Durham residents petition to remove fraternity party houses out of neighborhoods

A new petition takes aim at fraternity houses near Duke University’s campus.

Hundreds of Durham residents have signed it, they want the fraternities gone.

WRAL News has covered the concerns before.

Neighbors said they’ve seen everything from students urinating on their homes, to littering and drunkenness.

The Lakewood-Tuscaloosa Resident Association has kept records of police logs, showing officers have responded to numerous complaints at all five of the houses, dating back to 2010.

Many say they’ve now reached their breaking point and want this nuisance out of their neighborhood for good.

On Durham Chapel Hill Boulevard is where you will find what is called the “Compound.” It’s five houses where some members of Alpha Delta Phi live.

The fraternity has recently cut ties with Duke University.

“Lots of drinking. Lots of drunk people. We’ve had in the past people passed out in other people's lawns. Throw up all over the place. Public urination,” said Susan Sewell.

Sewell has lived in the Tuscaloosa- Lakewood community since about 2001.

“We spent years talking with the students every Fall because only seniors can live off-campus. So you have to start over every fall, educating them about how to have safe parties that don’t mess up with the neighborhood,” she said.

Residents shared pictures from the aftermath of parties which is why new frustration is growing.

“Massive parties. They disrupt traffic.

Massive parties. They have outside music that goes all over the neighborhood. You can hear it all day long and there was a lot of public drunkenness in this particular one on Saturday. There were over 200 people, walking amongst the houses,” she added.

“Residents with children have had to do all kinds of these things to keep the parties out of sight. They’ve had to do all kinds of things to ensure quiet in their home so that they can sleep. To ensure that the parking is not disrupted and at a certain point that is really grossly unfair,” said Alisa Johnson, with Durham Neighborhoods United.

Neighbors have worked with the police department in the past to create an initiative to crack down on complaints.

It aimed to give students warnings, then citations and enrolling them in a misdemeanor diversion program.

“We’ve done a lot with police to calm the houses down, but what we discovered is that it takes a lot of resources and manpower just to keep the houses quiet. And at a certain point, we have to look at this and say is it really worth devoting all of these resources when Durham has other issues to control,” added Johnson.

More than 200 people have signed a petition for Durham City Council to step in – wanting the frat houses completely removed from neighborhoods all together.

“Fraternity houses do not belong in residential neighborhoods. There’s no way that they can fit – the goals of the residents are just too different,” said Johnson.

Others just want more to be done to enforce better behavior of students off-campus.

“We love having Duke Students living here in our neighborhood. We have a great neighborhood really close to Duke. It’s easy biking and walking to campus and we’ve always had great students living with us, but this house needs to know how to have safe parties,” added Sewell.

In a statement, the office of Alpha Delta Phi said:

“While some chapter members may be among students renting private homes, we encourage neighbors to take concerns to the properties’ owner. The fraternity supports holding individuals found responsible for misconduct accountable for their actions.”

Durham city council members will discuss the issue with residents at the next neighborhood association meeting. WRAL is told Duke University is willing to work with the city toward a solution.