Allan Appel Photo
The lawn reeks of urine, one neighbor said. Inebriated brothers hang on the fire escapes, another neighbor said, she fears the ladders might break. Even Yale urged caution.
Despite those concerns, plans for a dramatic rehabbing and restoration of 79 and 73 Lake Place into a combined new $2 million home for the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity moved ahead at Tuesday’s Board of Zoning Appeals, with conditions.
“I like my property values going up, but I’m concerned about my quality of life,” said Cynthia Beaver, who described herself as one of only two resident property owners on Lake Place, the small street behind Yale’s gymnasium. She called for more oversight of the social life of the fraternity and more of a connection with Yale.
The request before the board Tuesday night was officially submitted by the fraternity’s umbrella organization, Rampant Lion Foundation. According to the plans presented by the foundation president and architect Paul Harris, 79 Lake (pictured) will be taken down, rebuilt, and combined with 73 Lake. The two will be joined together in a structure historically appropriate for the street, and joined by a porte-cochere.
The result will be a modern facility with an actual reduction in total square footage, a combining of the current five kitchens to two and 17 bedrooms reduced to 13.
The fraternity’s attorney, James Segaloff, called the project “transformative” for the street. Even he conceded that some of the fraternity brothers, though they participate in tutoring and other community-building activities during the week, perhaps could use a “clean up” in their behavior as relates to partying on the weekend.
He said the investment of Delta Kappa Epsilon alumni in the fundraising and building of the project just might lead to that.
Executive Director Randi Rodriguez of the ‘r Kids Family Center just behind the proposed project at 45 Dixwell, echoed the concerns of Cynthia Beaver (pictured).
“We’ve had to call the police frequently,” she said.
Which police — Yale cops or city cops?
“I’d like to know who will be the policing force,” she said. When neighbors have called the city police, they’ve been referred to Yale.
Yale itself was, in a word, cautious. In a letter sent to the BZA and read at the proceeding, Associate Vice President for New Haven and State Affairs Michael Morand and other signatories noted that there already is a separate fraternity house at 23 Lake Place.
“The renaissance in the area is fragile. We urge the city to consider the implications of a concentration [of fraternities.],” they said.
Still, Yale didn’t formally object, nor did Beaver or Rodriguez. “I’m not opposed, but I do have concerns,” stated the letter.
Rodriguez also said that as an organization Rampant Lion Foundation, by her research, has not contributed financially to the city’s not-for-profits, even though the brothers might do so personally. She’d like that to change.
Many of the high-risk children with whom ‘r kids Family Center works have been removed from parents precisely because of the drunken behaviors on display at times at the fraternity, she said.
In his rebuttal for the fraternity Segaloff emphasized, “No one objects to the project. There is objection to behaviors.”
He reiterated that the alumni coming up with the funding will provide more oversight.
The commissioners voted unanimously for the project to advance to the City Plan Department for site plan review.
However they attached a condition: that a 24-hour, seven-day-per-week number be available to a site manager to handle complaints about noise and cleanliness. And that Livable City Initiative and both city and Yale cops be part of that plan.
Segaloff said that if all goes well, “The goal is to have it built and occupied by the fall of 2012.”