At Loggerheads on Lily Pond Lane

Seventeen months after applying to the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals for permits and variances for a construction project at her 5.9-acre oceanfront property at 165 Lily Pond Lane, representatives for Loida Lewis, the widow of the first African-American billionaire, returned to make their case anew.

Ms. Lewis seeks a coastal erosion hazard permit and area variances to allow a pre-existing, nonconforming cottage to be reconstructed and expanded as an addition to the existing residence, with a porch; the continued existence of both a 605-square-foot game room with half-bath, converted from a garage, and 400 square feet of decking and stairs on its north side, and the replacement of 150 linear feet of a wood retaining wall with one made of brick.

The proposed 1,400-square-foot addition to the existing house would have a breezeway on the first-floor level and connect to the house at the second floor. It would have a partial basement with exterior stairway and a 180-square-foot screened porch at the first floor. The proposed improvements are seaward of the coastal erosion hazard line and within the required side property-line setback.

While Ms. Lewis’s April 2014 application was ultimately withdrawn, the board, as it had then, asked for extensive additional information at a meeting on Friday. Board members were also irritated by a request to overlook a 2012 stop-work order that was ignored.

Ms. Lewis’s husband, Reginald Lewis, was the chief executive officer of Beatrice Foods International. The couple and their two children previously lived at Broadview, the 1916 mansion at the Bell Estate in Amagansett, which was destroyed by fire in 1991. Soon after, they bought the Lily Pond Lane house. Mr. Lewis died in 1993.

Ms. Lewis has taken all reasonable measures to mitigate impacts on the environment, Elizabeth Schmid, an attorney representing her, said. Project-limiting fencing will be installed, hay bales will direct storm runoff away from the bluff, and all excavation will be done by hand and a mini-excavator on the landward side of the structure, she said.

Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, said that the attorney for an adjacent neighbor, the investor Ronald Perelman, had sent a letter asking that if variance relief is required to expand the cottage, “we ask that the project be reduced as not to require relief,” as the two-story structure would overlook his client’s property.

Also of concern, Mr. Newbold said, was “what happens on the crest of the dune.” Can the required excavation be confined within the existing foundation to minimize disturbance?

“I don’t think we’re doing anything to the dune,” answered Scott Dobriner of InterScience Research Associates, a consultant to the project. “There’s going to be approximately eight cubic yards of excavation.”

Board members worried aloud as to whether the weight of a second-story addition would damage the bluff. “It’s so close to the edge of the dune,” said Craig Humphrey, “it’s hard for me to believe that putting more weight on there is not going to do something.” Three additional bathrooms, board members said, could stress what may be an antiquated septic system, also situated close to the dune. An analysis will be submitted, Ms. Schmid said.

The garage had been converted to a game room without the required permits, Ms. Schmid conceded, but Ms. Lewis had relied on flawed information from her contractor.

“Just to be clear,” Mr. Newbold said, “the stop-work order was issued July 20, 2012, saying you needed a permit and a variance, but the work was completed despite the stop-work order, and it’s been used by your client for the last three years illegally. It’s the homeowner’s responsibility, not the contractor.”

“She’s now requesting that the permit not be denied because of this transgression,” Ms. Schmid said.

“We should just look the other way?” asked Linda Riley, the village’s attorney. “We should just not care?”

Had the application come before the board prior to the work being done, it  probably would have been denied, Mr. Newbold said. Further, a game room is liable to create noise, and the large deck is just feet from the property line with Mr. Perelman’s lot.

“Part of your proposal,” Ms. Riley said, “could be to undo, literally, that work that was done right on the boundary line with the illegal expansion.”

Mr. Newbold suggested, as a possible solution, returning the structure to a garage. “The gaming room,” he said, “is not a popular option.”

The hearing was left open, with Mr. Newbold instructing Ms. Schmid to submit the requested information and to speak with her client about modifying the application to reflect the board’s concerns.

Two Determinations

The board also announced two determinations. Donna Symer of 17 Sherrill Road was granted variances to allow the continued maintenance of a shed and bin within the required setbacks, and lot coverage and accessory-structure gross floor area exceeding the maximum permitted.

The board determined that removal of phragmites and other nonnative vegetation from wetlands at 40 West End Road would not have an adverse effect on the environment, and granted a freshwater wetlands permit to the estate of H. Frederick Krimendahl II allowing its removal, to be followed by revegetation with native noninvasive species.

Another portion of the application, for extensive landscaping and the addition of structures, is ongoing.