The Baltimore City Zoning Board denied a petition from a Johns Hopkins fraternity to remain in an upscale city neighborhood.
The decision came Tuesday night after an hour of impassioned afternoon testimony from residents of the Tuscany neighborhood ? just north of Johns Hopkins University?s Homewood campus ? and representatives of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity before the city zoning board.
“Who was there first?” Herbert Burgunder III, attorney for the fraternity, asked prior to the hearing, noting that the houses has been used by fraternities since 1961. “It?s like people moving next to an airport and complaining about noise.”
But residents at the hearing said the house is run-down and hosts raucous parties.
“There have been 37 police visits over the last two years,” said Carl Hyman, president of the Tuscany neighborhood association. “We have underage drinking going on without supervision. It?s a nuisance to the neighborhood.”
Ralph Kurtz, another neighbor, said he witnessed unruly behavior.
“A member of the fraternity escorted out by a police officer knocked the officer down,” he said.
Burgunder countered that the fraternity offered to negotiate an agreement with the community to control behavioral problems.
“This includes hiring a security guard and giving neighbors the number of the security company,” he said.
Miriam Shark, who has lived close to the fraternity for nearly 13 years, said previous agreements have not worked.
“We?ve had several agreements with the fraternity in the past, none of which had been honored,” she said.
Several outstanding technical issues weighed on the board?s decision, including whether the fraternity ? which is not allowed in the neighborhood, according to current zoning laws ? still qualified for exemption.
City planning officials testified that it died not.
Repairs to the house, which had been cited by city officials for numerous housing violations, also was discussed. Fraternity board members were promising a $1 million renovation ? an amount they said they are trying to raise. The house has been assessed at $1.1 million, Burgunder said.
Shark though, said the house?s current condition was more important.
“The yard is consistently littered and some of the windows are broken,” she said. “It?s an assault on the quality of our life.”
The fraternity can appeal the decision to Baltimore City Circuit Court for judicial review.
