Uproar Over an Unloved House
Move down Hedges has snowballed into petition
And comparisons to Rennert
(01/07/2010) A plan that would send a two-story house down Hedges Lane in Sagaponack to an empty lot at the corner of Fairfield Pond Lane has been greeted with suspicion and resistance by many members of the community.
Bill McCoy, a real estate agent who lives in Sagaponack, said this week that a petition had been circulated there and in New York City that now has more than 60 signatures of village residents. It asked that a plan to move the foursquare, prairie-style house at 243 Hedges Lane to 129 Hedges Lane be opened to public debate and comment.
The lot where it could be moved is owned by the South Fork Land Foundation, a public charity that “derives its tax-exempt status as a supporting organization of the Peconic Land Trust,” according to John v.H. Halsey, the president of the land trust. Land that was donated to the foundation was given without restriction, and in this case was also subdivided to get the highest tax benefit for the donors, Ronald and Leonard Lauder.
The foundation’s six-member board includes John C. White, John Erwin, Cliff and Lee Foster, Rainer Greeven, and Mr. Halsey.
Mr. Halsey said in an e-mail message that “given the conservation purposes of the foundation, however, it is highly unlikely that a sale resulting in the development of the land would occur unless a greater conservation purpose could be achieved; however, there has been no discussion by the board in this regard.”
Alan Schnurman, the owner of the property on which the house sits, has already agreed to move another house there, dating from the early 1800s, to a corner of the lot in order to preserve it. Michael Davis, a builder who lives in Sagaponack, plans to build a new house on the property. Some sheds and outbuildings have already been demolished with permission from the village.
The significance of the prairie-style house, which was built in the 1930s, has been called into question by neighbors of the land that is to receive it as well as residents of the surrounding area.
During a hearing on the matter at the village architectural and historic review board in September, Merrall Hildreth, whose grandfather Wallace Hildreth built the house, asked that the board consider preserving it. Pingree Louchheim, who is married to Mayor Donald Louchheim, and who is a former member of the Peconic Land Trust’s board, also made a case for its preservation.
Last month, Mr. Foster said the members of the board of the South Fork Land Foundation were likely to endorse the move, but had not yet voted on it. This week, his wife, Lee Foster, the deputy mayor of Sagaponack, said she had nothing new to report on the plan.
Mr. Halsey said that Mr. Schnurman had “offered to donate the farmhouse to the Peconic Land Trust, and the trust has agreed to accept it. The formal transfer of the house to the trust is in the hands of our respective attorneys.”
He also said the trust would “retain the right to demolish it . . . if we are unable to find a suitable location for it. The house could be held for rental purposes or sold, subject to a facade easement that would limit modifications to the house in order to preserve its character as a farmhouse.”
Mr. Schnurman will contribute $85,000 toward the move.
Mr. Halsey acknowledged that the house is “not centuries old,” but added, “it is indicative of Sagaponack’s agricultural heritage and is worthwhile preserving if only from a community character perspective.”
According to Mr. Halsey, a place for the house has not been finalized. He said that the one-acre lot at the southwest corner of Hedges and Fairfield Pond Lanes is “one of the potential locations under consideration.”
In interviews with some of the people who signed the petition, who wished to remain anonymous, they said their major concern was that the decisions that were guiding the move were being made in the middle of winter. They likened it to the approval of the development of Ira Rennert’s property, which led to the construction of a 66,000-square-foot house and other buildings there.
Some fretted that moving the house where proposed could lead to further development of the field behind it.
Mr. Halsey said in response that “the development of a portion of the property does not automatically trigger the development of the balance of the property.”
Others were mainly upset that there had not been a forum for public comment. One of the petition’s organizers said she had received calls and e-mail messages from concerned Sagaponack property owners who were as far away as Israel and China.
“It sets a precedent,” Mr. McCoy, who signed the petition, said on Monday. The house “is not that attractive. It’s not that old.”
Ana Daniel, a member of the architectural and historic review board, also worried about a precedent — “all the more so when this is done at the direction of the village administration,” she said. “As a citizen of this community, I worked for incorporation so that open spaces might better be preserved.”
She said plans to move the house “have reached an advanced stage without public input,” even though the village has not officially acted on the matter. She said the limited resources geared toward preservation would be better directed at the “truly unique and historical Colonel Hedges house,” which is also on Hedges Lane and dates from 1776.
She and others questioned the trust’s involvement as well, since people who donate to the organization usually assume that their donations are promoting land preservation. Mr. Halsey said “the trust owns a number of residences on the East End and also holds facade easements on structures that are either historic in nature or otherwise representative of community character. One of the residences owned by the trust serves as our office in Southampton Village.”
Ms. Daniel also objected to the village not setting a deadline for when the house could be demolished. “I’m no major fan of Michael Davis. I’m unhappy to see ‘Michael Davis Land’ grow up on Hedges Lane as it has on Parsonage,” she said, referring to what she called his houses’ “uniform appearance, so large in scale, both of which I’d rather not see.”
From a policy perspective, however, she said there should be “some limit to how punitive one should be in pursuing preservation, more so if the object is marginally worth the effort.”