Fraternity fighting eviction
From CDT staff reports
STATE COLLEGE -- The borough's zoning hearing board heard three hours of testimony Monday on whether a the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity should vacate its property at
200 E. Beaver Ave.
The board will meet at noon Friday to begin discussing the evidence, but that's no indication of when a decision would be reached. Discussion will be limited to board members.
"It will depend on how quickly the board can come to agreement," said Herman Slaybaugh, borough zoning officer. "There's no way to know how long it could take."
At issue is whether the fraternity can continue housing its members in the house at the corner of Beaver Avenue and Pugh Street.
Last October, Sigma Alpha Epsilon lost its affiliation with Penn State, a requirement for the nonconforming use of a fraternity in the borough's residential zone, Slaybaugh said.
The Interfraternity Council at Penn State suspended the fraternity for misconduct and misappropriation of funds from the Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon.
The borough contends that, with the university affiliation gone, the fraternity is acting as a rooming house. Until the fraternity's reinstatement in fall 2003, it can rent out the house to another fraternity, but its own members can't live there, Slaybaugh said.
He estimated between 30 and 40 people lived in the Sigma Alpha Epsilon building during the recent academic year.
Attorney Alfred Jones, who is representing Sigma Alpha Epsilon, declined to be interviewed for this story.
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