Phi Delta Theta is free to build its new fraternity house at 1326 Highland Street.
The Metropolitan Area Planning Commission approved a conditional use permit for the house at Tuesday’s meeting. According to engineer Mike Schmidt of Strong City, the house will be two stories tall with a basement, house 16 to 18 people and have 10 parking spaces behind the building.
The fraternity plans to have the house built and ready to occupy by the end of September. The move would be a homecoming for Phi Delta Theta, which was based at 14th Avenue and Highland Street from its founding in 1969 until 1984, when the fraternity moved to 1005 Merchant Street.
Because of the small size of the lot, no stormwater plan is required. Drainage would go directly to 14th Avenue and Highland Street without crossing other properties, Schmidt said.
“That intersection is kind of the low point in the neighborhood, so water does collect there,” Schmidt said. “But all the foundations, including this one, should be high enough that the flooding won’t be a problem.”
The drainage would actually be similar to the two homes that used to be on the lot, Schmidt said. Those homes have since been removed.
Most of the trees on the lot will be kept, although one will be removed for parking and some of the others will be trimmed back. Several new trees and some greenery will be planted as well, Schmidt said.
The planners unanimously approved the house, saying it was consistent with a university neighborhood.
In other action, the planning commission briefly discussed the city’s capital improvement plan but had few comments to offer.
City Engineer Keith Beatty and some of the planners noted that it was hard to talk about the plan when the city’s comprehensive plan was still up in the air. Part of the planners’ job is to see if the two plans mesh.
“We’ve got a chicken-and-egg thing going on,” Beatty said.