South Milledge Avenue has been saved by the Greeks.

Thanks to fraternities and sororities living in historic homes in the area, Athens-Clarke County was able to make the street a local historic site and ensure protection of Milledge’s historic facade for years to come.

“South Milledge Avenue has been on the national registry for many, many years, but it’s an honorary title,” said Kathy Hoard, administrative manager in the office of the Vice President of Public Service and Outreach. “Local designation provides much more protection for structures.”

The Alpha Gamma Delta house now sits in a local historic site. The designation requires the protection of the house’s historic structure. Photo by Jesse Walker.

Hoard, who also serves as the district seven commissioner for Athens-Clarke County, asked to be appointed to the committee that created the legislation because she found the topic interesting.

She said buildings older than 50 years, roughly one-third of which are owned by University Greek organizations, were designated as historic.

Pat Allen, administrative director for government relations, said all fraternity and sorority houses from Broad Street to Lumpkin Street at Five Points are affected by the legislation. Even the structures not considered historic, which are referred to as “not contributing,” will be protected.

He said one of the big pluses to being part of the historic district is the tax advantage.

“If a fraternity or sorority wanted to make a big addition to the house, they can appeal to have their tax assessment frozen at the current rate for 10 years,” he said.

Allen listed 16 Greek organizations that are considered historic, including Alpha Gamma Delta and Phi Mu.

Though the historic designation affects all older buildings in the area, the commission passed a second, unrelated ordinance which affects only the Greek organizations.

The Milledge Avenue Corridor Special District Overlay, which took effect April 8, intends to control the “visual and architectural character” of the existing buildings on South Milledge, and “ensure that new development is visually compatible with the existing historic character of Milledge Avenue.”

“I helped kick this off,” Allen said. “To my recollection, every single Greek organization involved had a representative present.”

The ordinance allows fraternities and sororities to contract with nearby businesses to provide additional parking for their members during evening meetings and events. Originally, the organizations were limited to parking within 200 feet of the houses, but the overlay extends the distance to parking within 1,000 feet.

The ordinance also requires Greek groups to provide bicycle racks and include trees and other greenery in their landscaping.

In addition, the groups will have less stringent requirements when doing some renovations.

Allen said until the overlay was passed, Greek organizations had to get renovations approved by the entire commission because they were classified as “special use” groups.

Now, unless the renovations cover more than 40 percent of the building or a new group is moving into private property on Milledge, organizations only have to get approval from certain committees on the commission.

Historic houses, however, still face restrictions.

“They will still be required to fulfill the historic guidelines,” Hoard said.

She said Greek organizations have been involved from the beginning.

“We understand that the Greek community is a vital part of that corridor,” she said. “Many of these houses are over 100 years old and wouldn’t have been maintained if they hadn’t been occupied by Greek organizations.”