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Saga of little house on Sagaponack prairie
May 12, 10 11:38 AM
Sagaponack house saga continues
Apr 21, 10 12:12 PM
moreIn a reversal of expectations, the trustees of the South Fork Land Foundation have given the green light to the Peconic Land Trust to move a small house in Sagaponack onto a corner of a farm field the foundation owns.
As part of the move, the foundation plans to place a covenant on the property that will exclude future development on any of the 10-acre farm adjacent to the section the house will be moved to, which is not currently farmed.
South Fork Land Foundation trustee Lee Foster said this week that the five trustees were unanimous in their decision at Saturday’s quarterly foundation meeting. The foundation is a not-for-profit predecessor to the Peconic Land Trust that was created specifically to accept donations of land for preservation. The property in question, at the corner of Hedges Lane and Fairfield Lane, was donated by Ronald Lauder in 1977.
“The South Fork Land Foundation felt that this was a project that should move ahead right now,” said Ms. Foster, who is also a Sagaponack Village trustee. “We’ll have to do a site plan, but we’re not going to be subdividing anything. We’re putting one house on the whole property, and the rest of that parcel will be left as farmland, forever.”
The house, a 1930s-era “four square” designed and built by Sagaponack native Wallace Hildreth, will be moved about a quarter mile down Hedges Lane from where it currently stands to a square of land that sits off from the main farm field and is left fallow because it is difficult to farm because of its size.
The project will be funded and overseen by the Peconic Land Trust, which has an agreement with current owner Alan Schnurman, to take ownership of the house. The move was first suggested when builder Michael Davis proposed demolishing the house and another, older structure on the property. Outcry over the demolitions led Mr. Davis to agree to restore the older structure and incorporate it into his development plans.
After the move is completed, the Land Trust is expected to sell it to raise money for other preservation efforts.
Last month, Peconic Land Trust President John v.H. Halsey said that he had feared the plans to move the house to the foundation property had been killed by objections from some neighbors. A petition circulated by Bill McCoy, who lives across from the property the house i to be moved to, objected to the plan as going against the spirit of Mr. Lauder’s donation.
Ms. Foster said that when the land was donated to the foundation it came with all the development rights, which would allow up to three house lots under current zoning. She said that the plan will still preserve the larger farm field and that the sale of the house by the land trust will preserve land more important than the one small corner, which is already cut off from the rest of the field by a house lot.
On Tuesday, Mr. McCoy said he feels that even if the project guarantees that only one house will be on the entire property, it still subverts the intention of the foundation’s gift.
“The intent was to preserve land—it’s an open field,” Mr. McCoy said. “Even one house, that’s one too many.”
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