Salkin and Lavine on Zoning for Fraternities & Sororities

Patricia E. Salkin (Albany) and Amy Lavine (Albany) have posted Zoning for Off-Campus Fraternity and Sorority Houses, published in the Zoning and Planning Law Report, Vol. 33, No. 11, 2010.  The abstract:

This article discusses how communities across the country can employ various land use planning and zoning techniques to ensure that the encroachment of off-campus student housing into adjacent residential neighborhoods (specifically fraternity houses and sorority houses) does not negatively impact the character of the community.

Many colleges are in places that are either too dense or too rural to have many options for student housing off campus, and of course, those toga parties can be a contentious neighborhood problem.  This article will certainly be helpful for practitioners.  I might also consider teaching it.  It's short, readable, and provides a good overview of basic concepts (zoning, special use, nonconforming use, permission as of right, etc.) and touches on certain issues (parking, the "family," affordable housing, town-gown relations) that are important in land use.  Furthermore, it might provide an example of a land use problem that students who are short on real world experience can understand.  Some students who haven't had a job, puchased a home, etc. might still have a land use story from their days back at Tappa Kegga Dei.  Plus, it would be a great opportunity show gratuitous clips/insert jokes from Animal House.

Matt Festa