Morpurgo Teardown Inches Ahead

Sag Harbor Village officials are moving ahead with a plan to tear down the blighted, storied house at 6 Union Street. Following a renewed recommendation from the building inspector last month that the abandoned house be demolished, the board has scheduled a necessary public hearing for later this month.

Health and safety issues have been raised for years, but in a March report Thomas Preiato, the chief building inspector, asserted that the house, formerly owned by the Morpurgo family, had fallen into disrepair. The Federal-style house, about 210 years old, is in danger of collapse, he said. Parts of the ceilings and roofs have already collapsed, there’s an open septic tank, the porch is falling apart, and sections of exterior walls are missing altogether.

Without compliance from the current owner, recently identified as the Captain Hulbert House, a limited liability corporation, the village could deem the house a health and safety hazard and have it demolished. Costs would be passed onto the property owner in the tax bill.

A hearing must be held first. The board had planned to hold one on Tuesday, but it was postponed on a technicality involving proper notice and will instead take place during the final meeting of the village’s fiscal year, May 31 at 10 a.m.

Some residents who attended a board meeting last month were dismayed to hear that the house, once a prime example of a whaler captain’s residence, would be demolished, and asked that it be preserved. On Tuesday night, one member of the audience questioned why the board was deciding to tear it down without an engineer’s report.

Robby Stein, the deputy mayor, said the village could not send an engineer onto the property without the owner’s permission, but added that the real issue was safety. “It’s not just an eyesore, it’s also a health hazard.”

“I don’t know that an engineer would make me change my position,” Mr. Preiato told the audience. “It’s a health and safety issue when you can look through the wall and see the basement.” Whether parts of the building could be salvaged was not the primary concern, he said. “It is sad, but somebody getting hurt is much sadder.”  

Despite efforts last year, the board and its attorneys have been unsuccessful in getting the current owner to clean up the property, which was not only in the midst of foreclosure but was also involved in former Suffolk Legislator George O. Guldi’s mortgage fraud scheme. Mr. Guldi is currently serving prison time. The mortgage lender did place a fence around the property, but was reportedly barred from doing any further work until the proceedings were finalized.

“I’m personally done with this building,” Ed Deyermond, a village board member, said Tuesday night, adding that it had been the opinion of several building inspectors that it come down. “I think it’s got to go.”

In other village business, the board granted, as it does annually, outdoor dining licenses for Sen, Wolffer Kitchen, LT Burger, and Page at 63 Main, as long as their representatives sit down with village officials to address any outstanding issues. Mr. Deyermond said he has put aside two days next week to meet with the restaurants and go over such concerns as sewer utilization documents, outstanding fines and permits, certificate of occupancy, and fire safety issues. The building inspector and code enforcement officer will be brought into the meetings as well.

Only one of the restaurants, Sen, was represented at Tuesday’s meeting, to the dismay of Mr. Deyermond, who remarked that restaurateurs think “this is a given. I think this is a gift that we do this. It’s great for the village, but it can cause a lot of problems.”