A Neighbor Asks About Possible Rats
Like its previous gathering, Friday’s meeting of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals was brief, with a relatively small number of hearings on the agenda.
An application for the Hedges Inn, at 74 James Lane, was one of just two heard. The business seeks variances to legalize 29,105 square feet of coverage, where 15,345 square feet is the maximum permitted; to legalize air-conditioning condenser units and storage bins that are within required front and side-yard setbacks, and to legalize a wood storage rack and slate pavers that are within the side and rear-yard setbacks. Also needed are a wetlands permit and variances to legalize a sign, a storage bin, and air-conditioning condenser units within the required 150-foot wetlands setback.
The lot coverage is nearly twice the maximum allowed, in part because the village board decided some years ago to include driveways and parking areas in coverage calculations for pre-existing nonconforming commercial uses in residential districts.
“I believe that some or perhaps all of these minor items have been in place for quite a while,” said Tom Osborne, an attorney representing the applicant. “I’m not aware of any complaints about anything.” A neighbor, he said, did question whether one of the bins was being used for garbage. “There is a Dumpster; it’s not a bin, it’s a metal Dumpster” behind the inn, he said. The neighbor’s concern is about rodents. “We’re not aware of a rat problem at the inn, and we’re subject to Health Department inspections.”
The neighbor, said Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, would like a stipulation that no food or kitchen refuse be stored in the bins closest to the property line.
“That’s fine,” Mr. Osborne said. The bins are used to store beach umbrellas, chairs, toys, and laundry, he said.
The neighbor also asked that the applicant come before the board again if any of the air-conditioning units are to be replaced.
“Yes, we would have to come back for approval for that,” Mr. Osborne said. All agreed that most of the units are small and very quiet.
The wetlands setback pertains to Town Pond, Mr. Newbold said. Mr. Osborne said that Billy Hajek, the village planner, “had asked us to map out the nearest point of the Town Pond bulkhead to any of the structures, and we’re well away from them. He points out we’re across the street, too. I don’t see how any of that would impact the wetland.”
Be that as it may, the structures are still within the setback, Mr. Newbold said. The sign, he said, is set well back from the street line, and the design review board approved its location.
The board seemed inclined to grant the variances and wetlands permit, but before the hearing was closed a representative of the neighbor asked to address the board. Amanda Frazer, an attorney, said that there is a basis for concern about rats. “During the period that the inn was operating an outdoor restaurant, which use has since ceased, there was in fact a rat problem that affected my client’s property,” she said. The rats disappeared after the restaurant use ceased, she said, “but that concern remains if there were an increase in the use of the restaurant or the use of these bins for the disposal of food or kitchen refuse.”
The neighbor would be satisfied by a condition attached to the application’s approval prohibiting use of the bins for food or garbage, Ms. Frazer said, and the hearing was closed. t
Three determinations were read at the meeting. Harry Macklowe was granted a wetlands permit to allow the removal of phragmites by hand cutting and the revegetation of cleared areas at 64 West End Road. The permit was granted on condition that Mr. Macklowe retain a qualified professional to monitor the various species that are planted to determine which are succeeding and where; that soft rush, which is naturally established and flourishing, be included in the revegetation plan, and that an updated vegetation survey be submitted to the village at the end of the four-year implementation period to demonstrate compliance and reflect the project’s success.
The board also granted a wetlands permit to Howard and Sherri Lippman of 112 Georgica Close Road for phragmites removal by hand cutting, and to allow a children’s play set to remain 59.2 feet from the wetlands, where a 150-foot setback is required.
Dax and Rielly Vlassis were granted a variance to allow an increase of 16 square feet to their house at 47 Huntting Lane, resulting in a total floor area of 3,809.5 square feet, where 3,659.5 is the maximum permitted. The board found that a proposed expansion on the pre-existing nonconforming property would not result in an undesirable change to the character of the neighborhood.