Actress’s Guest House Gets the Kibosh

The actress Candice Bergen and her husband, the real estate magnate Marshall Rose, have owned a house at 72 Lily Pond Lane, which was featured in Architectural Digest, for years. On Friday, the attorney Thomas J. Osborne was before the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on their behalf seeking to legalize changes that had been made to an accessory building on their property. It was the second go-round of a hearing that started in January.

 Frank Newbold and Lys Marigold, the board’s chairman and vice chairwoman, reminded the attorney that the building, which had been labeled a garage with stables and storage space on a 1986 certificate of occupancy, had been transformed into a residence with a kitchen, living room, fireplace, and carpeting. With very limited exceptions, the village code prohibits a second residence on a single lot.

 “Over the years,” Mr. Newbold said, “it has morphed to something just this short of a very comfortable guest cottage.” Mr. Rose, who purchased the property in 1984, had received a variance in 1988 to permit the structure to house one domestic employee, Mr. Newbold had said at the Jan. 22 meeting.

Ms. Marigold pointed out that in December 1986, they had “applied for a variance to turn it into alleged health quarters,” or an exercise room. While she said a treadmill was there, “When you walk in today it certainly looks like a second residence,” she said.

The kitchen was installed after pool equipment had been moved outdoors, Mr. Osborne said in January. On Friday, he said a stove had since been removed. “I know you’ve just removed the stove,” Ms. Marigold said, “but you put in kitchen cabinets, a refrigerator, a kitchen sink, a microwave, a coffeemaker. I mean, that’s a kitchen.”

Mr. Osborne had submitted an estimate of  $11,732 to move the pool equipment back into the building. “I don’t think any of us would be for that,” Mr. Newbold said, “but our feeling is, definitely, we would like the kitchen to go, including . . . everything that would be temptation for a future owner” to use the structure as a residence.

At this point, Mr. Osborne said, the applicant was “perfectly willing to take out whatever the board wants to take out.” He agreed that the space would revert to storage.

The board seemed unconcerned about additional variance relief being sought, including a generator, air-conditioning units, sheds, a trellis, slate patios, and a garbage bin as well as the pool equipment, which all are within required setbacks. Many were in place when Mr. Rose purchased the property, Mr. Osborne said. Some require minimal variances, and adjacent property owners have not complained about them, he added. The hearing was closed with a decision to be announced at a future meeting.

The board did, however, announce many other decisions. Jordan Roth, the president of Jujamcyn Theatres who owns and is renovating a house at 18 Lee Avenue, was denied permission for a 423-square-foot cellar that would have extended beyond the exterior wall of the house’s ground floor. The cellar was to hold mechanical equipment, but the village had amended its code last year to prohibit cellars from extending beyond exterior walls.

The board granted David Geffen, the music and film impresario, wetlands permits and variances for what his attorney called a “very sensitive, soft-touch renovation,” all of which are within required wetlands or property line setbacks.

Mr. Geffen bought 26 and 30 West End Road from Courtney Ross for $50 million last year. At 26 West End Road, he plans to construct basement areas, a screened porch, second-story roof deck, patio, and swimming pool, and to upgrade an existing septic system. Several conditions were set, including creation of a wetlands buffer landscaping plan that prohibits pesticides or fertilizers, compliance with Federal Emergency Management Agency regulations, approval by the Suffolk Department of Health Services, and installation of drywells.

At the adjacent property, Mr. Geffen plans a stone patio, fireplace, pergola, and garage, as well as to reconstruct a house, all of which fall within wetlands or property line setbacks. Here, as at 26 West End Road, he is to adhere to the provisions of a wetlands buffer landscaping plan.

At another West End Road address, No. 93, Kathy and William Rayner were granted a freshwater wetlands permit and variances to legalize a stone patio and pergola that are closer to the rear-yard lot line and wetlands than required, to enlarge a dormer within the front-yard and wetlands setbacks, to install a fire well, and build a driveway gate and a roof over an existing porch, all within the wetlands setback.

The board granted John Campanella of 14 Conklin Terrace variances for a swimming pool and deck, for an existing air-conditioner to remain in place, and to allow 82 square feet of lot coverage above the maximum permitted. The pool and air-conditioner would fall within required setbacks, but the board found that the additions to the lot, which is slightly less than 5,000 square feet, would not cause an undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood.

The board granted Jon and Jennifer Tarbet of 210 Newtown Lane variances to allow existing walkways and slate and brick patios, all within required setbacks, to remain. Richard and Marguerite Milazzo were granted variances to allow stone walkways to remain within required front and side-yard setbacks and to make alterations to an accessory building and construct an outdoor shower and adjacent stepping stone within the side-yard setback at 17 Jericho Road. 

The board granted Patricia Stanis of 11 Pleasant Lane variances to allow two air-conditioning units and a frame shed to remain. All are within the required rear and side-yard setbacks.

At 102 Lily Pond Lane, Ralph Schlosstein and Jane Hartley were granted variances to permit excess lot coverage, to construct a covered porch and walkways within required setbacks, and to allow alterations to an accessory building that is in a nonconforming setback location.