New Macklowe Charge

This week's development in the ongoing dispute between the Georgica Close Road, East Hampton, neighbors Martha Stewart and Harry Macklowe centers not on Ms. Stewart but on alleged violations of the Village Code by Mr. Macklowe.

Ms. Stewart was alleged last week to have backed up a vehicle she was driving on May 21 into a landscaper working for her neighbor, although charges have not been filed.

This week, Mr. Macklowe is being accused of placing the fence that prompted the driving incident and plantings along the border of their multimillion-dollar Georgica Pond properties without a permit.

According to Thomas Lawrence, the village's code enforcement officer, citations will be served "as soon as possible." He added that additional citations might follow.

Evidence Seen

The incident, for which Ms. Stewart faces several possible misdemeanor charges, is said to have occurred after she discovered the fence and exchanged words with the landscaper. Reportedly, the fence was erected during the previous night.

Working after dark, particularly just before the Memorial Day weekend, was "not uncommon," said Mr. Lawrence, but "it's at best suspect."

Mr. Lawrence also said evidence of sawdust and foot traffic on Ms. Stewart's side of the fence led him to believe some construction activity had occurred on her property. He said it would have been a "physical impossibility" to have built it without going on Ms. Stewart's property.

In D.A. Hands

Ms. Stewart, a house and garden authority with a magazine that bears her name, is a nationally known celebrity. Mr. Macklowe is a top player in Manhattan real estate and is a benefactor of charitable causes.

The landscaper, Matthew J. Munnich, is an employee of Whitmore's nursery in Amagansett. The complaint he filed last week with village police alleging that Ms. Stewart's vehicle pinned him against the control box of a gate in her neighbor's driveway was reported to be enough for charges of a "reckless" rather than "intentional" nature to be filed.

However, the complaint has been in the hands of the Suffolk District Attorney's office for about a week.

District Attorney James M. Catterson Jr. said this week he had assigned his chief investigator, Robert Plansker, to review the information gathered by the Village Police Department and perhaps reinterview parties involved in or witness to the May 21 incident.

Called Unusual

"They advised me they want to reinvestigate . . . and speak with my investigators, just to go over some of the evidence," Village Police Chief Glen Stonemetz said Tuesday. From there, he said, the District Attorney would decide whether to go ahead with the charges. Such a decision is not expected for another week or maybe more.

The chief said he thought such intensive review was unusual. "In a case of this magnitude, I'd say it's unusual. . . . If this were a homicide . . . something of a very serious nature, I'd expect them to do that." But, the chief added, "It seems we're dotting our 'i's' and crossing our 't's' very extensively."

Mr. Catterson, however, said he didn't think his office's review was out of the ordinary. "Given all the notoriety surrounding" the parties, Mr. Catterson said Tuesday, the case is "worth a longer look-see to be fair."

"Why rush to judgment and cause a spectacle? . . . Time in this system is not as critical as being right," he said.

Trying To Be Fair

Mr. Catterson met Monday with the complainant, Mr. Munnich, and his Hauppauge attorney, Edward L. Wolf, Mr. Wolf told The Star. According to Mr. Wolf, the purpose of the meeting was "to meet Matthew and his family" and "to hear his recitation of what occurred."

Mr. Wolf said he would not comment further until the investigation was complete, but he indicated that there was the potential for a civil suit by his client as well.

Neither Mr. Catterson nor Drew Biondo, his spokesman, would confirm reports that a meeting with Ms. Stewart and the Connecticut attorney she has hired for the case, Jeffrey Stephens, also was in the works. Mr. Catterson did say that he was "more than willing to talk to everybody involved."

"I want to be fair to all parties," he said.

New Fence

Meanwhile, village officials inspected the properties in the last week or so and have taken numerous photographs.

Much of the new gray-stained wooden fence appears to be where an old fence was torn down at least six months ago, the code enforcement officer, Mr. Lawrence, said.

The new fence is longer, however, by approximately 100 feet on the end closest to the pond and its associated wetlands, said Mr. Lawrence. He estimated it ended about 25 feet from the water's edge.

On Tuesday afternoon he said he was preparing paperwork that accuses Mr. Macklowe of three Village Code violations. They will be that the fence in question was built without a wetlands permit or variances, and is about 7.6 feet high, exceeding the village's six-foot limit, and that a number of "shrubs and low plantings" were planted without a necessary wetlands permit.

Requirements

The Village Code requires a 150-foot setback from wetlands and a permit for structures, including fences. A 125-foot setback, plus a permit, is required for landscaping.

Plantings, plus lighting fixtures and their associated wiring, brought Ms. Stewart and Mr. Macklowe head-to-head to begin with more than a year and a half ago. The two have been battling since.

Three alleged Village Code violations by Mr. Macklowe stemming from the original plantings and lighting have been pending in East Hampton Town Justice Court for about a year. A trial on those charges, which are technically against Mr. Macklowe's corporation KAM Hampton I Realty Corp., is scheduled for July 8. The three additional violation charges which are expected to be levied would also be against the corporation.

Mr. Macklowe, his attorney, Michael Walsh of Water Mill, and the owner of Whitmore's, Jack Whitmore, have not returned calls.

Notoriety

The case has attracted a great deal of media attention, not just from the metropolitan press, but from entertainment centered television shows from New York and California.

Village police were called to Mr. Macklowe's house twice last week, on May 27 and again on Friday, because television camera crews were walking on the property. By the time police arrived, they had left.

A "Relay" column on the media attention, written by a number of Star staff members, appears in the second section of today's paper.