On Aug. 13, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals voted 4-to-0, with one recusal, to revoke the certificate of occupancy issued in February for Duryea’s Lobster Deck, the latest turn in a long-running controversy over the Montauk property that was purchased by the billionaire investor Marc Rowan in 2014.
The vote is nonbinding, however; State Supreme Court Justice David C. Reilly’s May 31 order asserts the court’s jurisdiction and directs that the certificate of occupancy remain in effect pending further order. The Z.B.A.’s revocation is thus stayed.
Earlier this year, Justice Reilly issued a temporary restraining order suspending implementation of a January settlement between the town and Duryea’s, following an outcry that prompted the town board to hire outside counsel to advise it on litigation involving Sunrise-Tuthill Properties, corporations affiliated with Mr. Rowan. The settlement was to resolve three lawsuits filed against the town last year: one to have the court compel the town to issue a C. of O. to legalize existing uses and structures; a second to assert that the town has no jurisdiction over the property’s dock, underwater lands, and shoreline fortification structures, and a third that would change the zoning for a portion of the property from residential to waterfront business.
The settlement was signed by Michael Sendlenski, who was then the town attorney, and not by the supervisor. The town’s outside counsel later argued that the stipulation of settlement was invalid and should be vacated because the board did not vote on a resolution authorizing the settlement before it was finalized.
Mr. Rowan subsequently filed two additional lawsuits, one seeking to compel the town’s Building Department to issue a building permit for the installation of a new, innovative alternative septic system, the other to prohibit the zoning board from rescinding the certificate of occupancy. On May 15, Justice Reilly directed that the C. of O. remain in place pending further order of the court.