Popcorn Can Build

Though it seemed at first that the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals might deny Faith Popcorn's request to add to her Georgica Association house in Wainscott, a majority eventually agreed to give her a natural resources permit and a 6-percent lot coverage variance, enabling the addition to be built.

The decision came only after a virtual line-by-line review of standards in the Town Code during a work session June 17.

Four of the five board members agreed in the end that the additions made for a house of an acceptable size on an undersized lot that pre-exists zoning requirements, and that Ms. Popcorn had made many efforts to mitigate any impact on her neighbors.

Neighbors May Sue

The neighbors objected strongly to the trend-spotter's plan to convert a garage into living space and connect it to her existing 762-square-foot house via a 346-square-foot addition, with a clerestory above. She sought first-floor porches as well.

Ms. Popcorn also plans to upgrade her sanitary system, which will be relocated as far from Georgica Pond as possible.

"Very disappointing" and "bad planning" said William J. Fleming of East Hampton, the attorney representing several of Ms. Popcorn's neighbors, of the decision. He called her project "too aggressive for the property," which is about one-quarter of an acre in an area now zoned for three-acre lots.

His clients "are taking a hard look at" the possibility of a lawsuit, Mr. Fleming said.

Negotiations

Christopher Kelley, the East Hampton attorney representing Ms. Popcorn, thanked the board for its "thoughtful" and "impressive" deliberations and said his client was "gratified."

He remarked that her "relatively small addition" had come a long way since it was first proposed, in addressing her neighbors' concerns.

Neither attorney would discuss the details of what Mr. Fleming called "intense negotiations" before the Zoning Board was ready to make its decision. Apparently the two sides tried but failed to arrive at a compromise plan.

"They're not to be revealed," Mr. Fleming said of the specifics of the negotiations.

By The Book

In its first informal caucus, a majority of the board seemed to think the project was too large for the lot and was perhaps more than the minimum necessary, under the Town Code. As the board examined the law's wording, however, the vote swayed in Ms. Popcorn's favor.

Heather Anderson, the lone dissenter, seemed opposed to the project from the start of the discussion.

"There's just something about this application that says this is just too much for a small lot," Ms. Anderson said. "Sometimes on tiny lots you can't do big things."

On the other hand, the Wainscott representative on the board, Charles E. Butler Jr., saw no problems with the project at any point. He said he thought the variance was minimal and that the additions would have no detrimental effect on either the neighborhood or the environment.

Five Criteria

The board first considered the natural resources permit, and agreed, four to one, to grant it. With the exception of Ms. Anderson, board members felt the project, which met all wetlands setback requirements, would not harm Georgica Pond.

Secondly, and more painstakingly, the board reviewed the five criteria spelled out in the Town Code concerning area variances.

After considering whether the project would change the neighborhood for the worse, whether its benefit could be achieved by other means, whether the variance was substantial, whether the variance would have adverse impacts on the physical and environmental conditions of the area, and whether the difficulty necessitating the variance was self-created, the majority of the board said no a majority of the time.

Mitigating Factors

The four board members who voted for the addition noted as a mitigating factor that Ms. Popcorn had, with a neighbor, purchased a vacant piece of property and added half of it to her lot, bringing it to its current 12,000-square-foot size and making it more conforming than it had been.

Other mitigating factors include the granting of an easement and the upgraded sanitary system.

At one point Jay Schneiderman, the Z.B.A. chairman, noted that many of the town's regulations assumed the lot in question was of a conforming size.

"It may not be fair" to impose a restriction meant for a 125,000-square-foot property on one that measures only 12,000 square feet, Mr. Schneiderman said, adding that the addition and the variance may only seem substantial relative to the lot's small size.

On the other hand, said Ms. Anderson, "you take your chances when you buy a property that's very constrained."