Continuing his effort to relocate an Amagansett house designed by the late architect Francis Fleetwood from its present location to another parcel nearby, Michael Novogratz, the billionaire investor whose properties are the subject of two stop-work orders, has sued the Town of East Hampton.
Earlier this month, the approximately 3,600-square-foot Fleetwood house was moved from its foundation on a 33-acre parcel at 85 Oceanview Lane to the edge of that property and 58 Cross Highway East, also owned by Mr. Novogratz. He was stymied in a previous attempt to add an unopened, town-owned road to the Cross Highway parcel, in order to enlarge it.
That initiative, in which he proposed that the town abandon ownership of the “paper” road bisecting his properties between Cranberry Hole Road and Abram’s Landing Road in exchange for a permanent scenic, conservation, and trail easement over the road — which is part of the Paumanok Path — ignited one resident’s ire. David Buda of Springs complained to the town board last year that it was “actually considering giving away a valuable asset,” for no compensation, to “a very well-heeled landowner” of an adjacent parcel.
Abandoning the road, which the town ultimately did not do, would have maximized the lot area at 58 Cross Highway East, altering the required building setbacks and lot coverage allowance in favor of the property owner.
In November, after Mr. Novogratz’s representatives had presented to the Building Department a survey and tax map number and obtained a building permit, he began clearing land at 58 Cross Highway East. The survey, however, included the unopened road, Mr. Novogratz’s attorneys having obtained and filed two “correction deeds” with the Suffolk County clerk, who then updated the tax map to indicate his ownership of the road.
At the same time, signs were posted on or near the town right of way containing the Paumanok Path, indicating that the land was private property.
The correction deeds were themselves reversed after the East Hampton Town assessor’s office notified the county that the town still believed it had an ownership interest in the paper road. The town issued a stop-work order on Nov. 25. Mr. Novogratz, Mr. Buda charged in November, was attempting an “end run” to increase his property from 4.7 to 5.4 acres, “using a scheme that bordered on being unethical if not outright fraudulent.”
An affidavit filed in State Supreme Court last Thursday on behalf of Galaxy Group Investments, a limited liability corporation controlled by Mr. Novogratz, seeks a temporary restraining order allowing him to relocate the house to 58 Cross Highway East. “Unless the temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction are granted,” the affidavit states, “the home, which has already been lifted from its foundation and placed on carriage wheels, cannot be secured, and will have to be moved again, and as a result, will be exposed to potentially catastrophic loss. Accordingly, a temporary restraining order permitting Galaxy to locate the home on temporary cribbing over the proposed footprint on 58 Cross Highway, while this action remains pending, is required to prevent immediate and irreparable injury.”
Mr. Novogratz’s attorneys continue to insist that their client owns the unopened road. The town’s claim of ownership is “without merit,” according to the affidavit, “and a clear violation of Galaxy’s rights and ownership of the subject Road.”
In remarks to the town board on Tuesday, Mr. Buda charged that Mr. Novogratz had “sought to have the town assessor, the town planning board, and then the town board agree to abandon the town highway” despite knowing that “the long, narrow property he bought at 58 Cross Highway excluded the town highway by its very metes and bounds description. . . . He was repulsed on all three fronts, and all of the town entities that did so should be congratulated.”
It was unfortunate, Mr. Buda said, that Mr. Novogratz was able to obtain a building permit and clear land before the stop-work order was issued. “It’s now in litigation, which I hope will be vigorously pursued and defended by the town by appointed counsel.”
