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Z.B.A. Will Deny Oceanfront Construction

Thu, 10/31/2019 - 13:26

The East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals made it clear on Friday that it will deny an application from the owners of an oceanfront property at 33 Lily Pond Lane to tear down a house in a coastal erosion hazard area and construct a new one. An official determination will be issued at a future board meeting.

In January, Norman and Helene Stark first proposed to build a 7,567-square-foot house and pool, within the hazard area but landward of the existing house. That plan would have required 54 variances — the most ever requested in her 11 years on the zoning board, Lys Marigold, its chairwoman, said Friday. “It’s probably the highest ever before any East Hampton Village zoning board,” she said.

In the ensuing months, the Starks, who have been represented at board meetings by the lawyer Leonard Ackerman, not only scaled back their plans but also promised to make the new house compliant with FEMA flood zone regulations, and to install a buffer of plants between the house and the dunes. Their underlying goal — to raze and rebuild – remained.

The village zoning code allows for a building permit in a coastal erosion hazard area if construction is deemed “reasonable and necessary” and “not likely to cause a measurable increase in erosion.” The criteria for obtaining variances for the actual construction include demonstrating that no reasonable, prudent alternative site exists, and that the variances requested are the minimum necessary to overcome any practical difficulty or hardship.

During the Z.B.A. hearings, which continued for 10 months, environmental consultants for the Starks said construction would not have an adverse impact on the erosion zone, while legal advisers said the topography of the 1.76-acre property prevented construction outside the hazard area, thus causing “practical difficulty and hardship.”

Last month, Mr. Ackerman sent a memo to the board citing several precedents — previous determinations permitting construction in the coastal erosion hazard area. The board was unmoved. “No matter how many times the so-called precedent cases have been regurgitated over and over to us, none of them seem relevant,” Ms. Marigold said Friday.

The board has never given permission for new construction in the erosion zone, she said, except once, in 2015, after fire destroyed the West End Road residence of Peter Morton, the co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe restaurant chain. In that instance, she said, the property, unlike the Starks’, was not large enough to accommodate a house outside the hazard area.

“There’s something fundamentally awry when an owner knowingly purchases property governed by [coastal erosion hazard area or] wetland restrictions, and then calls out that it’s an ‘unnecessary hardship’ or ‘practical difficulty’ when thwarted in doing what they want,” said Ms. Marigold. “That would mean every homeowner in the village, on the ocean, on our ponds, on our dreen, on our wetlands, could use this as an argument.”

Rather than build a new house, the board suggested the Starks renovate the existing one. The State Department of Environmental Conservation allows for renovation and 25 percent expansion of a house in the erosion zone, Ms. Marigold noted.

“You can renovate, you can add on to it probably, and you’ll still have your ocean views,” she said. Plus, “your neighbors, your community, and our natural resources would be very happy. So I vote to turn this down.”

Ray Harden, the vice chairman, Lawrence Hillel, and Craig Humphrey also said they would vote against the application. Chris Minardi, however, said he was in favor of the Starks’ proposal to move the house landward, to make it FEMA compliant, and to create a buffer along the dune. He was not worried about setting a precedent, he said, but he realized his was the minority opinion.

Mr. Ackerman has said that if the board were to deny the application, the Starks would challenge the decision in court.

Also on Friday, the appeals board announced three determinations. Ed Conrad, the owner of 30 West End Road, was granted a freshwater wetlands permit to construct deer fencing 17 feet from the edge of wetlands, where a 150-foot setback is required. He was also granted variances to build a detached garage within the front yard and to make alterations and additions to an existing residence 1.3 feet from the side lot line, where the required setback is 25.14 feet.

Shahab Karmely, the owner of 127 Main Street, was granted a variance to permit 2,634 square feet of accessory building gross floor area, where 2,189 square feet is the maximum, provided that the building is used only for the storage of motor vehicles and plants.

Nedenia C. Rumbough and Donald E. Handelman, the trustees of 87 Dayton Lane Extension, were granted variances to reconstruct a cellar with alterations 4.4 feet from the side yard lot line, and 10.3 feet from the front yard lot line, where the required setbacks are 10 and 25 feet, respectively. Variance were also granted to legalize two air-conditioning condenser units two feet from the side yard lot line, and to reconstruct a patio 4.3 feet from that lot line, where the required setbacks are 10 feet, and to permit 1,491 square feet of coverage where the allowable is 1,398 square feet.


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