An application to raise an oceanfront house in the Beach Hampton section of Amagansett nearly 10 feet, ostensibly to meet FEMA regulations, was met with circumspection at the East Hampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals last week.
The owners require substantial pyramid, height, and gross floor area variances for the project, as well as a natural resources special permit because of the parcel’s proximity to dunes.
Homeowners must comply with updated FEMA standards whenever they make improvements that are valued at more than 50 percent of the replacement value of the structure (land cost excluded). “It’s unrealistic to look at this neighborhood and ascribe a character to the community that does not incorporate FEMA compliance over time,” argued Andy Hammer, a lawyer speaking for the owners of 183 Marine Boulevard, Erica and Scott Belsky.
However, the work proposed to be done appears, in this case, to be voluntary. Highlighting that fact was a question from John Thorsen Jr., an alternate member of the board sitting in for Jaine Mehring, who recused herself from the application.
“The requirement to be FEMA-compliant is being required by doing the work to become FEMA-compliant?” asked Mr. Thorsen.
“That is correct,” said Mr. Hammer.
A neighbor, Jack Hassid, who called in to oppose the application, questioned the real motivation behind the variance request.
“This is a totally voluntary desire to expand this house substantially,” Mr. Hassid said. The dunes have risen in recent decades, he said, a point that had been noted by an earlier Planning Department presentation. “I firmly believe that part of this is to get views back.”
Mr. Hammer countered that the views from the existing house are, in fact, beautiful.
Roy Dalene, the chairman of the board, observed that rules for variances direct homeowners to seek the minimum necessary. He questioned whether other options had been explored, other than raising the house.
Raising it, he noted, would render the existing garage de facto living space.
“If it’s elective, you’re electing to lift the house, but you’re also electing to pierce the [gross floor area] cap,” he said.
In 2008, when the house, at 183 Marine Boulevard, was built, it complied with the FEMA standards, which have since changed. More than anything, said Mr. Hammer, the project is about the house’s “long-term sustainability,” and the Belskys’ ability to insure their investment properly.
“Homeowners in this area are essentially trying to insure a teen driver with a robust accident record and maybe even a criminal record,” he said, making a risk analogy. “One objective of this application is to allow these homeowners to insure their investment at reasonable rates.”
“My house was built in 1972,” said Mr. Hassid. “I get flood insurance and I get reasonable homeowner’s insurance, and nobody says anything about my rates going up because I’m not FEMA-compliant.”
Jeffrey Bragman, a lawyer speaking for another neighbor, Rona Klopman, was having none of it. He struck back at an earlier representation by Britton Bistrian, who spoke for the Belskys and argued that the new roof line would be similar, or even, in some cases, lower, than it is now. “Maybe I misunderstood Ms. Bistrian. I thought she said, ‘Oh, it’s going to be about the same roof line. You won’t be able to tell the difference.’ Well, it’s eight feet different. That’s a big difference.” (Ms. Bistrian admitted her error later.)
Mr. Bragman said that anyone standing on the second floor of the proposed house would already be two and a half feet above the maximum height allowed by code. The maximum roof height is 30 feet.
“These variances are significant,” he told the board. “They’re going to create significant visual impacts, and they’re also going to create the possibility of copycat applications. You’re going to create a precedent here,” he warned.
“What [Mr. Hammer] was basically saying to the board is, that the request for variances is redundant because FEMA makes me do it. Well, that’s not the way the law operates,” Mr. Bragman continued. “He’s telling you that in the future everybody’s going to comply with FEMA, suggesting big tall houses that require variances and you’re going to have to grant them, and that’s going to be the fate of Marine Boulevard. I call that the Dune Road philosophy of land planning,” he said, referring to tall houses in Westhampton Beach. “In other words, you get a free ride on top of FEMA and then you can meet your height requirements.”
“There are many things that can be done here,” he went on. “It could be a flat-roof building, they could change the number of stories. This is a voluntary project. He’s creating a problem and solving it in the way he tells you the law makes you solve it. Not true.”
Mr. Bragman also pointed out that as far as insurance rates are concerned, raising a house nearly 10 feet in an area prone to wind damage may pose problems in a storm. “It’s not just flooding.”
The zoning board closed the public hearing but left the record open for 30 days for public comment, and to allow the Belskys to submit construction guidelines.
