Racking up 17 noise complaints and 10 different citations since the beginning of 2023, Cal Poly’s Delta Chi fraternity at 1236 Monte Vista Place must cease operations at the property after the San Luis Obispo City Council tentatively revoked its conditional use permit.
“I heard a lot of, ‘Give us another chance; we want to collaborate.’ I didn’t hear any remorse,” City Councilmember Jan Marx said at the Oct. 21 meeting. “I didn’t hear any apologies for the track record this particular fraternity has created for itself.”
Delta Chi wasn’t the only chapter facing scrutiny. In June, the city Planning Commission also decided to revoke the Sigma Nu and the Delta Upsilon chapter house permits.
The permit revocation underpins the city’s response to unsanctioned frat parties in residential neighborhoods—itself criticized by longtime residents and the SLO County grand jury, which asked for stricter enforcement and separating Greek life from low-density areas with family homes.
The City Council’s decision upheld the Planning Commission’s decision to revoke Delta Chi’s permit. The applicant can apply for a permit modification within 60 days. Applying for a modified permit would allow the frat to bypass a $11,260 re-application fee, which members said would take 10 years for them to pay.
Currently, the frat chapter has 90 members. Its ranks are expected to swell to 140 by next spring.
Incoming Delta Chi chapter president Chris Green told the City Council that members contributed $8,000 of frat house money into appealing the Planning Commission’s decision. An additional $4,000 went into the house.
“We don’t receive help from nationals in this matter,” he said. “This is strictly money that comes out of our pockets each year.”
The frat must work with city staff on the changes if it applies for a tweaked permit, which would still need Planning Commission and City Council approvals.
“You managed to come up with the money to pay for the tickets and the money to buy the alcohol for the parties, but I can understand the financial stress,” Marx said to frat members at the meeting.
If the frat’s conditional use permit gets permanently revoked, the city wouldn’t be able to enforce the permit’s conditions, which are stricter than the zoning code.
The frat’s conditionally revoked permit restricts residents on-site to 35 and a cap of 53 people for meetings and gatherings. No meetings, parties, or similar events involving people other than the residents can take place from 10 p.m. to 9 a.m. unless approved by Community Development Director Timothea Tway.
“If the fraternity throws parties that are a disturbance to the neighborhood, they will (as they always have been) be subject to the city noise ordinance and could receive citations from the Police Department,” Tway told New Times via email. “If it was determined that fraternity events were happening on the site, then they would also likely receive notices of violation from the Community Development Department for operating a fraternity use without a valid use permit.”
Delta Chi’s permit was revoked due to repeated violations over the years, despite stating in the appeal that it worked “systematically to reduce incidents that result in citations or use permit violations in recent years.” The chapter didn’t respond to New Times’ requests for comment.
Most recently, the chapter was slapped with a citation at 2:38 a.m. on Oct. 4 after a community member complained about a violation, according to SLO Police Department Lt. Jason Dickel.
“Going back to St. Fratty’s Day, … the only real big party we dealt with was the one at Monte Vista, at Delta Chi, and the officers on the scene from outside made an estimate of 100 people,” he told the City Council. “But I would offer to you from the aerial footage through our tech watching what had happened, the number would be two or three times that amount of people that were there.” ∆
This article appears in Oct 23 – Nov 2, 2025.
Let’s build a fraternity and sorority row kids can be kids and those buying home know where to not buy.