Village Zoning Board Says Yes and No

Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, the creative husband and wife behind such television shows as “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and “Gilmore Girls,” asked the East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals on Friday for permission to renovate all the structures on their property at 132 Main Street. 

The couple bought the more than 1.5-acre parcel, which is in the Main Street Historic District, in 2017. It contains a principal residence as well as two pre-existing, nonconforming two-bedroom cottages that have kitchens and bathrooms. 

“We want to welcome the Palladinos to our community,” said Leonard Ackerman, a lawyer who represented them at the hearing. 

The couple, he said, intend to use the cottages as writing studios. One of the buildings is 3.2 feet from a side yard lot line; the other is 4.4 feet, where 20-foot setbacks are required for each. An existing detached garage is less than a foot from a side yard lot line, where 20 feet also are required.

Because the structures are pre-existing and nonconforming, the proposed construction does not require a variance, said Larry Hillel, a board member, but simply Z.B.A. approval.

According to the Palladino application, the renovation of the main residence would conform to code although it would increase the gross floor area. The couple also plans a pool, a pool house, and other accessory structures, but those plans were not before the board at the time. 

Before the hearing was closed, Mr. Hillel, who, along with his wife, was a former owner of the Palladinos’ new house, wished the couple well.

“We loved the property, we improved it, but I think you can make it great,” he said. 

In a separate application, the owner of 1 Church Street sought area variances to add an 8-foot-wide roofed porch to the existing house, which, decades ago, had  moved from the southwest corner of Main Street and Newtown Lane. 

Nicholas Caragiulo, the owner, said that according to his research, the house had been owned by Christian Schenck,  moved between 80 to 100 years ago, and the porch lost in transition. “The house had been constructed with the porch, we know that from pictures and from the contour of the roofline,” Mr. Caragiulo said. “We would love to see it back to its original character.” 

The house is on the corner of Church Street and Gingerbread Lane, so the porch would require two setback variances. It would be nearly 25 feet from one front yard lot line and more than 14 feet from the other, where 35-foot setbacks are required.

“Your house looks lonely without a porch,” said Craig Humphrey, who, along with his colleagues, was in favor of the variances.

Mr. Caragiulo, who is also seeking a variance for more than 300 feet of lot coverage and area variances to install two air-conditioner condensers and a shed for pool equipment, said he would adjust the site plan to reduce or eliminate those variances in order to have the porch approved.

In other news at the meeting, the board granted Timothy J. Walsh and Jeffrey M. Williams, the owners of 11 Sherrill Road, an area variance to legalize 4,634 square feet of coverage where the maximum, pursuant to a prior determination, is 4,392 square feet. 

The owner of 25 Cove Hollow Farm was granted a freshwater wetlands permit and variances to construct a staircase, ramps, and a storage sling within and directly adjacent to wetlands, where the code requires a 150-foot setback. 

Calvin G. and Maria E. Holmquist, the owners of 13 Buckskill Road, were granted area variances to reconstruct a 706-foot guest cottage with sleeping and cooking on a lot that contains a one-family principal residence. A variance was also granted to permit a combined gross floor area for the residences of 2,819 square feet, where the code limits the area to 2,125 square feet. 

James and Gretchen Johnson, the owners of 31 Old Beach Lane, were granted permission to legalize pool equipment installed 23.4 feet from a side yard lot line, where a 40-foot setback is required. Variances to legalize 8-foot-high fencing, where the maximum is 6 feet, and to legalize approximately 560 linear feet of fencing seaward of the 20-foot contour line, where at least 25 feet 

landward of the line are required, were 

denied. 

Peter Juhas and Katherine McCabe, the owners of 79 Meadow Way, were granted a variance to permit 6,019 square feet of coverage where the code calls for a maximum of 5,338 square feet.