Of House And Funeral Home

It was about expanding house and home on Friday, at two East Hampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals hearings.

The home is the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home. Members of the third and fourth generations of Sag Harbor's Yardley family hope to establish a branch of the business at the East Hampton Medical Group building on Pantigo Road, which they own.

The house, on Hither Lane, belongs to Edward and Magda Bleier, who want to add to it over a neighbor's objections.

The Yardley family needs a special permit to convert the medical building to another nonconforming use on Pantigo Road, a residential zone. More than a dozen neighbors attended the hearing.

Rival's Lament

"This is like being led to the gallows," said Karen MacKillop, who, with her husband, Donald, owns the Williams Funeral Home on Newtown Lane. Williams has been the only undertaker in town for several decades.

"My life and welfare and my family's welfare are on the line," said Ms. MacKillop. If Yardley and Pino opens in East Hampton, she said, "we would have to sell the business."

For neighbors of the proposed funeral home, traffic was a major concern. Several people took issue with Kenneth Yardley's estimate that only about 50 funerals were likely to take place at the Pantigo building.

Traffic Count

There are about 150 deaths a year in East Hampton, he said, and "we anticipate getting about half the business."

"The cremation rate," he added, "is roughly a third." But in that case, he said, "you go right from where you pass away to a crematory."

Mr. Yardley said he had been keeping a traffic count at the Sag Harbor parlor, which he said received between eight and 30 cars during visiting hours. "It depends," he said, "on how popular somebody is."

Mrs. MacKillop, however, said families sometimes receive "hundreds" of visitors at Williams.

Williams's parking lot holds 50 cars. Mrs. MacKillop told the board that nearby municipal lots and the street can accommodate the overflow. There are 37 spaces in the lot at the Pantigo building.

Property Values

Aware that some neighbors were upset about having a funeral home move in, Daniel Voorhees, the Yardleys' attorney, noted that the family would plant shrubs to increase screening and remove a security light that has been a nuisance.

In support of the application, Ernest Clark, an East Hampton appraiser, said he had made an "informal survey" of the area and concluder that there was "mixed use" there - including the Buzz Chew car dealership, an apartment house, the New York Telephone building, a bed and breakfast, and a single-family house containing eight pianos, where lessons are given.

Only 39 percent of the parcels are one-family houses, Mr. Clark said, adding that property values have not changed "in years."

"It's the highway itself that affects" property values there, he said, and because of it, the area will "never develop as other village areas have."

Unhappy Neighbors

But John Ford, who recently sold his nearby house at 90 Pantigo Road, said he put it on the market as soon as he heard about the funeral home.

"Everyone has said property values would diminish," Mr. Ford said. Besides, he added, "I don't want to live next door" to a funeral parlor. "Few people do."

Mr. Ford said he "got less" for his house than he should have. He said the new owners want to convert it to a bed and breakfast.

"This is not an upbeat kind of situation, if you know what I mean," said Ellis French, a former president of the East Hampton Business Alliance, who lives at 24 Egypt Close, also a neighbor. Mr. French, who said a funeral home would have a "psychological" impact, added that he could "appreciate both sides."

"I'm not saying I'm going to sell my house," he said, "but I want to get as far away from the funeral parlor as I can."

"Night Deliveries"

Mr. French also said he was "not happy" about a suggestion from Gene E. Cross, the village planning consultant, that more parking be built on the property's back lawn.

The Yardleys have said they would prefer not to disturb the lawn. Other neighbors concurred, including Lois Brown, from next door, who said she would be "outraged" if any parking were to go there.

"The nature of the business doesn't concern me," Ms. Brown told the board, "but night deliveries do."

Mr. Yardley said the funeral home uses one hearse and one limousine, and that "deliveries of human remains are made in station wagons."

Leases Expiring

John Cartier, the president of the East Hampton Village Preservation Society, spoke against what he called "excess commercial development" in the village. "All consideration should be given to residential neighbors in this case," he said.

Deering Yardley Jr. said the proposal included two first-floor chapels, one with seating for 70, the other for 30. Storage and office space would occupy the second floor of the 5,500-square-foot building.

Leases for several physicians and for blood and X-ray laboratories now at the medical building end in December, Mr. Yardley said. The doctors and labs are expected to rent space in a new medical arts building Southampton Hospital is planning down the road, on Pantigo Place.

Neighbors' Dispute

Mr. Voorhees was also the attorney representing the Bleiers, who want to add a 36-square-foot shed to their house, expand a deck, enclose a second-floor balcony, and create an arbor. All the additions will require variances, as they are closer to the property lines than permitted.

The house, pre-existing and nonconforming, has been on Hither Lane for nearly a century, predating village zoning regulations. According to Mr. Voorhees, the additions will total "not more than 300 square feet," which he called "insignificant."

That was not how Carol Simmons Rathborne, the neighbor to the west, saw it. The proposal is "enormously close to my property," she complained. "To come within 15 feet is a hardship to me and my property, and I very strenuously request protection from this kind of encroachment."

Border Clash

This is not the first border clash between Mrs. Rathborne and the Bleiers. Six years ago, the Bleiers charged that Mrs. Rathborne had removed vegetation from a 30-foot-wide scenic easement that separates their lands.

When the board ruled that her efforts to replant it were adequate they sued both her and the board. The suit was dismissed.

Mrs. Rathborne's main objection Friday was to enclosing the second-story balcony on the west side of the house. She said it would eliminate open space. The Bleiers, however, claimed it would increase privacy for both parties.

"No Love Lost"

Actually, Mrs. Bleier said, "this will protect me from the noise from the parties" at the neighbor's house, and "from the electric cars that her children use [in the driveway] all the time."

"I hope you don't see hostility in this," Mrs. Bleier added.

"There is no love lost between the two neighbors," her husband, an executive for Time-Warner, reminded the board, adding that he would "rely on your sense of aesthetics and judgment."

Thomas Gaines, the board's chairman, noted three other neighbors had written letters supporting the Bleiers' application.

The Z.B.A. is expected to deliberate on both applications tomorrow, at an 11 a.m. work session at the Emergency Building on Cedar Street.