New Plans at Mulford Lane Water’s Edge
Property owners who want to demolish their house overlooking Gardiner’s Bay at the end of Mulford Lane in Amagansett and build a new one protected by a rock revetment will be before the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals during its first hearings of the year on Tuesday.
Joshua Young and Christine Lemieux have been down this road before, appearing before the board on Aug. 30 with plans to tear down their one-story, 1,200-square-foot house and construct an 1,836-square-foot house with a deck in its place and a 160-foot-long stone revetment along the beach to help prevent erosion. To do this, they needed a natural resources permit and variances from wetlands and coastal setbacks, and from coastal erosion district overlay regulations. The proposed rock revetment is in an area where new coastal erosion control structures are prohibited.
In the summer, the application was rushed through for a hearing due to damage resulting from a Dec. 27, 2010, storm and impending peril from future storms. But during the hearing, the applicants’ attorney, Christopher Kelley, informed the board that a neighbor to the east recently decided to join the plan. Additionally, the Napeague Beach Club, a homeowners group of Mulford Lane residents, also wanted to create a revetment of sorts and place rocks at the end of the road.
Mr. Kelley told the board in August that the applicants wanted to alter the septic system, revise their survey, and submit a new proposal entirely. The board agreed to leave the record open for three weeks to allow time for the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation to comment and for the applicants to submit their revised plan.
More than four months later, the project has been modified, but still only includes the original applicants, who are planning to demolish the house and build a new 1,719-square-foot, two-story house on pilings with a 789-square- foot deck on two stories. They are now asking for permission to build a 115-linear-foot stone revetment.
The septic system will be moved to the southeast corner of the property, and it, along with the driveway, would be on land that contains tidal wetlands, freshwater wetlands, barrier dunes, surface waters, and beach vegetation. The same relief is sought as before, a natural resources permit, along with multiple variances, and permission to install a new coastal erosion structure where town code would prohibit it. The new plan also requires a variance from the town’s pyramid law.
Brian Frank, the Planning Department’s chief environmental analyst, prepared an Environmental Assessment Form for the board to consider during its deliberations, and noted on the form that the house, as now proposed, and the septic system would be farther from the water than what is there now.
The zoning board meeting starts at 7:30 p.m. The Young and Lemieux hearing is scheduled for 8:30.