Billionaire’s Dune Damage Alleged
Town officials wonder about clearing
On one of the nation’s priciest properties
By Russell Drumm
 Nature Conservancy |
(10/30/2008) Clearing and construction under way for the past two weeks at the former de Menil property off Further Lane in East Hampton seem to have included the complete leveling of a secondary dune. If true, it would be “a really serious” violation of East Hampton Town’s environmental laws, Larry Penny, the town’s natural resources director, said yesterday.
Mr. Penny said the alleged destruction was brought to his attention yesterday by way of before-and-after photographs of the work. No citations have been issued. Mr. Penny asked the East Hampton Town Building Department to issue a stop-work order late yesterday afternoon.
The property is now owned by Ron Baron, founder of Baron Capital Management, who purchased the 40 oceanfront acres for $103 million last year. The price set a record for residential real estate in the United States. Mr. Baron, who was listed on Forbes’s 2008 list of richest Americans, at number 355, built a sprawling mansion on a separate property that adjoins the former de Menil land to the west.
An environmentally safe way to traverse the area’s unique double dune system was hammered out with East Hampton Village: The residence was made accessible to the ocean beach by a wooden walkway.
Mr. Baron also has submitted an application with the East Hampton Town Trustees seeking permission for a staircase to the beach.
The former de Menil property next door, where the alleged dune-clearing transgression took place, is within East Hampton Town’s jurisdiction rather than the village’s.
The modest cedar shake buildings that once stood on the land owned by Adelaide de Menil and her husband, Ted Carpenter, were donated to the town and moved to Town Hall to be used as office space. Mr. Penny said yesterday that the de Menils had been good stewards of the land, and that he had worried what might happen after they sold it to Mr. Baron.
Doug Kuntz
An area of clearing and landscaping is visible at Ron Baron's Further Lane, East Hampton, acreage in these before and after photographs. |
So much so that immediately afterward, Mr. Penny sent a certified letter to Mr. Baron through his lawyer. In part, it read:
“This letter is to inform you that the parcel you have just purchased in East Hampton Town at 260 Further Lane . . . has features on it that are protected by the Town Code. Removing, devegetating, or otherwise disturbing the Double Dunes area at the south end of the former farm field will require a natural resources special permit from the zoning board of appeals,” Mr. Penny wrote on June 5, 2007.
Brian Frank, the town’s chief environmental analyst, said yesterday that no application had been made for a natural resources permit. In fact, he said that as far as he knew, the property had not even been given a lot inspection, a prerequisite for a permit.
“The double dunes have more than one [protected] feature: Inter-dunal wetlands and beach vegetation are [also] protected under town law,” Mr. Frank said. He added that he had not yet inspected the site.
Sylvia Overby, the town planning board’s chairwoman, said that while Mr. Baron had not applied for a natural resources permit, he had come in for approval to build a guest house because it was to be sited near agricultural land — “to make sure it was going to be put in an appropriate location.”
“I walked it. It was the most magnificent property, dunes, fully vegetated. Then to have someone show me a picture of it now, near completely gone. It was devastating.”
“To see that lost to East Hampton, 300 years of history, gone like that. It is devastating to me personally. It seems like he wanted to see the ocean without walking through those dunes,” Ms. Overby said.
She added that in addition to whatever environmental laws may have been broken, she would check with the planning board attorney to see if the loss of the dune would affect the town law that protects agricultural land. “It was a protecting dune” for inland property, she said.
Aphrodite Montalvo, a spokeswoman for the State Department of Environmental Conservation, said D.E.C. inspectors had investigated the construction site recently and asked the contractors if work could be halted until its proximity to protected areas was assessed.
“I feel strongly they needed a natural resources special permit,” Mr. Penny said. “That dune system is about 3,000 years old. It’s really a tertiary dune, a fossil dune.”
“It doesn’t mean they can’t do something like they are doing, but under very special conditions. They might have to replace something. I don’t want to prejudge the Planning Department review,” Mr. Penny said.
Mr. Baron could not be reached for comment.
Eric Herschmann of Manhattan, an attorney for Mr. Baron, said his client knew and appreciated the property, had a “commitment to nature,” and had cooperated with the Nature Conservancy in the past with respect to the double dunes.
“We fundamentally believe we have broken no laws. We have had an environmental expert retained who has been on the scene,” Mr. Herschmann said yesterday afternoon.
“There has been no violation, and no stop-work orders. If you’re saying Ron Baron violated both state and town laws that’s factually inaccurate.”
Lenny Ackerman, an East Hampton lawyer who also represents Mr. Baron, said in an e-mail, “The owner of the property has spent millions of dollars to preserve the environmental integrity of this property. From the very beginning it has been a top priority, and he has worked closely with the town and the D.E.C. to make sure all phases of the project were handled properly. . . . The owner will continue to work with the town to make sure that the environmental integrity of the property is not compromised.”