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From frustration to gratification, speakers described vastly different experiences in trying to care for their historic homes during a panel discussion about their options last week.
Hosted by the Southampton Historical Museum, the Peconic Land Trust and the Rogers Memorial Library, the event focused on regulations and opportunities in Southampton Town and featured town officials, experts in the field and of course homeowners.
“I was never interested in old houses,” Dan Heston told about 30 people at the Rogers Mansion in Southampton on Thursday. But when he and his wife moved into her parents’ historic home in Cutchogue, he discovered the importance of everything from installing special latches reflecting a certain time period, to reusing old nails.
“I’ve learned to love it,” he said, despite the patience and dedication necessary.
Mariel Bernhardt, who inherited a landmarked historic home in Southampton Village that her grandfather was born in, expressed frustration. Her home, she said, “is crumbling and I don’t have the money it needs to be restored.” Because she is in the village, Ms. Bernhardt is not eligible for Southampton Town preservation incentives.
“I can’t change the exterior structure without getting approval,” Ms. Bernhardt said. “I can’t demolish the house, I can’t expand the house, I can’t change the roofline of the house, I can’t do pretty much anything,” she explained later.
What makes a structure “historic”?
The house could be connected to historic people or a historic event, or it might have a special character or aesthetic point of interest, explained Sally Spanburgh, who chairs the Southampton Town Landmarks and Historic Districts Board. It might also embody an architectural type, period or style, or it might have been built or designed by someone whose work significantly influenced a particular era, according to the town’s definition.
Alternatively, the home could represent an established and familiar visual feature of a neighborhood, or it might qualify for inclusion on the State or National Registers of Historic Places.
Southampton Town’s landmark designation involves owner consent, recommendations from various boards and a public hearing, which can be “a very happy, ‘Kumbaya’ moment in Town Hall when something is designated,” Ms. Spanburgh said.
If their home is eligible for the town’s landmark designation, owners can enjoy certain incentives such as tax abatements, maintenance assistance, and the ability to build a guest house on the property. Other incentives include leniency with applications before the Zoning Board of Appeals as well as financial rewards for granting historic preservation easements.
“When you’re putting a restriction on your property, you’re getting paid for it,” Larry Indimine, an appraiser and one of the panelists last Thursday, explained later. “That’s the intent of the [town] program.”
Kim Quarty, Project Manager at the Peconic Land Trust, which has helped preserve 10 historic structures on the East End since its founding in 1983, discussed easements in greater detail. There are four different types—facade, footprint, and conservation easements as well as a combination of them—she said. “The easements can be tailored to meet your goals and needs,” Ms. Quarty said.
Ms. Bernhardt said she is beginning to question why there are so many restrictions. “You can’t hold back progress forever,” she said. “It’s romantic to think we’ll save this for posterity … and there are some places worth saving, but we all borrow this planet; we’re all here for a short time.
“Who am I to tell future generations what they can and cannot do?” she continued the day after the event. “You can still build something in keeping with the character of the village without saving everything … and without putting out people like me whose hands are tied.”
During the panel discussion, Ms. Bernhardt found a sympathetic ear in Linda Euell of Water Mill, who inherited a homestead that has been in her family since the 1600s. “Like you, the house needed a lot of help,” she told Ms. Bernhardt.
Ms. Euell said she felt daunted by the task, but also that she’d become a steward of the home and of her family’s legacy. She applied for, and received, financial assistance from the town’s maintenance program to make home improvements. “I couldn’t let it go on my watch,” she said of the homestead.
All in the name of conservation, and with help from the Peconic Land Trust, Nancy Gilbert and her husband, Richard Wines, relinquished most of their rights to their property in Jamesport, agreeing to a combination of easements—their larger land parcel is protected by an agricultural easement, their waterfront land has a scenic easement, and their home is protected with an historic facade easement. It was a decision that some family members scoffed at, but the couple never hesitated.
“It’s a very personal thing,” Ms. Gilbert said during the discussion, “and it’s something where your heart has to be there.”
on Mar 23, 2015