Z.B.A. Quashes Efforts to Avoid New Rules

No sooner had the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals denied an application on Friday for an expanded house at 44 Huntting Lane that would have violated a zoning amendment enacted last year, than it considered another request to overrule the amendment, which prohibits cellars from extending beyond a house’s ground-floor exterior walls.

At a hearing on Jan. 8, neighbors had called the proposed 10,561-square-foot house on Huntting Lane a mega-mansion. The application called for 27.7 percent more floor area and 23 percent more lot coverage than allowed by the code, as well as a cellar that not only extended beyond the exterior wall but contained a two-lane bowling alley, living room with fireplace, two guest bedroom suites, a recreation room, theater, powder room, and steam shower. 

Once again, in a hearing on Friday, the amendment regarding the extension of cellars was at issue. Jordan Roth, who owns and is restoring a house at 18 Lee Avenue, appealed a code enforcement officer’s interpretation regarding cellars and requested a variance to permit 423 square feet of the cellar to be below a screened porch, beyond the house’s ground floor. Mr. Roth is the president of Jujamcyn Theatres, which oversees five Broadway theaters, at which such plays as “The Book of Mormon” and “Jersey Boys” have been produced.

Mr. Roth had received a building permit in May indicating that the house’s mechanical equipment would be under the ground floor. But, Lenny Ackerman, an attorney representing Mr. Roth, said the construction crew “had to dig down substantially to create the basement space” and in the process created the additional 423 square feet below the porch and beyond the house’s exterior wall.

The project’s mechanical engineer, Craig Reitmann of the Weber and Grahn air-conditioning and heating company, told the board that loud mechanical equipment could be housed in a vault in that remote section of basement under the porch.

 Frank Newbold, the board’s chairman, said none of several applications seeking an exception to the amendment regarding cellars had been approved. In addition, because the remainder of the cellar was  to contain staff rooms, multiple bedrooms, a gym, a screening room, a massage room, wine storage, and a room to house a model train, he said space for mechanical equipment could be found that was in compliance.

“The intent of the law was to reduce density,” Mr. Newbold said, adding that the existing house is three stories high. “They felt it was adequate for their needs when they got a building permit in May 2015. This is really to get additional square footage.” He asked if it would it be feasible to install mechanical equipment within the basement space that is under the house. “Anything is feasible,” was Mr. Reitmann’s reply.

The board indicated unanimous opposition to setting a precedent for the convenience of mechanical engineering, and the hearing was closed.

In addition to denying the application for the Huntting Lane house, the board announced five other decisions. Ina Garten, the author and host of the Food Network program “Barefoot Contessa,” was granted a variance for a generator within the required front-yard setback at 21 Buell Lane on the conditions that a “level three” enclosure, which has substantial sound-attenuating capability, be installed and that it not be used except in power outages and during a midweek 20-minute test.

The board granted Leslie Chao a variance to allow construction of a window well within the side-yard setback at 104 Pantigo Road. The variance will allow completion of a recreation room in the basement.

Richard Reiss was granted an 87-square-foot variance to allow construction of a 5,297-square-foot house at 44 La Forest Lane. The planning board had approved a lot-line modification last year allowing 3,000 square feet to be transferred from an adjacent property in order to allow the proposed house to be built without a variance. The village board later amended the zoning code, however, which further limited the maximum allowable floor area on the lot, rendering plans for the house noncompliant.

Barry Rosenstein, who owns a condominium unit at the Village Towne Houses at 71 Gingerbread Lane, was granted variances to allow air-conditioning equipment installed by a previous owner to remain within required side and rear-yard setbacks, and to permit lot coverage that is 467 square feet greater than the maximum permitted. The air-conditioning unit takes up only 16 square feet, with the townhouse, a brick patio, and other minor structures accounting for the additional coverage.

Thomas Schaub of 75 Toilsome Lane was granted variances to allow existing walkways, stone stairs, and stepping-stones to remain within required setbacks.