Mocomanto Height Variance Application Withdrawn; Public Hearing Left Open Until August

The current owner of one of the first homes on Lake Agawam in Southampton Village has withdrawn his controversial application for a height variance, and he now plans to preserve nearly 100 percent of the original structure as he expands it.

The big question now for the First Neck Lane mansion named Mocomanto is how many bedrooms are going to be included if a renovation with a new “L”-shaped addition is approved.

John Bennett, an attorney representing the applicant—homeowner Kenneth Fox—told Southampton Village Zoning Board of Appeals members at a meeting last Thursday, July 27, that now that the height variance application seeking to exceed the village’s permissible residence height of 35 feet by approximately 5 feet has been withdrawn, the board should only be considering a wetlands special permit for the one-story addition to the north side of the residence. The variance application sought to preserve only roughly 40 percent of the historic home, according to Mr. Bennett, but now that it has been withdrawn, nearly 100 percent of the home will be preserved.

Under village code, structures need special permission to be located closer to wetlands than setbacks would normally allow. An addition to the front of the structure and the existing porch, along with the relocation of stairs and the existing driveway, also requires a wetlands special permit.

“You don’t look at a variance when all you’re looking at is a wetlands application,” Mr. Bennett told ZBA members in a packed room.

When it came to the number of bedrooms, Mr. Bennett and his team showed the board that the home will have nine bedrooms, total, despite what some critics have said is a home with 16 bedrooms.

The existing home has three bedrooms on the second floor and three bedrooms on the third floor. The new addition will include one bedroom on the first floor and two on the second floor, bringing the total to nine.

According to an online mass appraisal on file with the Town of Southampton, the home currently has 3,665-square-feet of living space. The homeowner is seeking to add an L"-shape attachment that will expand the home to a total of 7,556 square feet.

But many of the people attending the ZBA meeting were not convinced that the number was accurate.

“This is an application to build a second house,” Patrick Fife, an attorney representing neighboring homeowners, said at the meeting. “This project unquestionably doubles the density.”

According to Mr. Bennett, the renovated and expanded home will have 592 square feet of additional habitable space within the wetlands setback, which is enclosed and heated. There will also be 294 square feet of porches within that setback, which are non-habitable and unheated.

Mr. Fife told board members that rooms on the floor plans were labeled differently to show less rooms. For example, what is labeled as a patio on the plans, according to Mr. Fife, could actually be a bedroom. He also asked who is to say later down the road that the homeowner does not convert that patio to a bedroom.

“We cannot assume that someone is going to do anything illegal,” ZBA Chairman Kevin Guidera told Mr. Fife.

Homeowners have stressed that the home will become a party house and the amount of parking on the property does not support nine bedrooms—and certainly not 16.

The application calls for removing two grandfathered wastewater systems located 140 feet from wetlands and replacing them with a new system 200 feet away from the wetlands. Mr. Bennett said an application with the Suffolk County Department of Health Services, dated June 22, appears “acceptable pending receipt and review of the Village Zoning Board of Appeals approval.”

First Neck Lane neighbor Bob Giuffra told the board that the homeowner has a pattern of not following village code. He said that nearly three years ago a pool house on the northeast portion of the property burned down and Mr. Fox rebuilt the pool house “illegally.” He also said the pool house has two bathrooms. Mr. Giuffra also told the board that his experts believe aerial shots taken of the home show large drums where a portion of driveway now sits, and could be a septic system. He said those drums and what was done there needs to be investigated.

Mr. Guidera told Mr. Giuffra the burning down of the pool house and its being rebuilt has nothing to do with this application. “We’re getting off track,” he said, pointing out the pool house was not the issue before the board.

Mr. Fife has pointed out in the past that Mocomanto—formerly the home of the Betts family, one of the founders of the Southampton summer colony—is listed in both the New York State and National Register of Historic Places, and is “one of the most prominent historical homes on Lake Agawam.”

Mr. Bennett’s request to close the public hearing portion of the application was denied by ZBA members. Mr. Guidera told Mr. Fife to come back to the August meeting with what he believes are additional bedrooms, despite what Mr. Bennett and his team showed at the meeting. The next ZBA meeting will take place on Monday, August 28, at 7:30 p.m.

"