Sagaponack Planning Board Adjourns Hearing On Controversial 43.5-Acre Subdivision

A disagreement among three partnering landowners has created a mess of the proposed subdivision of one of the largest and most-litigated parcels of oceanfront farmland in Sagaponack Village.

The 43.5-acre property on Daniels Lane has been the site of multiple failed development proposals and, as a result, has cultivated numerous lawsuits against the village by Sagaponack Realty LLC managing member Marc Goldman, who is seeking a four-lot subdivision.

Mr. Goldman started a Christmas tree farm on the site in 2015 and tomato sauce production there this year—moves that many in Sagaponack saw as acts of spite, blocking his neighbors’ desirable views across the farm field to the ocean.

At a meeting Monday of the Sagaponack Village Planning Board—which has the same members as the Village Board, serving in a dual role—village officials opted again to continue a public hearing on Mr. Goldman’s final subdivision application.

The motion to adjourn the public hearing and pick up the discussion at a future meeting was partially in response to an email sent at the 11th hour on the Friday before the meeting submission deadline. Mr. Goldman’s attorney, Brian DeSesa, emailed, insisting the Planning Board not move forward.

It was a surprising communication from Mr. Goldman’s team, but a legal dispute with his partners Michael Hirtenstein and Milton Berlinski about who has the authority to subdivide the property has spilled into Village Hall.

Mr. Hirtenstein and Mr. Berlinski each paid Mr. Goldman $15 million in 2005 for the rights to two of the four proposed lots. The village had given preliminary approval for a subdivision in 2008, but the partners could not agree on an arrangement of houses. Mr. Goldman sued and that dispute over who has the authority to make that decision is ongoing.

Last year, Mr. Hirtenstein and Mr. Berlinski submitted their own subdivision application for the entire property that was essentially identical to what was approved at the preliminary stage. The village has heard variations on both proposals since September 2017.

Mr. DeSesa’s email Friday to the Planning Board demanded “no action will be taken on the subdivision plan unless and until there is either an agreed upon plan or a judicial determination as to Mr. Berklinski’s authority to make subdivision applications on behalf of Sagaponack Realty LLC … this matter is not ready for further review.”

During Monday’s meeting, Mayor Donald Louchheim said he was taken aback.

“We have bent over backward to try to get this done,” Mr. Louchheim said. “There’s no way to satisfy Mr. Goldman.”

Village Attorney Anthony Tohill said that email—as well as previous emails dating July 13 and August 2—was “threatening” toward the Planning Board.

“It seems that everything that happens on your letterhead is … completely contrary to anything that has happened before this board,” Mr. Tohill said, pointing at Mr. DeSesa, who denied making any threats.

At its July 9 meeting, the Planning Board requested covenants and restrictions on the use of the agricultural reserve on the property in addition to the covenants Mr. Goldman had already granted the Peconic Land Trust in 2007—which was in the form of an agricultural easement for crop production. Mr. Goldman wanted to proceed, and the village began to draft a resolution for a settlement map to detail the covenants, according to his lawyer’s July 13 email.

Days later, Mr. Tohill wrote to Mr. DeSesa requesting the removal of certain plantings currently on the property. Mr. DeSesa replied, “Mr. Goldman is amenable to doing so provided he receives reasonable assurances from the village that the subdivision, [and] site plans … [and] approvals to construct the house will be processed in a timely manner.” The email specifically called for his configuration of the four-lot development, rather than the configuration proposed by his partners.

The renewed disagreement caused Mr. DeSesa’s call to halt the Planning Board’s review.

“I thought we were close with this last month,” Mr. Louchheim said before motioning to adjourn the public hearing until the September 10 meeting. He noted the village needed to see a “judicial solution” or wait until another plan altogether comes forward to address the legal conundrum.

Brian Doyle, Mr. Berlinski’s attorney, had urged the Planning Board to vote on one of the two maps. He said the village was just “kicking the can down the road” on the issue.