Too Big For Their Britches

When a number of East Hampton neighbors spoke up at a recent meeting about their objections to a request for a garage from the owners of a house being built on Mill Hill Lane, they may well have been speaking for many residents of the South Fork who are increasingly upset about oversized construction on small lots. As smaller lanes in the villages have become more and more desirable, investors and new part-timers have started tearing down serviceable, if modest, dwellings and putting up far larger ones.

    East Hampton Village officials have changed the laws several times with the intent of reducing the effect of houses that seem to loom over the streets or nearby houses. The intent has been to maintain the village’s characteristic open feel, where houses are set with ample breathing room between one another.  

    With land values pushing ever higher, there is considerable pressure for developers or house-flippers to maximize their returns. At the same time, plenty of people have bought into a more-is-more view of how large a house should be and what they need to be comfortable. Unfortunately, the rules still allow homeowners to have what their hearts desire even when it encroaches on those who live close by and changes the very nature of the community. Complaints about mini-mansions are not new. What has changed is that with the returning economy a hulking structure is no longer in some distant subdivision; rather, it is going in right next door.

    And it’s not just in East Hampton Village. Things are getting out of hand in Sag Harbor, where redevelopment of side streets is going like gangbusters. Even an old church there appears as if it were being blown up like a balloon. Think about Bluff Road in Amagansett, where crenellated behemoths are going in lickety-split. Along Old Montauk Highway in Montauk there are similarly oversized projects under way. In Bridgehampton, old farm fields are now crammed with nearly identical six-bedrooms.

    Woe to those elected officials who would dare to stand in the way of the real estate juggernaut, but that is exactly what they must do. Retaining the South Fork villages and hamlets’ architectural integrity should remain a priority. Putting further constraints on how much space any one house can claim is the right place to start.