On Tuesday night the East Lansing City Council deferred consideration of a request from a local fraternity to expand its building, extending a dispute regarding zoning regulations on the east end of campus that stretches back to last year.
This is the second time this year the council has postponed making a decision on this issue, and the council is expected to discuss the matter again at its April 24 work session.
Members of FarmHouse Fraternity, 151 Bogue St., previously submitted an application for a three-story addition that would add space for 16 more bedrooms and make the fraternity handicap accessible.
The addition has run into conflict for months with zoning regulations put in place for the East Village project, which requires buildings to set aside 50 percent retail space on the first floor.
The regulations were put in place to facilitate a redevelopment vision that would significantly revamp an area near the east side of campus.
The project has been stalled since fall 2009 because of significant financial difficulties, and the zoning regulations also stand in the way of the fraternity’s application.
In an effort to comply with zoning requirements, the fraternity’s expansion set aside 25 percent of retail space for the addition — an area that would be used to sell fraternity memorabilia during home football games and campus events.
The application did not meet zoning requirements, East Lansing Planning and Zoning Administrator Darcy Schmitt said.
An ordinance scheduled to be discussed by council next week includes the possibility of an amendment that changes some zoning requirements for the area, possibly allowing a new application from the fraternity to be approved in the future.
It was difficult for the fraternity to meet many of the regulations because of the nature of the house, said Isaac Sheppard, the chairman of the fraternity’s building association, at the meeting, but he added the group is willing to resubmit its application.
Daniel Snitchler, a supply chain management sophomore and the Interfraternity Council’s vice president for finance, spoke on behalf of FarmHouse members and urged council to approve the application.
“Voting no on this … would be a major setback, in my opinion, for student life at MSU,” he said at the meeting.
The future of East Village itself in terms of zoning still remains up in the air. The ordinance offers little leeway to current properties in the East Village area, Schmitt said during the meeting.
“There are probably very few properties that could benefit from this clause,” Schmitt said.
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