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A request to block a stretch of Meadow Lane—one of the main roads for accessing beaches and oceanfront homes in Southampton Village—with a 200-ton crane was denied over the summer because of fears that the temporary road closure could cause a traffic mess during the peak of the season.Brad Allan of Long Island Crane & Rigging Inc. requested permission to place the crane, with two truckloads of counterweight, on Meadow Lane to give crews the ability to install a large glass panel at the residence at 40 Meadow Lane. The crane, according to the request, would have to reach 180 feet from the street to oceanside of the home.
Mr. Allan said the original glass panel—which broke and needs to be replaced—had been put in place using a crane that was sited on the home’s property, but that was before a number of dry wells were installed between the residence and the street.
Now, according to Mr. Allan, the weight of the crane and the counterweights are too heavy to place on the driveway above the dry wells, so he requested permission to place the crane in the street.
When, and if, the project takes place, it is expected to take approximately five hours to complete. Between the intersections with First Neck Lane and Coopers Neck Lane, Meadow Lane would need to be blocked off to all traffic. Vehicles would be detoured up and down First Neck and Coopers Neck lanes, to Great Plains Road.
Southampton Village Administrator Stephen Funsch said he asked Mr. Allan to come back with the request, which was originally sent in on July 26, after Labor Day.
Even after Mr. Allan comes back to the village with his request, the Department of Public Works and the building inspector will have to see if the crane could damage Meadow Lane. If there is a chance that the road can be damaged, the village may request a deposit to cover the cost of any repairs.
The estate at 40 Meadow Lane has been a controversial project from the beginning. The 6,677-square-foot three-story house on the ocean with 7 bedrooms and 9.5 bathrooms that rises 53 feet above sea level and 40 feet above grade—a full 14 feet above the village’s standards—was approved in 2014, but later that year, a lawsuit was filed because of the home’s height.
The home was also built in place of a 120-year-old shingle-style house in the historic district.
Thompson Dean, Caroline Dean and Linda Hackett asked the court to revoke the certificate of appropriateness granted by the village for the construction of the proposed single-family, two-story home. They also argued that the building exceeded the village’s height restriction of 35 feet. The injunction to stop construction was denied.
As a result, the Village Board adopted a law on August 20, 2015, that imposed “sky plane” requirements for new, elevated homes in flood zones. Sky planes—angles drawn from a point on the ground to the top of a proposed house—are used to limit the height of new homes and determine the position of a house on a property.
The two-year-old law prevents homes from exceeding a 33-degree angle from the destination point; previously, it was 45 degrees.
Greg Wehner on Sep 4, 2017