Southampton Village looks to toughen penalties for illegal demolitions

Southampton Village officials have asked Village Attorney Richard DePetris to research whether the municipality can inflict harsher penalties for anyone who illegally demolishes a building.

The request came in the wake of last month’s near complete demolition of a house at 477 Halsey Neck Lane that went well beyond what the homeowners had received approval for from the Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review.

Mr. DePetris, who as of last week said he had not had a chance to review the matter, told the Village Board the village might be able to inflict civil penalties.

Currently, the maximum penalty for such unlawful actions is a $1,000 fine and a delay in work, Village Building Inspector Chris Talbot said last week, adding that in many such cases a modest fine is not much of a hindrance.

The two-story traditional wood-frame home was stripped early in May to just its footprint and a bare-bones partial frame. The Building Department slapped a stop-work order on the property when village officials realized too much of the house had been torn down. They sent the applicants, Michael and Beth Klein, back to the Architectural Review Board (ARB) to amend the prior approval, which calls for rebuilding the home. It is likely to be granted, according to Mr. Talbot. A public hearing on the case was adjourned last Monday, and a decision is pending.

“We’re going to go to the fullest extent of the law after these guys,” said Mayor Mark Epley at the Village Board’s work session last Tuesday in denouncing the demolition, calling it “unacceptable,” a “horrible precedent” and an example of “undermining” the ARB, the Building Department and the history of Southampton.

Mr. Epley’s words came after Village Building Inspector Jonathan Foster, who said he does not condone what happened, shared a letter signed by John J. Condon of Condon Engineering, P.C. stating that the house had a high degree of deterioration from termites, powder beetles and rot, and that included some accompanying photos. Mr. Foster and the board acknowledged, however, that the engineer, architect and contractor sidestepped the proper channels for addressing the problem.

Curtis Highsmith, chairman of the ARB, said he does not consider what happened at 477 Halsey Neck Lane a demolition, since the building’s footprint and some of the structure still stands. “The house is still remaining. The overall footprint of the building still stands,’” he said last Tuesday. “You have to be careful with the word ‘demolished.’ It’s in a position of being replaced.”

Mr. Highsmith said he believes the village code should better define the terms “restoration” and “renovation.”

The original application won approval for relocating the house slightly north, centering it on the roughly 3-acre property, as well as for restorations and additions. The house, known as “The Moorlands” and “Windswept,” sits outside the historic district, was built in 1893 and was the home of professor and novelist Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen.

Mr. Epley noted similar instances throughout the village in which buildings have been demolished without approval and then neighbors notify the Building Department.

A summer bungalow on Culver Street in the historic district was demolished without authorization five or six years ago, Mr. Talbot said, noting that it is very easy for homeowners to arrange someone to do a demolition.

Village Trustees Paul Robinson and Richard Yastrzemski said they favored stricter penalties and called such demolitions or partial demolitions “disrespectful” and a “mock on the village code.”

The officials were reacting to a letter village resident Sally Spanburgh wrote to the Village Board, in which she implored the governing body to implement strong punitive codes that heavily fine owners, architects and builders.

“Small fines and delays in construction are not enough to discourage these mischievous acts,” Ms. Spanburgh wrote. “Why do we have zoning regulations and a building department if after a small fine and a delay in construction one can ultimately circumvent the whole process and achieve what they desired all along?”

Ms. Spanburgh went even further in her blog, the Southampton Village Review, suggesting a mandatory pause in construction for six months, hefty fines and perhaps even points on one’s driver’s license.

Following the ARB’s closure of the public hearing on the Halsey Neck Lane property last Monday, Ms. Spanburgh posted that “replication” of homes is becoming a “popular and dangerous trend.”

Mr. Talbot said approximately 30 workers were working on the home at 477 Halsey Neck Lane, and that homeowners and architects are usually the parties to attend ARB meetings, but they often don’t communicate the specifics of the applications to the actual contractors. Some work will still be permitted on this property, despite the stop-work order, including work on the pool house.