Renovation of Historic Saltbox, 300 Years Old, Warmly Reviewed by Zoning Board

The proposed renovation of a historic timber-frame house opposite Town Pond drew mostly praise from members of the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday. 

Frank J. Jackson is seeking a freshwater wetlands permit and variances to renovate the Isaac W. Miller House at 223 Main Street and install a new septic system, which would be closer to the pond than is permitted by code. He also needs variances to convert a portion of a garage and potting shed that straddles the rear-yard lot line into a pool house.

The architect Aymar Embury purchased the house, which is more than 300 years old, in 1927, according to Robert Hefner, the village’s director of historic services. Embury added a brick porch on the south wall and a small rear wing that would presently be removed and replaced with a larger addition. The renovated house would retain many important features, but would be 378 square feet larger than the maximum permitted by code.

In a July letter to the village’s design review board, which would also have to approve the project, Mr. Hefner called the house “a historic building of the first order of significance,” one of three in the Main Street historic district to retain its 18th-century saltbox form, along with the Mulford Farm and the Home, Sweet Home Museum. It is adjacent to the Thomas Moran House, the home and studio of the renowned artist and a National Historic Landmark that is itself undergoing renovation.

On Friday, Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, agreed with Leonard Ackerman, representing the applicant, that the proposed project represents “a very positive step for the village, to adapt a 300-year-old dwelling for the lifestyle people live today.”

The new septic system would replace one installed in 1927. It could be placed in a conforming location toward the rear of the property, Mr. Newbold said, but the applicant would like to restore a historic garden there. The size and shape of the converted garage would remain the same, said David Hottenroth, the project’s architect.

Larry Hillel, a board member, worried that the variance allowing excess floor area, combined with a portion of the basement that would be used for living space, would add undue density to the house and neighborhood. But on balance, Mr. Ackerman said, “granting a 367-square-foot variance is not detrimental in terms of what the community and the village is going to end up with,” while Mr. Newbold said the house was on a very constrained lot and that its owner had agreed to protect the original timber frame.

His colleagues agreed. The hearing was closed, and a determination is likely at the board’s next meeting, on Oct. 14.

A new hearing on a prior application, one on which the board had cast a more skeptical eye, was this time warmly received.

David Geffen, the music and film executive, had sought extensive alterations, all seaward of the coastal erosion hazard area line, to his two-acre oceanfront property at 199 Lily Pond Lane. He purchased the property for $70 million from the estate of Josephine Chaus in March, and was planning to spend another $1.9 million on renovations, including converting a covered patio into a finished cellar, adding a 1,045-square-foot garage with a roof terrace onto the house, expanding a swimming pool patio, constructing walkways, patios, steppingstones, pool fencing, and retaining walls, replacing existing air-conditioning units and adding another unit, and filling and grading the land.

His proposed renovation still requires a coastal erosion hazard area permit and multiple variances to make alterations to decking and allow lot coverage and floor area greater than permitted by code, but Mr. Ackerman, also representing Mr. Geffen, detailed the new application’s significantly reduced plans.

In response to the board’s request, all the existing air-conditioning units, pool equipment, and a surrounding wood wall will be removed, Mr. Ackerman said, and native vegetation will be planted in the area. The proposed attached garage has been reduced so that it will not expand beyond the perimeter of the main residence, a pool patio has been cut back from 365 to 107 square feet, and the walkways have been withdrawn from the application.

Wary of the illegal conversion of accessory structures to habitable space, the board had objected to a garage, attached to an existing cottage on the property, that has French doors, no driveway, and gardens in the path of vehicle access. The gardens have been removed, Mr. Ackerman said, while the garage doors will be replaced and vehicle access maintained.

A proposed deck platform leading to the beach has been reduced to four feet in width, and a pool fence will be moved 15.6 feet landward and beach grass planted between it and the edge of the dune.

“You’ve been very responsive to all of our concerns,” Mr. Newbold said. In an application such as this one, he said, “we’re wanting to do everything we can for the health of the dune. I think your client has made mitigation in exchange for the variances requested.” The hearing was closed.

Two determinations were announced at the meeting. Munib Islam, who owns the adjoining lots of 40 Lee Avenue and 90 Georgica Road, was granted variances to allow a tennis court, pergola, steps, and a retaining wall at the latter property, despite the parcel having no principal building as required by code. The board also granted Mr. Islam variances allowing construction of a 10,962-square-foot house on the Lee Avenue parcel, where 9,283 feet of floor area is the maximum permitted, as well as a pool house that falls within side and rear-yard setbacks. The house will replace one that is being demolished.

The board granted the Jonathan Alan Sawyer 2008 Irrevocable Trust and the Linda Sonia Sawyer 2008 Irrevocable Trust a wetlands permit and variances to convert an accessory building to a pool house within the wetlands setback at 122 Georgica Close Road. The pool house will be larger and taller than permitted by code. As a condition, no indoor shower may be installed in the pool house.