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The first application before the Southampton Town Zoning Board of Appeals since Hurricane Sandy buried Dune Road with impassable sand just a few days prior was a request for variances that would allow a Dune Road house in East Quogue to be rebuilt bigger but farther back from the ocean.
Board members, at a meeting last Thursday, November 1, just days after Sandy, discussed a new application filed by Jon Cohen and Karen Kostroff of Great Neck regarding their oceanfront property at 71 Dune Road. The pair, represented by attorney John Bennett of the Southampton Village law firm Bennett & Read, are looking to demolish their current 2,344-square-foot house with three bedrooms, which currently sits on top of the dune crest, and build a new, 3,335-square-foot home with five bedrooms 23 feet to the north, farther from the ocean, on the landward toe of the dune.
The application says the current home does not comply with Federal Emergency Management Agency standards and had a non-conforming septic system, which is buried in the dunes. The proposed new home would be elevated to the required 17 feet in a flood zone, plus an additional 2 feet, for a first-floor elevation of 19 feet. The current septic system would be filled and abandoned. The pair said they have an application before the Suffolk County Department of Health Services to install a new septic system under a proposed driveway.
The applicants argue that they could rightfully expand their house where it currently is, but if they can move it, it would be have less impact on the environment.
Mr. Cohen and Ms. Kostroff are seeking relief from the board to reconstruct their non-conforming building within the Coastal Erosion Hazard Area. Other variances requested include having a lot coverage of 13.03 percent instead of the required 10 percent, and to allow a front-yard setback for the proposed house of 17.8 feet instead of 80 feet, among others.
A neighbor of the pair is not pleased with the application, however.
Vincent J. Messina Jr., a partner in the Central Islip law firm Sinnreich, Kosakoff & Messina, representing neighbor Peter Calogrias, urged the board to adjourn the application until the full extent of storm damage along Dune Road from Hurricane Sandy can be determined.
Mr. Messina said the proposal was too big and too close to his client’s house and a more modest structure could be proposed. He argued that the proposed home would not be better for the environment.
The board adjourned the application to December 6.
Colleen Reynolds on Nov 7, 2012