Neighbors who opposed a recently approved request for variances by the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals allowing a Bridgehampton homeowner to build a swimming pool and deck in her front yard, have applied for and received a temporary restraining order to prevent any construction until a lawsuit they filed is settled in court.
“This preserves the status quo, so the court can consider the merits of the case,” said Jeff Bragman, the attorney hired to represent neighbors David DiDomenico and Arthur Romaine in their opposition to Janet Finkel’s application. He stopped short of saying if he expects to ultimately win the case, in which his side is seeking to annul the ZBA decision.
“I’m just happy that we got this relief. It’s a good indication that we have a strong case,” he said, adding that a decision could be expected by summer.
Meanwhile, John Bennett, the attorney for Ms. Finkel, dismissed the TRO—granted last Thursday, November 29—as “no great victory.”
“It’s not a win,” he said, noting that his client is not even ready to build.
The ZBA narrowly approved the variances requested by Ms. Finkel in a 4-3 vote in September, nearly three years after unanimously rejecting her initial request for the variances needed to construct the pool and less than a year after the board voted, 6-1, to overturn a determination by Chief Building Inspector Michael Benincasa that the Finkel house was effectively “waterfront” because of wetlands behind it, which would have allowed the pool to be built without a variance.