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Deer Fence on Lee Avenue, Chickens at Maidstone Club

By
Christopher Walsh

In what Frank Newbold, the chairman, said was probably a record, it took the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals just nine minutes to complete its meeting on Friday. No new applications were on the agenda, and the continuation of one hearing, which had been held on July 28, was adjourned until Friday, Aug. 25. That left the reading of determinations.

The continued hearing concerns four contiguous lots, 70, 72, 74, and 76 Lee Avenue, owned by Jane Goldman and her husband, Benjamin Lewis. They seek to legalize eight-foot-high deer fencing on the lots, where the maximum allowed in the zoning code is six. 

The lots total approximately 12 acres, and contain approximately 2,235 linear feet of fencing. The fencing, Andrew Goldstein, an attorney representing the applicants, said on July 28, was put up “to enhance the personal security of the owner and also to deter deer from coming into the properties.” It was installed several years ago, he said, and is fully encased in “very substantial plantings on all sides of the property.”

Citing previous determinations, Mr. Goldstein said the board had granted variances for deer fencing exceeding six feet when it was embedded in vegetation or could not be seen from the street. “Really, there’s no difference between this application and those applications,” he said.

But, said Linda Riley, the Z.B.A.’s attorney, in those cases the board asked whether the benefit could be achieved while  complying with the code, which allows an additional two feet of horizontal wires over six-foot-high fencing. To install that, Mr. Goldstein said, they would “have to take out all the plantings on Lee Avenue. You’ll have a compliant fence, and you won’t see the plantings.” He added that variance relief would not change the character of the neighborhood or have a detrimental impact on adjacent properties.

The hearing for all the lots would have been closed on July 28, but for pending litigation. The fencing runs through a scenic easement granted to the village on two of the lots. In a previous case, the board had granted variances on the condition that structures within an easement were removed. The court ruled that the zoning board did not have jurisdiction over the easement, and the village has filed a notice of appeal.

“This board can’t try to enforce the easement or any such thing because it’s not within your purview,” Ms. Riley said, but it can consider whether or not variance relief would affect the neighborhood’s character or cause a detriment to neighbors. “I don’t think you should feel boxed in, that you have to grant it or deny it, one way or the other.”

Meanwhile, variances for two of the four lots, which were unaffected by the lawsuit, were granted on Friday.  The fencing in question, Mr. Newbold said, is at the back of the rear lots, farthest from Lee Avenue, where the natural vegetation is overgrown. It is almost impossible to see, he said. His colleagues agreed, and the hearing was finally closed.

In the other decisions announced on Friday, the Maidstone Club was granted a permit to construct a 300-square-foot chicken coop at 152 Egypt Lane in connection with the private club’s children’s summer camp. The permit was granted on the condition that no lighting is installed.

The board granted Colleen Casey variances to allow a children’s play set, a storage bin, and a generator to remain within a front-yard  setback, and to allow the alteration and enlargement of an existing stone patio, also within the setback, at 47 Cooper Lane.

 

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