Attractive Nuisance: The Keyes House Was Torn Down With CPF Money

On March 13, as dog walkers on Sammy’s Beach looked on, the little house on the island at the foot of Three Mile Harbor in East Hampton came down as a large yellow bulldozer cut through the fragile paint and wood.

On the other side of the inlet, at Harbor Marina, Sylvia Mendelman, author of “Three Mile Harbor: East Hampton’s Priceless Gem,” said she wondered why the Keyes house was being demolished.

“To tear down something that’s usable is a waste,” she said.

In 2005, the East Hampton Town Board made the decision to purchase Keyes Island and have the land become strictly open space. The cost of razing the house earlier this month—$25,000 for demolition and $5,000 for debris removal—was covered by Community Preservation Fund (CPF) money. An entry on the CPF website shows that the land was classified as “beaches and shoreline.”

According to the online CPF reports, a public hearing was held in 2005, and the town passed a resolution authorizing a payment to Charles Keyes of $3.8 million for the island’s five acres (and another small piece of his land in the Springs). The record states that the two Keyes children may have their weddings there.

An aerial shot of the base of Three Mile Harbor shows why the land was a strategic purchase for the town. The island allows scenic vistas from all sides and is adjacent to protected wetlands. But the battle for acquisition was not without its challenges, accord to New York State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr.

“It was a fairly controversial acquisition,” he recalled during a recent telephone interview.

Some residents complained that the town paid too much; others that a Democratic board gave Charlie Keyes an insider’s deal. Ms. Mendelman, and those who knew the zoning in the area, recognized that the land could never be developed beyond what was already there. The property was not in danger of being ruined by overbuilding.

Andrew Gaites, Senior Environmental Analyst for East Hampton Town reported during an interview that there had initially been talk of leaving the structure on the land.

“Although I wasn’t here at the time, there was some talk that after the purchase went through, the house could be a nature center,” he said. “But it had become dilapidated and hazardous.”

The little house had a tall brick chimney, no electricity or running water and was considered to be an “attractive nuisance,” according to Scott Wilson, Director of the East Hampton Town Department of Land Acquisition and Management. The loose definition of “attractive nuisance” is a dangerous structure that is likely to attract children who are unable to appreciate the risk posed.

“Having a structure there is inconsistent with the CPF,” Mr. Wilson said.

Mr. Gaites said he could not recall incidents involving young people trespassing, though there has been evidence of visitation.

“People in kayaks had gone over there, but there were no parties by kids. There was some damage to the house—broken windows,” he said.

According to Mr. Gaites, leaving the house on the island as a residence was an idea that was apparently quickly dismissed by the Town Board in 2005.

“This property was purchased for preservation,” he said. “So we wouldn’t have someone living on it.”

In present day, Mr. Wilson said that the house was more trouble than it was worth.

“It was easier to tear it down than maintain it,” he said.

Regarding the structure as it relates to the CPF legislation, Mr. Thiele referred to the provisions of the law.

“The funds can’t be used to maintain a building that isn’t historic,” he said, adding that CPF funds can be used to demolish a structure on CPF land.

Still, Ms. Mendelman questioned the need to tear the house down.

“What’s the definition of historic?” she asked. “A nonprofit could have used it for the good of the community.”

In her book, Ms. Mendelman described how the island was initially used as a source of salt hay, and farmers waded there at low tide with their livestock to harvest the precious fodder for their horses.

“The hay was especially valuable; it was nourishing,” she wrote. “The flat boards that the horses wore as shoes can be seen in the Amagansett Marine Museum.”

Mr. E.T. Dayton was the first to erect a structure on the property when he first went there to hunt, she reported.

“It was cold, so he built a summer shack—a little camp—and called it Goose Island.”

Mr. Dayton later sold the property to Mr. Keyes, who added on to the original structure, according to Ms. Mendelman’s research.

Ms. Mendelman said that she believes that the difference in a house with historic value and one that is a beloved landmark should be reevaluated. She stated that a few older buildings add to the character of the area, even if not strictly historic. She cited “other buildings that local people see as landmarks have been bought and torn down, such as Weiss’s fishing station.”

But the CPF definition of “historic” is narrow: “preservation of historic places and properties listed on the New York State Register of Historic Places and/or protected under a municipal historic preservation ordinance or law.”

A thorough reading of the CPF delineates that the primary purpose is to purchase significant open space.

Mr. Thiele offered positive examples of CPF purchases.

“The land next to the windmill in downtown East Hampton was purchased with CPF,” he said. “The car dealership building on the property was torn down and open space was the result; a good thing.”

When asked what it would take to change the CPF to allow structures that are not strictly historic to remain on CPF land, Mr. Thiele said, “You would need an act of the legislature to change the purpose. A local law. And maybe a town-wide referendum.”

Mr. Thiele gave an example of another property that could be considered an attractive nuisance.

“The county owns the lighthouse at the tip of Cedar Point,” he said. “Discussions are under way with a not-for-profit to restore it.”

He also mentioned parcels that have similar parameters to the Keyes house—properties acquired by the CPF where ordinary buildings stand.

“The building next to The Hopping Inn at the corner of Ocean and Montauk Highway in Bridgehampton, the one used by Charlie Marder for his landscaping business, can be torn down with CPF money,” Mr. Thiele reported. “The camp buildings on the site of Boys Harbor are an issue. They can come down because those buildings are not historic.”

The 2011 CPF specifies that all but one camp building be razed.

The Keyes house is now gone for good and the vacant land has been preserved from development. Today, white egrets, ospreys and an occasional blue heron soar over the pristine marsh adjoining Sammy’s Beach and Keyes Island, oblivious to the discourse among preservationists, historians and kayakers over what was debated to be an attractive nuisance by some and an integral piece of local history to others.