A Hanover neighborhood association might force the College to change its plans to move the Dragon senior society to an empty lot behind Delta Delta Delta sorority.
The College needs to move Dragon, which is currently on Elm Street next to Bradley and Gerry Halls, to expand Baker Library, and the Town of Hanover had already approved the move.
But the Occom Ridge Neighborhood Association protested the move in Grafton County Superior Court, and now Director of Facilities Planning Gordie DeWitt said the College is looking into moving Dragon near Delta Gamma sorority.
DeWitt said the College's Board of Trustees approved the new location this past weekend because the College would like to complete the move by next fall.
Although the College does not have a specific deadline for the move, College Real Estate Director Paul Olsen said, "We want to move ahead."
"We feel like we owe the Dragon the ability to know when they will be relocated," he said. "We don't want to keep them in limbo."
Olsen said a judge threw out an appeal by the association about a week ago because it was filed too late.
"But two days ago, the association filed a request for the judge to reconsider his decision," he said.
According to Barry Schuster, the association's attorney, the original approval was not in line with neighborhood regulations that require subdivision approval.
DeWitt said "there is no foreseeable end in the court challenge."
The association is also fighting a College plan to build a Center for Jewish Life at Dartmouth on Occom Ridge Road.
Dragon has been very cooperative with the move, Olsen said.
"They own the property on Elm Street and we worked out an agreement with them. It wasn't something we were doing just at our own will. They were very cooperative and always have been," Olsen said.
The relocation of Dragon could involve lifting the building off its foundation and moving it to the new lot or building an entirely new facility.
"We are still looking at all of the options for proceeding with moving Dragon but we can't move it until the appeal issue is resolved," Olsen said.
"If we go to the new site we will probably build a new building; the other one is a toss-up as to whether we build a new one or not," DeWitt said.
He said he would prefer to use the original site simply because of the planning that has already been invested in that site.
Dewitt estimates that the cost of the move would be between $350,000 and $400,000.