Little Orphaned House on the Agenda
(03/18/2010) The proposed move of a 1930s four-square or Prairie-style house at 243 Hedges Lane down to a vacant lot farther west had
 Durell Godfrey
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its first official airing before the Sagaponack Village Planning Board on Monday night.
The proposal, brought forth by the Peconic Land Trust, has generated protests, a petition, and most recently a lawsuit and restraining order to stop the move. These actions were all initiated by neighbors of the site, who were under the impression that the land the house is to be moved to was preserved farmland.
Although the one-acre lot at the intersection of Hedges and Fairfield Pond Lane was given to the South Fork Land Foundation in the 1970s as part of a 10.7-acre parcel, it was not given with any covenants or restrictions on its use, and the foundation has not acted in the years since its donation to preserve any portion of that property or restrict it to agricultural uses, even though it has been farmed ever since.
Representatives from the Peconic Land Trust, who said they were there to speak for the foundation, which is a supporting organization of the trust, came to discuss a proposed subdivision of the site, which would carve off a one-acre lot for the building it is now calling the Barsczeski House, for its prior occupants, and preserve the rest of the land permanently for agricultural use.
Although the land was also subdivided at the time of its donation, the area has since been upzoned to three-acre lots. A full subdivision of the property would yield three lots of approximately that size.
Lee Foster, a member of the village board and the planning board who is also on the board of the foundation, recused herself from the discussion, but stayed at the table during it. At an earlier board meeting, Brian Doyle, an attorney for the plaintiff in the lawsuit against the village, the property owner of the land where the house now sits, and the trust, asked if Ms. Foster and Mayor Donald Louchheim would recuse themselves from the discussion. They deferred the question to Anthony Tohill, the village attorney.
Mr. Louchheim, who serves on the planning board along with the other village board members, participated in the discussion. Although his wife, Pingree Louchheim, has been an active proponent of the house move, he has not advocated for it publicly.
Mr. Tohill suggested that instead of a cluster subdivision of the property, which would require a 45-foot strip between the lots that would not be farmable, the trust consider a more creative outcome. “If it’s not going to be accessed and not going to be improved upon, there are better ways to do it.”
The representatives of the trust said they would come back after they had had a chance to discuss the matter with Mr. Tohill.