Owners Want Two-Lot Subdivision

The proposed subdivision of a parcel with four houses on it in the Georgica Association, on the west side of Georgica Pond, caused a contentious East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals hearing earlier this month with an attorney for opponents of the plan charging that the board and the Planning Department were making a deal with the applicant.

The property, at 17 Association Road, is in a five-acre residential district and contains 5.621 acres. It is owned by Florence and Ken Joseph, who propose splitting off the largest of the four houses, which is about 10,000 square feet, from the rest of the property. Were that to occur, the remaining three acres would become a separate lot, with an existing boat house and two small cottages on it

Clifford Klenck Jr., who lives in Florida and sold the property to the Josephs, retained control of the three buildings, which are used as summer residences. Mr. Klenck rents all but the smallest of the three, where he lives in the summer. The Josephs plan to tear them down at whatever point Mr. Klenck relinquishes control of them, whether by choice or death, and replace them with a single 8,900-square-foot house. All four houses are legal because they pre-existed the five-acre zoning.

At the first hearing on the proposal, on March 4, Brian Frank, chief environmentalist for the East Hampton Town Planning Department, expressed concern about the land’s having been almost entirely cleared, except for several large old trees, and the board seemed to share that concern. On Oct. 7, however, Christopher D. Kelley of Twomey, Latham, Shea, Kelley, Dubin & Quartararo, the applicants’ attorney, presented the board with reasons why approval would be beneficial.  

“Ancient cesspools that are basically sitting in groundwater,” which undoubtedly contribute to the pollution of Georgica Pond, would be replaced with two state-of-the-art septic systems, he said. He also said the applicants would remove about 200 linear feet of a timber bulkhead.

He brought James Grimes, a Montauk landscape designer, to the hearing to present a revegetation plan. Mr. Grimes said fertilizer runoff from the vast lawn now runs right into Georgica Pond and that the waterfront was full of phragmites, an invasive plant species, that would be removed. Also speaking on behalf of the Josephs were Drew Bennett, an engineer, and Larry Penny, an environmentalist.

Mr. Frank told the board that the Planning Department, after reviewing the revised proposal, was now taking a neutral position.

This drew the ire of Theodore Sklar, an attorney for several neighbors. Saying he did not think the board had the right to divide the property into smaller parcels than zoned for, he said the board and Mr. Kelley made him feel “ambushed” because new witnesses had made presentations.  John Whelan, the board’s chairman, seemed taken aback.“You have your consultants here. Is there anything shocking that you have heard that you would like them to respond to?” Mr. Sklar said Mr. Frank’s environmental assessment had ignored the comprehensive plan. “I believe the question wasn’t asked and wasn’t answered in the case of this application, because it could not be answered in support of the application,” he said.

He pointed out that when another of his clients, Lou Clemente of Springs, had been among residents applying for a rock revetment, Mr. Frank had said the proposal appeared to be in conflict with the comprehensive plan and suggested the board require full environmental review. Mr. Frank took Mr. Sklar’s charges on directly, saying the board had to consider the variances on their own merits.

 “Ted said this is about making a deal. That kind of is a dirty way of saying trading nonconformities.” That is what they ultimately will have to consider, he said. “The nonconformities they are asking for, do they outweigh the nonconformities they presently have?”

A neighbor, Julie Murphy, also spoke in opposition to the plan, saying the proposed 8,900-square-foot house would loom over her property, and that the cottages and boat house, all of which are unheated, are in use only a couple of months of the year.

“The proposed new structure would be a McMansion,” she said. “All this talk of septic systems and doing the right thing for the environment. Yeah, let’s replace our septic systems. I replaced mine at my own expense.”

At one point, Mr. Sklar had referred to the three houses targeted for demolition as “three lousy houses.” Mr. Kelley said toward the end of the well over three-hour session that one of those houses, the boat house, rents for $250,000 a season.

The board agreed to keep the record open until Nov. 18 for additional comments from both sides and for any additional comments from Mr. Frank.