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A Subdivision Is Tabled

By
T.E. McMorrow

A proposed subdivision at 10 Roberts Lane in East Hampton appeared to die a quick death on Aug. 5, during a preliminary review before the East Hampton Town Planning Board.

The proposal involves 3.4 acres owned by Madelyn Ewing, in a district zoned for two-acre lots. Ms. Ewing wants to create two lots, the smaller being 1.4 acres.

In a memo to the board, JoAnne Pahwul, assistant town planning director, found little to mitigate in favor of the proposal. The property, she noted, is in the South Fork Special Groundwater Protection area, where the goal has always been to limit density.

“During the 2005 Comprehensive Plan update,” she wrote, “this and other lots in this area that were zoned [for two acres] that were not sub-dividable were not upzoned.” But larger properties were, to a minimum of five acres, which, she said, was “critical to protecting East Hampton’s groundwater resources.”

Even were the planning board inclined to grant the request, Ms. Pahwul said, Ms. Ewing would have to apply to the Zoning Board of Appeals for a lot-size variance.

Ian Calder-Piedmonte, a board member, began the discussion. “In this subdivision, there would be no open space created,” he said. Should the applicant seek the needed relief from the zoning board, “I see no planning reason to grant a variance.”

“Twenty thousand square feet is beyond the pale,” Bob Schaefer said. “You would create a precedent.”

The other board members in attendance that night, Diana Weir, Nancy Keeshan, and Reed Jones, the chairman, all agreed, and the matter was tabled, to be reconsidered only if and when the zoning board grants the needed variance.

 

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