Town Houses Fit for the Harbor or Levittown?

By Taylor K. Vecsey

Beyer Blinder Belle Architects Town houses on Church Street are part of a proposed condominium complex at the former Bulova Watch factory.

(03/01/2007)    The developer of the Bulova condominiums in Sag Harbor seemed to have received nothing but praise for plans to restore the crumbling old brick factory on Division Street and build over 60 apartments within it. But concerns about the look and appropriateness of nine duplex town houses along Church and Sage Streets and a recreational building that also are being proposed have begun to be heard.

    At a meeting on Monday, Cee Scott Brown, the chairman of the Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review, said the town houses feel “group think,” and “very homogeneous.” The chairman, who is a real estate agent with Corcoron, used words like “wonderful” and “fabulous,” however, with regard to the overall project in speaking to  Jack Beyer, a partner in Beyer Blinder Belle, the New York architectural firm working for the developer, Cape Advisors. Mr. Beyer attended the meeting to present the proposal for informal discussion because the application itself is not complete.

    Each of the nine town houses would have a ground floor apartment facing a landscaped courtyard and an upper duplex apartment facing the street. The ground floor apartments would have access through a “mews,” while the duplexes would have street-level access. Together the town houses would add 18 condominium units, making for a total of 81 on the 2.5-acre site.

    “The houses are designed to fit comfortably into the context of Sag Harbor’s residential neighborhoods,” a press kit from the developer states. They would have painted clapboard or cedar-shingle siding and varied roof lines, gables, windows, dormers, cornices, garden walls, stoops, and porches. All the designs are meant to “complement the scale, massing, and texture of the village’s unique stock of historic 19th and early-20th-century houses,” the packet notes.

    Even so, Mr. Brown was not convinced the houses would fit the village. The design would blend in better with “Seaside, Florida,” he said. Robert Tortora, another board member, said it had a “Levittown feeling. I don’t mean that to be disrespectful,” he added.

    The town houses would be 24 feet wide and 16 feet apart, according to Mr. Beyer. They are proposed to be similar in height, and go no higher than the 35 feet allowed in the village zoning code. Tom Horn Sr., who is a member of the board, reminded Mr. Beyer that before the village had a zoning code, houses were not spaced uniformly. Some were built right on the street, others set back, he said.

    It was pointed out that these town houses would have five stories if the underground parking provided for each  and the mews units, which are below street level, were counted. From the street, the houses appear to have three stories. The board questioned whether three stories were allowable, but Dennis Downes, the Sag Harbor attorney for the applicant, said three stories was permitted in village business zones, which is the zone in which the Bulova property sits.

    As a whole, the board said it wanted to see a little more variation in the town houses. “Try to address the issue creatively,” Mr. Brown said.

    The recreation building, planned for the center of the site, would be a one-story building for residents of the complex. The building is meant to be similar to a stable and other industrial sheds originally at the factory, the press kit states.

    “I’m not sure I understand the recreational building and the choice of its aesthetic,” Mr. Brown told Mr. Beyer.

    Large solar panels would be placed on the roof, and, according to the packet, would face the central courtyard so that they are minimally visible from the street. An octagonal tower is planned, to be seen from Division Street, a feature reminiscent of the octagonal tower near the original main entrance to the factory on Church and Washington Streets, the architect said. He agreed to consider the board’s suggestions, and possibly revise parts of the plan.

     The board has jurisdiction over aesthetic matters, while the zoning board of appeals will have to review variances necessary for the project to go forward. The project will also be subject to site-plan and environmental analysis by the planning board and a review by the village harbor committee.

    At a Sag Harbor Village Planning Board meeting on Tuesday, that board decided to schedule an early public hearing to gather opinion. “We don’t want to wait until the end to get public comments,” said Rich Warren of InterScience, the village’s consultant. It will be held on March 27 at 7 p.m.

    “It’s a little unusual to hold a meeting outside of the [State Quality Environmental Review] process,” he said. “But, it gets us on the right track.” The SEQRA process will not begin until Mr. Warren deems the application complete.