The long history of a storied property on frat row at the University of Wisconsin at Madison has reached a deadlock. Literally, the Madison Plan Commission tied 4-4 on whether to permit the Acacia frathouse to undertake an extensive renovation and construction project, with the chairwoman refusing to cast the tie-breaking vote and instead kicking the problem upstairs to the City Council. The Acacia master plan that has occasioned such disagreement sees part of their property now used as a parking lot being redeveloped as a small apartment complex in order to fund badly-needed renovations on the frathouse itself. But a zoning variance is necessary to add the extra occupancy to the property, and neighboring property-owners are objecting. ("Neighboring proper-owners" always object.)
The four-story Tudor Revival house on the shores of Lake Mendota was originally built for sorority Phi Mu in 1927, and subsequently sold to Phi Delta Theta and then to Acacia in 1966. When anti-establishment sentiments doomed the local chapter in the late 1970s, the house was rented out to various other greek by the Acacia alumni, waiting for a felicitous opportunity to recolonize. They returned in 1987, and have occupied the house ever since, though it now lies empty in preparation for the anticipated improvement, the brothers having secured lodgings elsewhere. Now it only remains to be seen whether the Madison City Council proves less obstructionist than the Planning Commission.
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