Two Houses Where There Were Four

After a somewhat contentious debate Tuesday night, the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals approved a subdivision of a Georgica Association property that will leave the resulting lots smaller than the five-acre standard there. The four board members who voted to approve the requested variance from the minimum lot size held that by doing so they were actually reducing density, in accordance with the goals of the comprehensive plan for the area.

The property, at 17 Association Road, is about 5.6 acres. It has four residences on it of various sizes. Normally, only one residence is allowed per property. Beyond that, the five acres are almost entirely cleared, counter to current code. But the four old houses were built and the clearing done before the zoning code took effect, so they are allowed to remain.

Another aspect of the property, owned by Kenneth and Lorence Joseph, that predates the code, and proved a major concern for the board, are its four existing septic systems. Board members called them “ancient” and “antiquated.” John Whelan, the board’s chairman, told members that no one knows what the systems consist of, and that at least one of them, connected to a boathouse, was below the water table much of the year.

Cate Rogers, David Lys, and Lee White all agreed that granting the lot-size variance in exchange for decreased density, modernized septic systems, and a re-vegetation of much of the cleared land was a major gain for the town and that the owners should be allowed to split the property. On one lot, the largest house, which is 10,000 square feet, will remain. The three remaining houses, standing on the second lot, will be demolished to make way for an 8,900-square-foot residence.

However, as part of the required site plan review for a new building, the footprint of that new structure, and even its actual size, could be dealt with further by the East Hampton Town Planning Board. Mr. Lys pointed out that if the planning board denied the application, the owners would, by right, be able to increase the size of each of the existing structures by up to 50 percent.

Don Cirillo, the only one to vote against the application, said that what the board was doing was downzoning. “I think this is a legislative procedure. Why are we legislating?” he asked during a heated exchange with fellow board members.

Beth Baldwin, the zoning board’s attorney, weighed in. “The zoning board isn’t legislating,” she said. “The zoning board is granting relief from a section of the town code for minimum lot size.”

Mr. Cirillo warned that the action would be seen as precedent-setting, and that members should brace themselves for a slew of similar applications. “When the people of Wainscott hear about this, they are not going to be happy,” he said, adding that the board was rewarding the owners for making the agreed-upon changes.

“You call it rewarding. I call it mitigation,” Mr. Whelan countered.

The other members also disagreed with Mr. Cirillo, saying that the survival of Georgica Pond was partially at stake. The property fronts on the pond. Mr. Lys said that a couple of neighbors had objected, but that “we have to look at the whole neighborhood.”