Demolition, but No Permit

The height of the water table, adjacent wetlands, and allowing a house to be demolished without appropriate approval had all sides in a controversial application before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals seeing red on Sept. 29. The immediate question was whether a property owner could take advantage of variances and permits that had been granted before the structure was demolished.

The 1.7-acre property, at 96 Northwest Landing Road, was purchased by Peter Emerson in 2013 for $2.2 million, under an L.L.C. called ESLanding. The previous owner had been before the Z.B.A. in 2009, and again in 2010, obtaining approvals to expand the residence and add a swimming pool and decking. He never followed through.

In March, Dan Casey, a former town building inspector, issued the new owner a permit to demolish the house even though demolition had not come up before the Z.B.A. “It was not until after the demolition had taken place that the Zoning Board of Appeals received a memo asking if the property was ready for the issuance of a building permit and the error was discovered,” Tyler Borsack, a planner for the town, wrote in a memo to the board.

There are extensive wetlands to the north and southwest of the property, requiring a permit to build near the wetlands, and major setback variances from the wetlands would be needed for the proposed pool.

The old house on the property had been built before town zoning was adopted, and it was built with less than the currently required two-foot separation between the structure and the water table. The new proposal adds a basement, exacerbating the problem.That means sump pumps would have to be used, particularly during rainfall, Mr. Borsack wrote in his memo.

Robert M. Connelly, an attorney with Farrel Fritz, spoke on behalf of the applicant. “This is not a self-created hardship,” he said. He called the demolition permit a mistake, saying his client should not have to pay for an error by the town. “They relied on the building inspector,” he said.

Pat Trunzo, who would be the builder, told the board the structure would be completely waterproofed, using a new method of pouring concrete, which has no seams for water to flow through. Mr. Trunzo said pilings would have to be driven beneath the foundation, because the ground itself is extremely porous.

Neighbors, however, objected to the project, expressing particularly strong opposition to the pool. “As we all know, building a pool in a Harbor Overlay District is virtually prohibited because of the obvious threat to the wetlands,” T. James Matthews, head of the Northwest Alliance, wrote in a letter to the board. “There are no pools at any homes on Northwest Landing Road.”

“Caveat emptor. The owner should have known,” Donald Lehman, another neighbor, told the board. David Demarest, yet another neighbor, said the applicant should consider eliminating the pool. “This is a luxury,” he said.

At the close of the hearing, the record was kept open for one week to allow Mr. Connelly to submit the Suffolk County Board of Health Service’s approval for the proposed sanitary system.