GORHAM–Unhappy after years of rowdy student behavior downtown, the Gorham Town Council this week ramped up its crackdown on fraternity houses.

The town, home to a University of Southern Maine campus, is proposing a ban on any future fraternity houses as well as new regulations regarding two off-campus fraternities.

Tuesday’s action follows the town’s seizure in June of a troubled off-campus fraternity house for overdue property taxes.

By a 6-1 vote (Noah Miner opposed), the council forwarded a measure to strike fraternity houses as permitted uses under the town zoning to the Planning Board for review. Also, the Town Council unanimously sent its Ordinance Committee a proposal to review regulating existing fraternity houses in Gorham.

“The whole goal is to protect year-round residents,” Town Councilor Matt Robinson said.

At Tuesday’s meeting, Town Council Chairman Mike Phinney reluctantly criticized the University of Southern Maine regarding the school’s oversight of fraternity houses in Gorham.

“USM has done a poor job,” Phinney said.

University spokesman Bob Caswell responded Wednesday in a telephone interview. “Our control over off-campus housing is somewhat limited, ” Caswell said.

Caswell said the university last fall instituted behavioral guidelines governing recognized student groups in off-campus housing and had sponsored neighborhood meetings. “I think we’ve made a good faith effort to keep the lines of communication open,” Caswell said.

Before the Town Council meeting, Caswell said that being a good citizen of the town is a “clear and top priority” of the university.

Caswell said the University of Southern Maine has nearly 10,000 students at its three campuses and up to 1,500 students reside on the Gorham campus. But numerous students live off campus.

Caswell said that the university’s hope is that any Gorham ordinance wouldn’t have unintended consequences of being so restrictive that it would be difficult for property owners to offer housing to students.

During debate over the proposed fraternity ban, Miner questioned the wisdom of banning fraternity houses as a way to solve the problem. He proposed an amendment to send the issue to the Ordinance Committee, but it was not supported.

“Students will find a place to go,” Miner said. “I don’t think it will solve the problem.”

The Planning Board will conduct a public hearing on a yet-to-be-determined date, then offer its recommendation on the proposed ban to the Town Council.

The council-approved measure that the Planning Board will deal with would eliminate new fraternity houses. “This doesn’t effect existing fraternities,” Brenda Caldwell, council vice chairperson, said Tuesday.

While Miner disagreed with his fellow councilors over the fraternity ban, all the councilors agreed that town oversight of the fraternities should be tightened.

“They need to be regulated and controlled,” Miner said.

Town Councilor Phil Csoros favored the new proposal regulating fraternities over a previous Town Council attempt that used a broad-based ordinance change that would have impacted residences townwide. It’s “a more focused solution,” Csoros said.

No one from the public spoke about the fraternity issues in this week’s Town Council meeting. Caswell hadn’t read the town’s proposals and didn’t comment Wednesday.

Last month, the Town Council seized possession of the property at 27 Preble St., which was home of the Gamma Omega of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. As of June 22, the fraternity owed the town more than $27,000 in taxes, Town Manager David Cole said last month.

The town held four matured tax liens on the property. Also, town officials last month attributed 149 police calls in the past five years to activities at 27 Preble St. A town inspection in June revealed a long list of concerns and town code violations at the fraternity house.

The town’s lawyer notified fraternity residents to vacate 27 Preble St. by the end of July.

Ousting that fraternity leaves two privately owned, off-campus fraternity houses – Delta Chi on Preble Street and Sigma Nu on School Street – in Gorham. An off-campus sorority on Preble Street lost its recognition by the university several years ago but several women students have resided in the house.

Caswell said earlier this week three sororities at the Gorham campus do not have off-campus housing.

University officials have held a series of meetings aimed at quelling rowdy behavior by students in the downtown neighborhood, inviting residents, fraternity representatives, other students and both Gorham and university police. Neighbors had complained about drunkenness, profanity, vandalism, loud music, and public indecency. One neighbor of the fraternities said in a December 2008 meeting that Preble Street had become known as Party Street.

Town Councilor Burleigh Loveitt said this week’s Town Council action followed on the heels of years of aggravation and trouble.

Caswell said neighborhood meetings would resume shortly after fall classes begin at the university. He said the importance of the university’s behavioral guidelines, which include established quiet hours, would be re-enforced. “They’re not designed to sit on a shelf and collect dust,” Caswell said.