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Decry Excessive Plans Near Georgica Pond

“mini-Versailles”
By
Christopher Walsh

Decrying what she called a “mini-Versailles” and increased “paverization,” Lys Marigold, vice chairwoman of the village’s zoning board of appeals, spoke for her colleagues about an application for extensive landscaping and the addition of multiple structures at a property on West End Road bordering Georgica Pond.

Emilia Saint-Amand, the widow of H. Frederick Krimendahl II, a longtime Goldman Sachs executive who died last year, is seeking multiple variances and a freshwater wetlands permit for excavation, fill, grading, planting, and drainage, as well as fences, walls, walks, and other paved surfaces. Speaking on her behalf at the meeting, William J. Fleming said the property had been inundated by Hurricane Irene in 2011 and “battered again by Sandy” the following year.

The house had subsequently been elevated and is now five feet higher at its lowest point than before the storms, Mr. Fleming said. A new 3,500-square-foot septic field and other proposed changes would result in the lot’s coverage being 12,455 square feet, or 22 percent greater than the maximum permitted. Mr. Fleming said the additional coverage reflected the elevations of the residence.

Runoff would remain on the parcel, Mr. Fleming said, via catch basins that would be dug and filled with sand. Edmund Hollander, Ms. Saint-Amand’s landscape architect, said this was the best treatment for runoff.

But the property was “pretty much empty” before Hurricane Sandy, according to Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman. He expressed concern about the additional coverage proposed. Herringbone brick walkways and other structures are proposed “particularly close to the pond,” he said, noting a fence, walkway, steppingstones, and dry wells would be as close as 1.7 feet from wetlands, where the required setback is 150 feet. At least 15 dry wells on the property would feed into groundwater, he said, raising concern about drainage, fertilization, and irrigation that would affect the pond. Later in the meeting, he called the plans “way too elaborate for a very sensitive, narrow site.”

Ms. Marigold continued the critique. “I’m surprised that Ed Hollander, who has done other work on the pond, would create a mini-Versailles there,” she said. “You look at all the old houses, people walked on the grass. Nowadays, everything has to be connected with brick walkways, pavers, steppingstones. In 2015, with all the problems of Georgica, to put in this kind of landscaping plan . . . I was actually shocked.”

“I probably wouldn’t vote for this at all,” John McGuirk, a member of the board, said.

“I came here realizing I might have to come back. It’s starting to sink in that I may well be back here,” Mr. Fleming said. Mr. Newbold asked him to review the plans with his client and suggested they consider the pond’s ecological sensitivity.

The board approved a separate fresh water permit for the removal of phragmites and other invasive plants and closed that portion of the hearing. It was tentatively scheduled to resume at the board’s meeting on Friday, Sept. 11.

The board also announced three determinations. Over the dissenting vote of one member, Craig Humphrey, Michael Ostin, a music executive, was granted variances to allow the reconstruction of a pre-existing second house at 115 Montauk Highway. The code allows only one residence per lot.

The board attached conditions to the variance, requiring that Mr. Ostin use the 507-square-foot house only for family or nonpaying guests, put in and maintain a 6-foot-high fence and 8-foot-high evergreens along two boundary lines, and record covenants with the county clerk stating that the conditions were binding on all heirs or successors.

The other two decisions announced granted approval retroactively. Josh Resnick of 61 David’s Lane was granted a variance allowing the continued existence of 8,337 square feet of lot coverage, exceeding the maximum permitted by 1,239 square feet. The board found that Mr. Resnick had made improvements to the property without realizing that at-grade patios and walkways are included in lot coverage calculations. It found, however, that they caused no undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood. Larry Hillel cast a dissenting vote.

Thomas Piacentine and Kathleen Ryan of 10 Buell Lane Extension were granted variances to allow the continued maintenance of a swimming pool, pool equipment, patio, waterfall, trash bin, air-conditioning unit, accessory building, and slate walkway, all within required setbacks. The variances were conditioned on the removal of a shower from an accessory building and its use solely as a studio or pool house, with no sleeping or cooking. 

 

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