Art Storage Now, But What About Later?

The artist Audrey Flack needs a shed at her Cottage Avenue property to store her work, she told the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday.

But the 432-square-foot building, which would be just over 18 feet high, would require multiple variances that the board seems unwilling to grant. The village code restricts accessory structures to 250 square feet and 14 feet in height. Ms. Flack would also need variances from side-yard setbacks for the shed, and a 64-square-foot exterior cellar entrance would result in a total lot coverage of 480 square feet more than is permitted.

Tom Osborne, an attorney representing Ms. Flack and her husband, H. Robert Marcus, told the board that some of the artist’s work is large, necessitating the proposed shed’s height. Ms. Flack’s sculptures include monumental female figures and she counts many public projects among her body of work. Her house on Cottage Avenue does not have a full basement and the lot’s layout provides scant options for an accessory structure’s placement, Mr. Osborne said.

The shed was initially proposed to be even larger, he said. Should she receive the variance relief, he added, an existing shed in which pool furniture is stored would be removed, eliminating 80 square feet of coverage.

Complicating matters, however, Ms. Flack would like the shed to be heated — owing to the materials used in her art, Mr. Osborne said — and to include a sink. Such requests tend to raise board members’ fears that an accessory structure will be used as living space.

A sink would require a septic system, said Linda Riley, the village’s attorney. “Where are you going to put that?” she asked. Those specifications have not been completed, Mr. Osborne said.

“It’s asking a lot,” said Lys Marigold, the board’s vice chairwoman, including that the board approve a structure that may not necessarily be used for storage in the future. “Fifty years from now there’s still going to be a structure there,” she said. 

The proposed shed, said Frank Newbold, the chairman, would be almost two stories tall. “If I was neighbor, I’d be concerned about it,” he said.

“I think it’s too much,” John McGuirk agreed.

“I know it sounds like an awful lot,” Ms. Flack answered, but, she said, “If you came over, you’d see that there is no other place.” Compared to neighboring properties, hers is tiny, she said. She told the board that she has been in East Hampton since the 1950s, and that her house had previously belonged to the artist Jimmy Ernst.

“As far as impact,” she said, “nobody’s going to really see it. . . . It sounds like I’m asking so much. I’m just asking for a place to store my work.” The hearing was left open and will be revisited at the board’s next meeting, on Friday, Feb. 27.

The continuation of a hearing on Andy and Jane Graiser’s house at 42 Mill Hill Lane, a new construction that followed demolition of an existing house, was adjourned to the board’s Friday, Feb. 27, meeting, but a neighboring homeowner nonetheless registered objections — hers and those of other neighbors — to both the size of the house and the proposed location of a garage.

At the board’s Jan. 9 meeting, the applicants’ request to add an eyebrow window to the roof, which the Building Department had previously denied, was debated anew. At that meeting, and again on Friday, Mary Bush of 50 Mill Hill Lane lamented what in her view was the poor planning that allowed a house of its size. On her street, “where some homes are already in close proximity, and cherished houses almost 100 years old will stand next to new construction, it is vitally important to consider visual impact from the road and neighbors,” she said. The village’s zoning code allows builders a blank palette within certain parameters, she said, and also ensures that neighbors’ privacy is respected. “Unfortunately, we do not see that the relief sought from the code in this application does either,” she said.

The board also announced four determinations. Howard D. Schultz, the chief executive officer of the Starbucks chain, and his wife, Sheri Kersch-Schultz, were granted a coastal erosion hazard permit and variance relief to allow the construction of 400 square feet of wood decking and stone pavers in place of a stone patio, as well as the erection of a sculpture at 14 Gracie Lane. The additions will be landward of the coastal erosion hazard area line, and the board found that there will be minimal or no disturbance to the dune or other natural features.

Diane Flynn of 88 Buell Lane was granted variances to allow the construction of first and second-story additions to her house and improvements to an existing garage. The improvements add to the gross floor area and lot coverage, both of which are already more than the maximum permitted under code.

William Sheehan and Melissa Egbert of 10 Egypt Lane were given variances from side and rear-yard setbacks to allow a swimming pool and adjacent patio to be reconstructed. Their lot coverage also exceeds the maximum permitted. Evan Kulman of 35 Conklin Terrace was also granted variances to permit lot coverage in excess of the maximum permitted, and relief from setback requirements to allow the continued existence of a garage and air-conditioning units.