It’s a Hush-Hush House Move Up the Road
(12/17/2009) A prairie-style foursquare house at 243 Hedges Lane in Sagaponack could find itself moved down the road to an empty lot at the southeast corner of Hedges and Fairfield Pond Lanes, according to those close
 Jennifer Landes
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to a deal under way to make it happen.
Although those directly involved in the negotiations, which are taking place between the property’s owner, Alan Schnurman, and the Peconic Land Trust, were either hesitant to discuss details or did not immediately return phone calls, documents obtained by The Star detail the moving of the house and the cost of doing so, $300,000. The land trust has requested a donation of $85,000 from Mr. Schnurman for the move.
At a Sagaponack Village Board work session on Monday, Mayor Donald Louchheim said the property owner had received approval to demolish the barns and sheds on the property. They came down in the past week. The village zoning board of appeals also granted Mr. Schnurman a variance to move an 1830s farmhouse there to the property’s northwest corner.
What remains is an 1930s house that has great appeal to some and is a generic eyesore to others. Those who want to see it preserved, including Mr. Louchheim and his family, have been working behind the scenes to encourage the Peconic Land Trust and an organization that predates it called the South Fork Land Foundation to come to an agreement with Mr. Schnurman on moving the house to the new site.
The site is part of a tract of land donated to the South Fork Land Foundation in 1977 by Leonard and Ronald Lauder. It is now being used mostly for farming. The board of the land foundation still exists, but the foundation has lost its nonprofit status, and its properties have come under the Peconic Land Trust’s stewardship.
The lot at the corner of Hedges and Fairfield Pond Lanes has an unusual status. According to the original transfer, there are no covenants or restrictions placed on it, with the exception that if it is developed in any way, its sale must be used to pay for other efforts at preservation. Although the land earns its owner a tax benefit for its use for farming, there are no conservation easements on the property, and it and other South Fork Land Foundation properties do not have a special label on the town’s tax map, as do conservation easements or land preserved by the Peconic Land Trust or the town.
Approving the land as a place for the house to be moved would require not just the assent of the board of the Peconic Land Trust, but also that of the remaining board members of the land foundation, including Cliff Foster, John C. White, and Lee Foster, who is also a village board member. Marilee Foster, Ms. Foster’s daughter, is on the board of the Peconic Land Trust, and Pingree Louchheim, Mr. Louchheim’s wife, is a former board member. Even with the overlap of interests and family connections, however, it is not clear that the plan will succeed.
The lot, which is in an area of three-acre zoning, is substandard at just about an acre. Putting a house on it would require the approval of the Sagaponack Planning Board or the village board, according to Mr. Louchheim, and might also require hearings if it is found to require environmental review. There is a house on the lot adjacent to the property, and this prevents the empty corner lot from being used for farmland, which would have presented a bigger problem in changing its zoning.
Mr. Louchheim said at the meeting that the demolition permit applications for the house had been withdrawn “pending its relocation to another site on the corner of Hedges and Fairfield Pond Lane.” He added that the house would be donated to the Peconic Land Trust. “The land trust may request permission to move it onto that parcel. If it’s not possible, we’re looking at another parcel.”
He said it was important to those in favor of the move that the house “still be visible as a community asset. If not, it will be removed and put into the Dumpster.”
It could be resolved within the next 10 days. The board of the Peconic Land Trust is expected to vote on the proposal tomorrow. The South Fork Land Foundation’s approval would be required next. Its board members are not known to meet regularly.
If the move is approved, it is not yet clear what the house would be used for. The land trust does own properties with a similar status and rents them out for the income. The house also could be sold and the proceeds used to benefit the trust’s conservation programs.
Mr. Schnurman’s property and the new house proposed for it will be discussed at a meeting of the village architectural and historic review board tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.