Town Lane Subdivision

       An application to split a 15-acre property on the west side of Town Lane in Amagansett into two lots will be the focus of a Jan. 8 public hearing before the East Hampton Town Planning Board. The owner, Randy Lerner, has agreed, in accordance with town code,that over half the land be held in reserve, never to be developed.

       Over 12 acres of the property, which is in an agricultural overlay district and was formerly farmland, is designated “prime soils.” According to the application, the land would be divided into two buildable lots of 40,182 square feet and 122,033 square feet. The reserve would consist of 8.62 acres, which include 70 percent of the “prime soils,” as required under town code.

       Mr. Lerner envisions three houses on the two lots, plus an existing artist’s studio. Under the zoning code, only one house is permitted on each buildable lot, but because the land is zoned for five-acre lots, he is allowed  three houses on the two properties – one house per five acres.

       Aerial photographs, on file at the Town Planning Department, show the land to have been farmed through the 1960s, before the current parcel, at 149 Town Lane, was created as part of a larger subdivision. It was turned into a horse farm during the 1970s.

       There is one house on the property now, with a 2,695-square-foot first floor, a 2,975-square-foot second floor, a 3,495-square-foot lower-level recreation room, two patios, a swimming pool, and a tennis court, plus a 720-square-foot artist’s studio. Almost all of it would end up on the larger parcel being created by the subdivision. A second house would be built there as well. The studio, though, would be on the smaller lot, where another residence would be built.