Sagg Villagers Wary of House
(01/28/2010) An effort to move a 1930s house at 243 Hedges Lane down the road to a new location at the intersection of Fairfield Pond Road may have been “taken off the table,” according to Sagaponack Mayor Donald Louchheim, but residents and neighbors of the property are not taking any chances in their efforts to protest the proposal.
A new group, which calls itself Concerned Citizens of Sagaponack, has circulated a petition protesting the move of the house onto vacant land that was given to the South Fork Land Foundation in the 1970s with no restrictions on its use.
The lot is separate from the larger parcel of contiguous land that is still being farmed. No proposal has been made to change the status of that portion of it.
Still, neighbors of the land, which include captains of industry and other billionaires, do not appear to be happy that the modest house, now in disrepair, would be a new part of their vista of open land and otherwise multimillion dollar houses.
A petition was circulated last month and received 60 signatures from village residents. The citizens group plans to send out a letter to all of the post office boxes on Monday that would outline its fears that the house will be moved to that lot despite the fact that Mr. Louchheim said his understanding was that it would not.
The letter suggests demanding a public meeting to discuss the issue, which to date the village has not done although anyone is allowed to speak at the public portion of its meetings.
The foundation will take up the issue at its February board meeting. The village architectural and historic review board voted to allow the house to be moved from its present location to another site on the property until a resolution of the matter can be arrived at. If no property can be found, the house will be demolished.