Study Divides Board
A Native American burial site, which was discovered in 1917 off Springs Close Highway in East Hampton, has split the town planning board down the middle in connection with a subdivision application for property across the street.
The applicant is Patrick Bistrian III, principal of an L.L.C. called E.E.B. Farms. Richard Whalen of LandMarks, Mr. Bistrian’s representative, told the planners on April 22 that Mr. Bistrian plans to create a family compound and build a pond on the site, which has been in his family for many years.
Although the property is shown on tax maps as three different parcels, it is actually divided into two, a 22-acre site, which is vacant, and a smaller lot with a house on it. Mr. Bistrian has applied for subdivision approval under the town’s open space provisions, allowing the larger lot to be divided into four buildable parcels, ranging from about 90,000 to 100,000 square feet, although the land is zoned for three-acre minimum lots. The remaining land would be divided into two preserves, one of 7.7 acres for agriculture, the other a standard reserve slightly larger than 3 acres.
Because the burial sites are only 300 feet away, JoAnne Pahwul, assistant director of the Planning Department, told the board that the department believes a new archeological study should be made to make certain there is nothing of Native American significance on the Bistrian site. She reported that 58 burials had been unearthed at a depth of four to five feet in 1917, according to a 1991 report by James Treux, who had inspected the site. He also found six fireplaces, lined with 40 stones each, as well as coins and other artifacts, which dated the burials to the late 1600s to the early 1700s.
A second survey of the Bistrian property was done in 1992, finding evidence of plowing but nothing of Native American significance, but Ms. Pahwul said new standards for how such surveys are to be conducted had been adopted by the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation in 1994. This change led to request for a new survey in 1996, but this was not done.
The cost of such work was clearly a concern to the applicant, Mr. Whalen said. He argued that the mere proximity of burials did not mean that a new survey would produce any different results.
The board split on whether to require a new study, splitting 3-to-3. However, because Diana Weir was not at the meeting, she is expected to be the deciding vote, Reed Jones, chairman of the board, said.
Another review before the planners that night involved the Iacono Farm on Long Lane, a popular destination for fresh eggs and local chickens. The AT&T corporation has something difhe planned antenna placement appears quite noticeable. Board members asked if the additional equipment could be made flush with the tower, an idea Eric Schantz, a senior planner for the town, had suggested in a memo. Board members also wondered if, by approving the proposal, the board would be opening the door to more wind towers across the town suddenly becoming cellphone towers.
Mr. Schantz pointed out that the town code has directives that are not mandatory on the placement of such towers, with farms excluded as possible sites.
John Huber of Nielson, Huber & Coughlin, an attorney who has appeared before the board numerous times representing phone companies’ tower requests, cautioned the board that under federal law the town would not be able to prohibit the antennas. He said he would work with the Planning Department to find an aesthetically more pleasing solution.
At the Montauk Light
In other matters at the busy meeting, Johnson Nordlinger, representing the lighthouse committee of the Montauk Historical Society, spoke about its plan to construct a 500-square-foot barn on the over three-and-a-half acre site, which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The new barn would be used for storage and allow another building currently used for that purpose to be restored as a lighthouse keeper’s dwelling, for which it was built in 1838. The society has been awarded a matching state grant for the project.
Board members, led by Nancy Keeshan, who has a business in Montauk, were supportive of the plan. Ms. Keeshan pointed out that a Pod currently behind the 1838 building would be removed, and the new storage barn placed next to it, on the west side of the driveway that leads to it.
The only caveat from the town’s Planning Department, in the form of a memo from Ms. Pahwul, was that earlier test excavations indicate there might be items of historical significance beneath the surface. Ms. Nordlinger told the board that any excavation would be carefully monitored. She pointed to the society’s longstanding commitment to preserving historical sites. The board noted that as correct, and the plan moved a step closer to fruition.
Finally, the Three Mile Harbor Marina had a site plan before the board for a building to be used for mechanical equipment and to provide toilet facilities for persons whose boats dock at the marina. Mark Mendelman explained that those docked at the marina now have to use a portable toilet.
However, Mr. Mendelman also told the board that the Building Department could not issue a certificate of occupancy for the building because of certain conditions that pre-existed the Mendelman ownership group’s purchase of the marina, just months before Hurricane Sandy struck. He said bulkheads also needed repair.
The board was pleased with the thoroughness of the presentation, and encouraged Mr. Mendelman to continue to work with the Planning Department.