Sagaponack house move appears derailed

The proposed relocation of a 1930s-era house to an unused corner of an active farm field as part of an effort to save the house might have been derailed by Sagaponack residents who circulated a petition over the holidays soliciting opposition to the move.

The objections have taken the use of a 1-acre section of land on Hedges Lane, just a few hundred yards from where the house now sits, off the table, according to John v.H. Halsey, president of the Peconic Land Trust, the preservation group that is taking ownership of the house. Mr. Halsey said the group would be looking for other possible sites to which the house could be relocated, but if a suitable location cannot be found, the trust may demolish the house as its current owner had originally proposed.

“I lived in one of these Hildreth houses in Sagaponack, so I can personally relate to what it is: they’re charming, modest homes that really reflect the history of the area,” Mr. Halsey said. “But if we fail to find a location then we would have the responsibility to demolish it in place. At least we’re going to give it a real effort.”

The house is one of two structures on a Hedges Lane property that had been proposed for demolition by a builder planning to erect a larger modern structure in their place. After it was discovered that one of the houses dated to about 1830, the builder, Michael Davis, proposed restoring it and incorporating it into his development plans. The other house was found to have been built by Wallace Hildreth, a Sagaponack resident who built several houses in what is now the village, and residents clamored to have it saved as well.

Mr. Halsey said the Peconic Land Trust was “more than happy” to insert itself into the preservation proposal and negotiated a deal with the current owner, Alan Schnurman, to take ownership of the house and move it off the property to make way for Mr. Davis’s project.

The group pitched moving the house less than a half mile down Hedges Lane to a corner of a farm field that is owned by the South Fork Land Foundation, a not-for-profit adjunct to the Peconic Land Trust. Placing the house on the property—11 acres of farm fields, 1 acre of which is not farmed because it is wedged between the road and a private home—would have required that the non-profit groups subdivide the small corner out of the main property.

After the house was moved, Mr. Halsey said, the trust would likely have either rented or sold it outright to raise funds for other preservation efforts. He said the group has experience both as a seller and as landlord of structures donated in the past.

The petition, which was circulated by Bill McCoy, a real estate agent who lives across the street from the vacant property where the house was to be moved, accused the village government of being improperly involved in the effort to get the house moved and insinuated that there was a conflict of interest because Trustee Lee Foster is also a board member of the South Fork Land Foundation.

Village Mayor Donald Louchheim blasted Mr. McCoy for what he called “a series of misrepresentations and factual errors and unsupported suggestions” in the letter that Mr. McCoy penned to accompany the petition. The mayor said Mr. McCoy had hinted that the board had been involved in some kind of planning “under the cloak of stealth” to move the house. He denied that the board had any role in the effort whatsoever, though he said that he personally applauded the effort by Mr. Halsey’s group for its efforts to preserve the building.

“There is no conspiracy to do something out of the public view,” Mr. Louchheim said. “There are no conflicts of interest for any Village Board members or officials, as there is no potential for personal gain for any of us in this.”

Mr. McCoy, who was at Monday’s meeting, defended his opposition to the move nonetheless. “I just want to make the town aware ... 80 percent of the population does not want this house there,” he said. “We are still collecting signatures in New York and out here—it will approach a very high percentage. We just want you to be aware that the people don’t like it.”

Mr. Halsey said that there are one or two other options the trust is exploring for possibilities to move the house. He said Mr. Schnurman may allow them to move the house temporarily onto one of the eight other lots in his subdivision while they try to find a new alternative. He estimated that if they haven’t found a solution by March 15, they would probably have to demolish the house after all.