FULLERTON : 2 Fullerton Frats Kicked Out of Houses

Sigma Pi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon must close their fraternity houses by March 23, one month after members lost a long battle with the city to keep their houses open.

“The buildings must be rendered inaccessible,” associate city planner Ted J. Commerdinger said Friday. The windows should be boarded, the doors barred and the 18 Cal State Fullerton fraternity members living in each house must be evicted, he said.

The buildings cannot be reopened until converted back to their original use as four-unit apartments, Commerdinger said.

Closing the houses follows a Feb. 20 City Council decision to deny permission for the fraternities to operate houses on Teri Place, just north of the Fullerton campus. The area is home to several fraternities and sororities, as well as families living in apartment buildings.

Having fraternity members living next door to families has contributed to many of the problems faced by the fraternities, according to both fraternity members and city officials. For years, neighbors have complained to police about loud parties at the fraternity houses, which led the city to require operating permits for them.

Once the fraternity members have moved out, the owners of the houses have until March 28 to schedule a city inspection of the units, Commerdinger said. The inspection will determine what work must be done to convert the buildings back to apartments, he said.

Once the work is complete, fraternity members may move back in--as long as fraternity activities don’t take place inside, city officials have said.

John J. Merino Jr., co-owner of the Sigma Pi house and alumni adviser to the fraternity, said his building needs only minimal work to satisfy city requirements and should reopen almost immediately.

The owner of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house, Fullerton professor Demetrios A. Michalopoulos, could not be reached Friday for comment.

Besides having the owners upgrade the buildings, the owners and fraternity members must pay the city $2,373.51 in court costs before the units can be reopened, Commerdinger said.

That amount was awarded to the city last September by Superior Court Judge Betty Lou Lamoreauxafter the fraternities lost their legal attempt to stop the city from requiring frat-house permits.

Lamoreaux ruled that Fullerton had the right to regulate fraternity houses in residential areas and said the houses must close if the city refused to grant them operating permits.